OBSERVATORY FOR WSH LANDSCAPE (OWL)

On 11 March 2015, Singapore’s risk observatory of WSH risks, called Observatory for WSH Landscape (OWL) was launched by Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for Manpower and Health, Mr Khoo Chin Hean, Chairman of WSH Institute Governing Board and Dr Gan Siok Lin, Executive Director of WSH Institute. OWL aims to observe, analyse and communicate changes in the workforce, workplace and working life, and its implications on WSH; to researchers, decision makers and businesses in Singapore and Asia.

WSH Institute's Inaugural Joint AOSHRI Sheffield Group Meeting

For the first time ever, heads of WSH Research Institutes from the East and West met on 11 March 2015 to share their experiences, challenges faced and responses to advance WSH research in their respective countries. This was made possible by WSH Institute’s unique position, being a member of both the AOSHRI¹ and Sheffield Group².

Through the series of meetings, the heads of the research institutes exchanged views and discussed emerging WSH issues, risks and concerns, policies and programmes. Some of the key outcomes achieved were:

• WSH Institute signed the 6th MOU with an overseas research institute, the Institute de recherché Robert-Sauve en sante at an securite du travail (IRSST) of Canada.
• Conducted OWL workshops with AOSHRI leaders to identify emerging WSH risks in Asia.
• Achieved consensus to:
  • formalise the AOSHRI network through an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU);
  • explore alignment with ASEAN-OSHNET so that research done by AOSHRI would provide evidence to support ASEAN-OSHNET’s future work priorities;
  • enhance the governance structure for AOSHRI with the election of a Chair Person and a Secretariat for a period of 3 + 2 years. Dr Gan Siok Lin, Executive Director of WSH Institute was nominated as the Chair Person, with Sri Lanka as a Secretariat with effect from 11 March 2015. The next AOSHRI meeting will be held in Sri Lanka in end October 2016;
  • establish a collaboration platform for all AOSHRI members to share data.

AOSHRI¹ refers to the Asian OSH Research Institutes consisting of occupational health and research institutes from 12 economies. These include Brunei, Cambodia, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam

Sheffield Group² is a grouping of chief executives of the different occupational safety and health (OSH) research institutes in Europe, USA, Canada, Singapore and South Korea. Meetings are held annually in different member countries. The Sheffield Group is currently coordinated by the Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Laboratory, the research arm of the Health and Safety Executive of the UK. Similar to AOSHRI, the broad mandate of the group is the informal exchange of information and the latest developments in OSH research and knowledge