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Speech at Marine Industries CEO Summit

Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Manpower, Royal Ballroom, The Regent Singapore

Mr Lee Tzu Yang, Chairman, Workplace Safety and Health Council

Mr Wong Weng Sun, President, Association of Singapore Marine Industries

Keynote speaker Mr Terry McPhail, President and General Manager, ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia, Inc

Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Morning

I am pleased to join you today at the Marine CEO Summit, organised by the Workplace Safety and Health Council. This Summit highlights one of the key principles of the WSH framework - industry ownership - and in particular, ownership of WSH outcomes from the top management both in your sector and your organisation.

2. I am heartened to hear that close to 200 management representatives from the marine industries are here today. That so many of you have taken time out from your busy schedules to attend this event reflects the industry's strong commitment to safety.

STAKEHOLDER COMMITMENT IS KEY TO IMPROVING WSH OUTCOMES

3. Indeed, the commitment of stakeholders is a critical ingredient to improving WSH performance and outcomes. Capability building, raising awareness and effective regulation are all important elements. But if stakeholders – at the industry, company and individual level – do not have the desire and determination to do better in WSH, all these other elements in themselves cannot lead to sustained improvements.

Implementing WSH 2018 for the Marine Sector

4. This desire and determination is evident in the marine industries. A draft WSH 2018 Plan for the marine sector has been jointly developed by the Marine Industries Committee of the WSH Council and my Ministry. This document is being released today for public consultation. It identifies programmes and initiatives to tackle safety challenges specific to the marine sector. It contextualises the framework provided by the WSH 2018, the national strategy for workplace safety and health.

5. In the marine sector plan, the industry has committed to halving the current industry fatality rate of 9.2 fatalities per 100, 000 employees to 4.6 by 2013, with a further reduction to less than 1.8 fatalities per 100,000 employees by 2018. This target is in line with the target set by WSH 2018. It is a bold and ambitious move but it is realisable and a necessary step in the right direction. The industry has also committed itself to meeting additional targets. It aims to reduce workplace injury to less than 200 injuries per 100,000 employees by 2013 and a further reduction to less than 100 injuries per 100,000 by 2018.

MIndSET Change

6. Apart from goal setting, the commitment of the marine industries to safety also comes through in the willingness of industry stakeholders to support and collaborate with each other to collectively raise standards. The Marine Industries Safety Engagement Team, or MIndSET, is a good example of this. Led by the Association for Singapore Marine Industries (ASMI), MIndSET brings participating shipyards together to share best practices. They will also conduct site walkthroughs for fellow participants, to provide each other with an objective third-party review of areas for improvement in WSH. Participating shipyards are not the only ones who will benefit from MIndSET. Resident and common contractors will also benefit as findings will be shared with the sector as a whole. MIndSET will be included as a key programme under the marine sectoral plan. The pilot programme will kick off in the first quarter of 2010, involving 14 shipyards under six companies, namely Keppel Shipyard, Sembawang Shipyard, Jurong Shipyard, Keppel FELS, ST Marine and Drydocks World. I understand from ASMI that, following the pilot, MIndSET will be extended to other shipyards. Eventually, I hope to see all shipyards on board MIndSET.

Pledge for Zero - A CEO Commitment Charter

7. Commitment to raise the bar on safety is also strong among the industry CEOs. The safety culture of any organisation is often shaped by the position and approach adopted by its senior management. Employees take their cue from their leaders. If the CEO and management leaders make safety a priority and personal responsibility, employees will naturally follow suit.

8. I am pleased to learn that 27 CEOs from the various shipyards have committed to the Pledge for Zero Charter to achieve a zero injury workplace. The Charter will require concrete actions on the part of signatories, who must put in place an appropriate governance structure, resource allocation, communication and safety strategies as well as provide regular updates of the progress and effectiveness of these actions. Through this, they can benchmark their own performance against fellow shipyards. This serves as a source of motivation for participating shipyards to continually raise the bar on their WSH performance. Pledge for Zero is also a collaborative programme as signatories come together to share their WSH best practices and exchange ideas on improving WSH performance.

9. I would like to commend Singapore's two major marine companies for taking the lead on this. Both the Keppel Offshore and Marine group as well as the Sembcorp Marine group will be committing to the Pledge for Zero initiative across the entire group. This brings on board all eight companies under the two groups which account for a large part of the work in the marine sector. As the top leaders of these companies have pledged to take concrete measures to further improve safety systems and processes, over 20,000 workers under their charge can be assured of a safer workplace. My commendation also goes out to the other pledging companies today. I urge more companies from the marine sector, including subcontractors, to follow the lead of today's pioneer group of pledgers.

INAUGURAL SINGAPORE WSH CONFERENCE

10. In recognition of the critical role that CEOs play in building a progressive and pervasive safety culture, my Ministry and the WSH Council will continue to facilitate platforms for CEOs to come together to discuss leading edge practices in WSH and the integration of WSH into their organisations. CEO Summits are one such platform. MOM and WSHC plan to go one step further. We are organising the inaugural Singapore WSH Conference for CEOs from across the region and across all sectors to come together to discuss new challenges and frontiers in WSH and how to deal with them.

11. To be held in September next year, the inaugural Singapore WSH Conference will focus on the impact and implications of WSH challenges faced by businesses in Asia. It will also feature the strategies by leading edge businesses to address some of these issues. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) will be our strategic partner. I am confident the Conference will be a successful one and will help profile WSH ideas and solutions customised for Asia. Positioned as the premier WSH conference within Asia, we expect to draw some 600 participants, ranging from CEOs, senior government officials to WSH professionals. I hope that the Conference will receive strong support from the marine sector.

CONCLUSION

12. In conclusion, let me once again thank the WSH Council, the Marine Industries Committee and the various stakeholders in the marine sector for their support and contributions to WSH. Through your commitment and efforts towards improving WSH standards in your industry, I am confident the target of less than 1.8 fatalities per 100,000 employees which you have set for the marine sector will be achieved by 2018. Thank you.