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Speech at Chip Eng Seng Engineering & Construction Pte Ltd's Celebration of Safety Excellence

Mr Hawazi Daipi, Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Manpower , Health), Oasis@Elias Condominium, Elias Rd

Workplace safety and health
Mr Lim Tiam Seng, Chairman, Chip Eng Seng Corporation Ltd

Mr Yeo Siang Thong, Managing Director, CES Engineering & Construction Pte Ltd

Management and Employees of CES

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Introduction

Good morning.

  1. Let me start by thanking CES for inviting me to be part of this meaningful celebration. Achieving One Million Accident-Free Man-Hours at Oasis@Elias is a commendable achievement. I believe this is made possible only through the collective efforts and strong commitment of all involved — management, supervisors, workers, contractors and sub-contractors.

    Construction Sector's performance in the first nine months of 2010
  2. In this worksite, all your workers were able to return home safely after work every day. This was not the case for 23 construction workers who were killed at work in the first nine months of this year. Every of these 23 workers is a solemn reminder to all of us that life is precious and we must do everything we can to keep our workers safe. This year, so far, construction fatalities account for about 60% of all work fatalities reported to MOM. To intervene on the poorer practices in the sector, my Ministry's Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate has intensified its enforcement efforts and will carry out 1,000 inspections in the next few months.

    Engaging hearts and minds
  3. While my Ministry will take stern action on parties who neglect work safety, enforcement cannot be the only way to prevent fatalities and accidents at workplaces for MOM officers cannot monitor the thousands of worksites in Singapore every second of the day. Developers, contractors, subcontractors and workers must play their part too. In short, ownership of safety is very critical. I can see that ownership is strong in this Oasis@Elias worksite that has done well in ensuring worker safety. What we need is for this same mindset and behaviour to be replicated in all worksites. Today, I will talk about how we can cultivate ownership and the right safety behaviour through engaging hearts and minds. Let me elaborate.
  4. First, safety is all about putting our hearts into ensuring safety all the time. In safety, we are talking about lives, about people whose families can be greatly affected by the lack of safety. While we cannot put a value on safety, the lack of it can exact a hefty price on those affected. How do we put our hearts into safety? Let me highlight some examples.
  5. If you are part of the management team and you have heart, you will act on your responsibility to those who look to you for leadership and guidance. You must show your commitment to safety – set aside resources and put in place an effective management system to deal with safety and health issues. You must also take a personal interest in the safety and well-being of your workers. To do this, you have to "walk the talk". Let your staff know that you care about their safety and get them involved in making sure that they keep themselves safe at work.
  6. If you are a WSH professional, your must remember that your actions and work can affect the lives of your colleagues. It is your duty to ensure their safety and well-being. If you are a supervisor, you have to guide your workers everyday to work safely. You are the vital bridge between the workers and the management. And you can do much to help management understand how to better implement safety measures on the ground and to help workers keep themselves safe. Finally, if you are a worker, you, too, must do your part. You need to listen to your supervisor and follow the safety procedures so that you will not endanger yourself or your colleagues.
  7. My second point is about putting your mind into safety. When large groups of individuals work together, they need a structured process to guide them to work safely. So, if you have heart, what you then need is to engage the minds to prevent incidents in a systematic manner. Let me give you some examples on how this could be done.
  8. Falls from height is the top killer at our worksites, accounting for more than half of all construction fatalities. Working at height in a site like yours is a daily affair. But we can take the right measures to prevent fatal falls. What we need is a Fall Protection Plan. This is a structured process that guides worksites like yours to ensure that all fall hazards are identified and measures taken to protect your workers. All worksites should ensure that such a plan is in place and that all workers are trained to follow the plan. Another example is the management of lifting operations. The use of large complex machines like cranes is potentially hazardous. When using cranes, worksites must always have a Lifting Plan in place, with the entire lifting team properly trained and briefed before a lifting activity is carried out.

    Moving Ahead
  9. Engaging minds goes beyond well-thought plans and systems. Each and every worker's minds must also be engaged and these plans need to be communicated to every one of them. I believe that this worksite has taken efforts to engage both hearts and minds to achieve the milestone of One Million Accident-Free Man-Hours today. Let me challenge the management of CES to replicate this success in all other CES worksites. Share your knowledge, success factors and commitment to safety that are well demonstrated in this site across all your other sites.
  10. I am glad to note that all CES worksites have ensured zero fatalities this year. CES must take all possible measures to prevent all work incidents such as those that killed two of your workers in 2008 and 2009. During these incidents, one of your workers was electrocuted and another was killed by a fallen object during a lifting operation. These are all common work processes and could be prevented if we adopt the right measures and put our hearts and minds wholeheartedly into ensuring worker safety.
  11. This year so far, CES has reduced injuries in your sites by over 60% as compared to last year. This is a positive development but I urge you to improve further. Put in the same efforts that you have invested in this worksite to standardise good practices, manage your subcontractors well and engage all your employees across all CES worksites so that they can achieve the same commendable results in safety performance. I am certain that if all of you put your hearts and minds to this, you can succeed. I look forward to the day that we celebrate an accident free CES across all your worksites. Thank you.