Whenever I travel to other countries for international conferences and meetings, many people congratulate me for the good Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) performance that Singapore has achieved over the years. Deep inside, I was always heartened by their words of encouragement which motivates me to work even harder to spur further improvements in our WSH standards. However, notwithstanding the improved performance, I remained grounded by the fact that 66 lives were needlessly lost at workplaces last year. As I reflect on these accidents, what stood out to me was the many broken families and unfulfilled dreams that resulted from these deaths. The reality was that we could have prevented these workplace fatalities. I strongly believe that if we work together with the right mindset that all injuries and ill-health are preventable, then surely we can do more collectively to prevent these accidents.

The journey to where we are today has not been easy. Coincidentally, this year marks the 10 year anniversary of our WSH Reform which dated back to 2005. At that time, our workplace fatal injury rate was at a high of 4.9 per 100,000 employees. We knew we needed to do something different and transformational to effect the paradigm shift towards WSH at workplaces. This later culminated in a total reboot of the WSH framework - from a prescriptive regime to one where it is performance-based. These early efforts help us to achieve a modest interim improvement of a workplace fatal injury rate of 2.9 in 2007. I was heartened to know that our Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong was very much concerned about Singapore’s WSH performance. He set for us a new challenging target of achieving a fatal injury rate of 1.8 by the year 2018. With this mandate, we went ahead to go the distance and put in a relentless effort to raise awareness of good WSH practices and build up the capabilities of companies and industry to manage risks. 10 years on, I am pleased to note that, through the collective efforts from our business community, unions and workers, we managed to realise this 1.8 target in 2014. However, the fatality rate went up slightly to 1.9 last year in 2015. This is a reminder to us that we need to do more and to strive towards eliminating fatalities at work. That is what Vision Zero is all about – believing that every accident and ill health arising from work can be eliminated. The pursuit of Vision Zero is not about focusing solely on meeting the target of zero accidents. Vision Zero calls for a mindset shift by everyone; from focusing on individual fault finding to one that is centred on solutions to prevent injuries and ill health.

However, this is not our destination yet. In fact, WSH will always be a continuous journey and we must learn our lessons from this journey we have travelled thus far. It is vital that we recognise and anticipate the challenges and opportunities in our fast-changing environment and its impact to our workers. That is why I have asked my team to review our Singapore WSH Strategy to chart our progress and identify the gaps for improvement. Our strategies must be enhanced and updated to drive collective ownership for WSH with all our stakeholders and partners on board. The new WSH 2025 National Strategy will also place greater emphasis on workplace health to tackle the rising burden of diseases. It will also put in place the key building blocks that are designed to promote progressive work practices that will enhance the well-being of our employees.

We need to build a workforce that is not only safe but also healthy and productive. Our continued efforts on managing Workplace Safety risks must be complemented with a new emerging focus on Workplace Health risks and Injury Management. Together with our tripartite partners, I am confident that we will be able to realise our long term goal of ‘A Healthy Workforce in a Safe Workplace’ for all in Singapore.

ER. HO SIONG HIN
Divisional Director and Commissioner For Workplace Safety and Health