Singapore achieves workplace safety milestone; fatal injury rate dips below 1 per 100,000 workers
File photo of workers cleaning a building in the Central Business District in Singapore on Nov 16, 2022. (Photo: CNA/Hanidah Amin)
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SINGAPORE: The workplace fatality rate in Singapore fell below 1 per 100,000 workers last year, the first time it went under that mark apart from 2020 when work was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fatality rate of 0.99 in 2023 also more than halved from the 2.3 registered in 2013, said Senior Minister of State For Manpower Zaqy Mohamad on Wednesday (Jan 31).
He revealed the figure during his speech at the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) U Safe Forum and Awards 2024, which saw a total of 21 unions and companies being recognised for their efforts in making their workplace healthier and safer.
"This is a significant achievement as only four OECD countries, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Sweden have consistently achieved such a rate," noted Mr Zaqy.
"In 10 years, we have seen a significant difference as a result of the hard work that has been done on the ground," Mr Zaqy said.
In 2022, workplace fatalities, dangerous occurrences and cases of occupational disease in Singapore spiked.
There were a total of 46 workplace-related deaths - a rate of 1.3 per 100,000 workers - up from 37 in 2021. It was the highest number of fatalities since 2015 and 2016, when there were 66 each year.
To address the spate of workplace-related deaths, the Manpower Ministry introduced a heightened safety period in September 2022, which lasted until the end of May 2023.
Mr Zaqy on Wednesday pointed out a target set by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong - to achieve and sustain a workplace fatal injury rate of less than 1.0 per 10,000 workers before 2028.
While he noted that a "milestone" was reached with the 2023 figure, he stressed that maintaining it "depends on all of us not letting up our recent effort".
"We need to have proper risk assessment and management in place. When an incident occurs, we must investigate it thoroughly, identify the underlying causes, learn from our mistakes, and do our best to avoid doing it again," he said.
"If we can do this, I am confident that we will entrench our improvement, and keep the number down over a longer period."
Editor’s note: This article has been amended after the Ministry of Manpower corrected its workplace fatality rate for 2013.
