Written Answer by Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, Acting Minister for Manpower & Senior Minister of State, National Development, to Parliamentary Question on Casual and Contract Workers Suffering Work-Related Injuries

Mr Chen Show Mao: To ask the Acting Minister for Manpower in each of the years from 2009 to 2011 (a) what was the percentage of casual workers and workers on short-term contract earning S$1,500 or less a month who suffered work-related injury; and (b) what was the percentage for Singapore workers in general.

Mr Tan Chuan-Jin:

We have enjoyed consistent improvements in the workplace injury rates of the resident workforce over the last 3 years. The workplace injury rates of the employed resident workforce decreased from 269.7 per 100,000 employed residents in 2009, to 268.0 in 2010 and to 264.2 last year.

We do not track work-related injuries by the workers’ type of employment, and thus do not have the work-related injury numbers of the workers on casual or term contracts. There has been little change to the number of workplace injuries of our resident workforce earning $1,500 or less a month over the last few years. However, there were fewer resident workers earning $1,500 or less in 2011, compared with 2009. With a constant number of injuries and a smaller number of workers earning $1,500 or less, the workplace injury rates for this group rose moderately from 283.7 per 100,000 workers in 2009, to 287.6 in 2010 and to 297.3 last year.

My Ministry is fully committed to achieve a safer workplace for workers in Singapore through our Workplace Safety and Health 2018 strategy. MOM will continue to enforce work injury compensation for employees and work with the industry to take effective steps to reduce risks for all workers.