MOM investigating after alert on unsafe work practice
- The Straits Times Online (07 January 2010) : MOM investigating after alert on unsafe work practice
- The Straits Times Online (01 January 2010) : Workers Seen Working Perilously on Rooftop
MOM Investigating After Alert on Unsafe Work Practice
- The Straits Times Online, 07 January 2010
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) thanks Mr Lionel De Souza for alerting us to an unsafe work practice in his online letter (“Workers seen working perilously on rooftop”, 01 January 2010).
2. Mr De Souza rightly pointed out that falls from height remain the number one cause of workplace deaths. MOM, together with the Workplace Safety & Health Council, has set up the National Work at Height Safety Taskforce to tackle this last year. Contractors are also encouraged to put in place a Fall Protection Plan and to send their workers and supervisors for training.
3. MOM has sent its safety inspectors to the site and is currently investigating the incident. The contractor may be taken to task for exposing their workers to unacceptable level of risks when working at height. MOM views such safety violations very seriously and will take stern enforcement action against the contractor in question. So far, more than 60 companies and 30 individuals have been convicted under the WSH Act last year for failing to ensure safety. Under the Act, companies may be fined up to $500,000. Individuals may be fined up to $200,000 and/or jailed up to 24 months.
4. MOM welcomes the support of concerned stakeholders and the public such as Mr De Souza. They can alert us to unsafe work practices via the MOM safety hotline at (65)6317-1111 or by emailing safetyatwork@mom.gov.sg
Workers Seen Working Perilously on Rooftop
- The Straits Times Online, 01 January 2010
I AM outraged by the lack of care of some building contractors who have no respect for the lives of their workers. On Tuesday at about 2.10pm, I saw two foreign workers working perilously on the rooftop of a nearly completed house, 6C Mugliston Road (off Haig Road). I shudder to think what would have happened if they had lost their balance and fallen what in my estimation is a 10m drop to the ground.
Apparently, the employer of the two foreign workers is either callous or ignorant of efforts by the Ministry of Manpower to stamp out workplace accidents, and the No. 1 cause of deaths is falling from heights.