Workplace fatalities fall to 15-year low
But number of injuries up for second successive year
Worker deaths here fell to another record low last year, but more got hurt on the job.
This is because both major and minor non-fatal injuries at the workplace rose for the second year running, largely due to slips, trips and falls.
According to data released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) yesterday, there were 39 workplace fatalities last year, or 1.1 per 100,000 workers.
This is compared with 41 deaths, or 1.2 per 100,000 workers, in 2018.
This is the lowest since 2004, when records were first compiled, and is in spite of a spate of nine deaths last November.
Non-fatal injuries, however, continued to tick upwards, from 12,769 in 2018 to 13,740 in 2019.
Major injuries rose by 5 per cent to 629 cases, the most since 2014, while minor injuries rose by 8 per cent to 13,111 cases, a nine-year high.
Slips, trips and falls were the leading cause, making up 34 per cent of major injuries and 28 per cent of minor injuries.
Such incidents have also led to major injuries in lower-risk sectors such as food services and retail creeping up.
The Manpower Ministry highlighted construction workers, drivers, cleaners, kitchen workers and security guards as being prone to such injuries.
Meanwhile, MOM also noted a rise in major injuries in the manufacturing and transport and storage sectors.
Fatalities in the latter sector doubled to eight, with three involving workers falling off water transport.
There is also an emerging concern of deaths caused by the collapse or failure of structures and equipment, which rose to seven last year from four in 2018.
The construction sector continued to have the highest number of fatalities, with 13 last year, and MOM found that construction workers with less than three years' experience were more prone to fatal injuries.
Urging contractors to retain as many experienced workers as possible, MOM will make a construction safety orientation course mandatory by 2022 and will enhance it with experiential elements such as virtual reality to simulate risky situations like working at height.
New workers and staff who fail their two-yearly competency test will need to attend.
To counter the rise in slips, trips and falls, MOM and the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council reached out to 3,000 school cleaners last year.
And by 2022, a module for cleaners will also be made mandatory.
ENFORCEMENT
The WSH Council also aims to train 1,000 union leaders and industrial relations officers by March next year, and will engage other industries prone to slips, trips and falls, such as the security and food services.
MOM also stepped up enforcement last year, conducting 17,000 inspections and uncovering more than 8,900 contraventions.
It issued 58 stop-work orders with an average duration of six weeks and imposed more than $1.4 million in fines on close to 1,000 companies.
Given the spate of fatalities last November, 400 additional inspections were also conducted from mid-December to mid-February, uncovering 1,023 contraventions.
Eighty-six firms were fined $173,000 in total and nine stop-work orders were issued.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
