Stiffer penalities for companies with unsafe workplaces

SINGAPORE – Following a spike in workplace fatalities this year, the Manpower Ministry is imposing harsher penalties on errant companies, which means they will face longer minimum stop-work order periods and may temporarily not be allowed to hire new foreign workers.

There were 28 workplace fatalities between January and April this year, six more than the same period last year. Almost half of them — or 12 cases — were in the construction sector, followed by five in the marine sector.

Effective Thursday (May 12), the minimum stop-work order period was increased from two to three weeks. On top of that, companies will have to meet new conditions, including re-training in all areas of weakness before the order is lifted.

Companies with a record of a workplace fatality or with a stop-work order will also be immediately placed under the ministry’s Business Under Surveillance Programme, which closely supervises poorly performing companies. Launched in 2006, the programme has had more than 500 companies on its list, with 26 now on it.

Under the latest tough measures, such companies may also have their work-pass privileges to hire new foreign workers temporarily suspended until they improve and correct their issues.

Speaking to reporters at an inspection of a construction site in Geylang yesterday, Minister of State for Manpower Sam Tan said errant companies can expect even stiffer penalties if the situation does not improve, though he declined to comment on the nature of these punishments.

He said: “Despite all the stepped-up enforcements and inspections, the number of workplace fatalities is still increasing. That says something about the attitude of the companies and the people working at the worksites. We want them to reflect on this and take the necessary ownership.”

The ministry will work with the Workplace Safety and Health Council to offer free support to companies that need help to improve their safety systems. They have recourse to a new Safety Compliance Assistance Visits Plus Programme, where certified workplace safety and health professionals will offer customised consultancy services to them for free for a limited period.

On the new penalties, Mr Tan said stop-work orders delay project deadlines because all construction work must be stopped, and companies would have to pay liquidated damages to developers. 

During the Budget debates last month, he had talked about a four-pronged approach to workplace safety and health: Raising awareness, building workplace safety and health capability, strengthening enforcement, and imposing harsher penalties.

“At the moment, our assessment is that this approach is likely to be effective in bringing down the number, but we are monitoring this very closely and will continue to step up on inspections,” Mr Tan said.

Under a targeted enforcement operation launched on April 1 called Operation Harrier, the ministry aims to inspect 800 construction and marine worksites by the middle of this month.

Mr Tan said the goal is to conduct at least 16,000 workplace inspections this year to “uncover more dangerous worksites”. Since January, inspectors have made more than 5,000 rounds and issued more than 40 stop-work orders, he added.