Heightened safety period extended amid rise in workplace accidents; higher penalties for breaches

The WSH Council will launch a national campaign in April to encourage workers and members of the public to report unsafe practices at workplaces. 

“Workers are encouraged to first report WSH concerns to their supervisors and companies for expedient resolution, before raising it to the authorities if no action is taken,” said the ministry.

“Bite-sized” versions of the WSH guidance materials will also be introduced.

MOM said the annualised workplace fatality rate for every 100,000 workers improved during the heightened safety period, falling from 1.5 from January to August 2022, to 0.8 for the last four months of the year. 

However, the annualised major injury rate per 100,000 workers increased from 16.8 to 18.7 within that same period.

The impact of the heightened safety period was uneven across sectors.

Construction showed the most improvement in terms of monthly average fatal and major injuries, falling from 1.6 to 0.3.

In the transportation and storage sector, there was no improvement in the monthly average fatalities, while the figure for major injuries went up.

Improvements in the annualised workplace fatality rate as well as in the construction sector show that tangible results in workplace safety are possible, said Senior Minister of State for Manpower Zaqy Mohamad.

“However, we are still not where we want to be – which is why we remain cautious and have decided to extend the HSP with additional measures,” he added.

In 2022, there were 46 workplace deaths, higher than the 37 recorded in 2021, 30 in 2020 and 39 in 2019.