Patrick Tan
- Increase in workplace fatalities in 2022
- Heightened Safety Period (HSP) introduced to improve workplace safety
- Continued vigilance is needed to achieve WSH 2028 goal
Workplace Safety is important for everyone.
In Singapore, there was a change in workplace safety in 2022.
The bad news is that there were more workplace deaths than in 2021.
The good news is that the government took action to make things better.
Let’s look at the 2022 Workplace Safety and Health Report details.
What Happened in 2022?
In 2022, the workplace death rate was 1.3 for every 100,000 workers.
This is higher than the fatality rate of 1.1 in 2021.
To fix this problem, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) started the Heightened Safety Period (HSP) in September 2022.
This helped a lot. The number of deaths decreased each month.
But there is still work to do.
Some industries got better, like Construction, while others got worse, like Manufacturing.
What is Being Done?
To keep making things better, MOM extended the HSP until 31 May 2023.
They also made a new team called the Multi-Agency Workplace Safety Taskforce (MAST) to help each industry improve safety.
Senior Minister of State for Manpower Zaqy Mohamad said the HSP measures worked well to make workplaces safer, but everyone must stay alert.
What Do the Numbers Show?
The top cause of workplace deaths is still Vehicular Incidents.
Slips, Trips, and Falls are the most common cause of nonfatal injuries.
The Construction, Transportation & Storage, and Manufacturing industries had the most workplace deaths in 2022.
They also had the most major injuries.
These industries need to keep working on improving safety.
Actionable and Practical Takeaways
- Stay aware of safety measures in your workplace
- Learn from the experiences of other industries
- Support the efforts of the MAST
The 2022 Workplace Safety and Health Report shows progress in Singapore’s workplace safety, but more work is needed.
We must all stay aware and keep working together to make our workplaces safer for everyone.
Remember, safety is everyone’s responsibility.
