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Written Answer by Mrs Josephine Teo Minister for Manpower to PQ on Fatality and Injury Rates for Work at Heights

Workplace safety and health

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1716 OF 2019 FOR THE SITTING ON 8 JUL 2019

 

QUESTION NO. 1292 FOR WRITTEN ANSWER

 

MP: Mr Melvin Yong

 

To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) for the past five years, what are the fatality and injury rates respectively for working at heights; (b) which are the sectors most prone to such risk; and (c) what actions are the Ministry taking to prevent accidents from working at heights.

 

Answer

 

  1. Both fatal and non-fatal falls from height injury rates have declined from 2014 to 2018. Fatal injuries declined from 0.3 per 100,000 workers in 2014 to 0.2 in 2018. Non-fatal injuries declined from 23 per 100,000 workers to 19 in the same period.

    Table: Workplace injury rates (per 100,000 workers) for falls from height

     Type of Injury 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
     Fatal  0.3 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.2
     Non-fatal  23.2 19.8 19.5 18.5 19.0


  2. The sector most prone to falls from height injury risks is construction, followed by marine and manufacturing.

  3. Sustained enforcement and engagement efforts in the construction, marine and manufacturing sectors have contributed to the declining injury rates. Falls from height risk is a primary focus in MOM inspections. The Workplace Safety and Health Council (WSHC) has also rolled out outreach programmes to educate companies and workers on how to prevent falls from height risk. These included the “Target Zero Falls” Campaign last November, where over 150 companies pledged their support and conducted ‘Safety Time Outs’ for their management to review work-at-heights activities. Companies will also be able to tap on free WSH consultancy services on how to prevent falls from height and other workplace risks, under the WSHC’s Safety Compliance Assistance Visits (SCAV+) programme.