Adjournment motion on keeping workplaces safe after Heightened Safety Period

Efforts to keep workplaces safe will not stop when the Heightened Safety Period (HSP) ends. Senior Minister of State for Manpower Zaqy Mohamad gave this assurance in Parliament on Tuesday (Sep 19), in response to an adjournment motion by MP Melvin Yong calling for the HSP to be extended. Mr Yong pointed out that it takes years to build a collective and strong workplace safety culture. “Lifting the HSP after just eight months could undo all our hard work,” he said. He suggested four ways in which the Government and industry can work together to make workplaces safer, using the acronym “SAVE”. It refers to safety by design, all workplaces to have a dedicated Workplace Safety and Health professional, financial penalties to augment composition, fines and stop work orders, and enforcement checks of unsafe workplace practices. Mr Yong stressed that a safe workplace must be a basic right for every worker. “I urge the Government and the industry to take workplace safety and health seriously, work closely with the NTUC and do what is safe and right. Together, we can help every worker return home from work safe and sound every day,” he said. Responding, Mr Zaqy said the Government has retained most of the broad-based sectoral measures of the HSP and will continue to drive new measures. “We hold ourselves to high standards and even post-HSP, we will not let up on our efforts,” he said. Mr Zaqy pointed out that more targeted interventions are needed for smaller-scale construction work, including renovations and facility management, which accounted for the majority of the fatal and major injuries in construction. He said the Government is working with the relevant agencies to enhance the safety standards for such contractors. “While we have exited HSP, rest assured that we continue to pursue safe measures to build stronger workplace safety culture and ownership across Singapore,” he said.