|
 |
|
Source:
www.mom.gov.sg |
|
Workplace Safety and Health Act
to take effect from 1 March 2006 |
|
Seven subsidiary legislation
will also be gazetted, including new legislation on Incident
Reporting and Risk Management. |
|
|
The Workplace Safety and Health Act (WSHA),
passed in Parliament on 17 January 2006, will come into effect on 1
March 2006. This Act will replace the current Factories Act. |
|
The WSHA forms part of the new Occupational
Safety and Health (OSH) framework announced by Manpower Minister Dr Ng
Eng Hen in March 2005. It will cover general factories, construction
sites and shipyards. |
|
The Act aims to reduce risks at source by
making stakeholders accountable for managing the risks they create and
taking reasonably practicable steps to ensure the safety and health of
workers. |
|
Seven subsidiary legislation will also be gazetted
under the WSHA. All the subsidiary legislation, with the exception of the
Workplace Safety and Health (Risk Management) Regulations, will also come into
effect on 1 March 2006. |
|
The subsidiary legislation are: |
(a) The Workplace Safety and Health (General Provisions) Regulations
(b) The Workplace Safety and Health (Registration of Factories) Regulations
(c) The Workplace Safety and Health (First-Aid) Regulations
(d) The Workplace Safety and Health (Exemption) Order
(e) The Workplace Safety and Health (Composition of Offences) Regulations
(f) The Workplace Safety and Health (Incident Reporting) Regulations
(g) The Workplace Safety and Health (Risk Management) Regulations |
|
Other than the legislation on Incident Reporting and
Risk Management, most of the requirements in the subsidiary legislation mirror
the current technical and administrative requirements specified in the Factories
Act. |
|
The Workplace Safety and Health (Incident
Reporting) Regulations ¨C All workplaces to report work-related accidents and
diseases from 1 March 2006 |
|
Under the Workplace Safety and Health (Incident
Reporting) Regulations, reporting of work-related accidents and diseases is
expanded to cover all workplaces. |
|
In addition, work-related accidents that
result in the death of or injury to members of public or
self-employed persons must also be reported to the Ministry of
Manpower (MOM). |
|
This will provide the Ministry with more
comprehensive information to identify high-risk workplaces and allow timely
measures to be implemented to improve safety and health standards. A summary of
the reportable accidents and responsibilities of various parties are provided in
Annex A. |
|
Employers, occupiers and doctors who fail to
report accidents to the Ministry under the Incident Reporting
Regulations can face up to $5,000 for the first offence; and up to
$10,000 or 6 months jail or both for the second and subsequent offence.
Persons who knowingly make false notifications can face a fine of up to
$5,000 or 6 months jail. |
|
To provide ease and convenience when
reporting workplace accidents and diseases, employers, occupiers and
doctors can use the new online single-point reporting system ¨C iReport
from 1 March 2006. |
|
The system caters to the reporting of
workplace incidents under the Incident Reporting Regulations as well as
the Workmen¡¯s Compensation Act. |
|
An employer who is reporting an accident
under both pieces of legislation, needs to submit only one report via
the iReport system. iReport is accessible from the MOM website at:
http://www.mom.gov.sg/iReport. |
|
From 1 March 2006, all incident reports
should be submitted through iReport or via new Reporting Forms available
at http://www.mom.gov.sg/oshd. |
|
The Workplace Safety and Health (Risk
Management) Regulations ¨C Employers to conduct risk assessments to
identify workplace safety and health risks |
|
The Workplace Safety and Health (Risk
Management) Regulations require employers, the self-employed and
principal (including contractor and sub-contractor) to conduct risk
assessments for the purpose of identifying workplace safety and health
risks and implementing measures to control the hazards and reducing the
risks. |
|
The Regulations will take effect on 1
September 2006 to allow the industry to have more time to prepare
and comply with the new requirements. |
|
New OSH hotline for reporting of
unsafe workplace practices |
|
In May 2005, the Ministry announced the
setup of an OSH hotline for workers to report any unsafe act in
their workplaces. Since then, arising from reports made to the
hotline, 63 occupiers were issued with compound fines and 18
worksites were issued with Stop Work Orders. |
|
Concurrent with the roll-out of the
Workplace Safety and Health Act and its subsidiary legislation, the
Ministry will be introducing a new OSH hotline on 1 March, 6317
1111, which will replace the old hotline number (6317 1016). |
|
This new hotline number will be easier
for the public to recall. Anyone who wishes to report on unsafe
workplace practices can call the hotline at 6317 1111. |
|
More..... (Annex A) |
|
Source:
www.mom.gov.sg Press Release 28
Feb 2006 |
|
 |
|
Important
Notice |
|
Our FrontPage
Editions are a historical record of our Web site and reflect
the changing of the times, and also of our Web site through
time. We do not and will not update the links and stories on
these FrontPages even if they have become obsolete. |
|
FrontPage Edition: Tue 28 Feb 2006
All rights reserved
