

There has been a worrying increase in workplace fatalities recently in Singapore.
In 2022 alone, there has been a total of 45 workplace fatalities, exceeding the total of 37 workplace deaths reported in 2021. There were also more than 9,000 workplace safety breaches that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) took enforcement action against – double the number of such breaches in the same period last year.
The majority of these workplace deaths were in industries with ‘higher-risk’ settings, such as construction, transport and storage, marine and manufacturing. It was also found that these accidents mostly happened not due to the lack of experience, but preventable safety lapses like the lack of adherence to safe work procedures. In addition, the majority of the accidents occurred in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
So why do these preventable accidents keep repeating themselves? It goes without saying, but both employers and employees must take the workplace safety and health (WSH) Act seriously and personally. It requires the combined efforts of all stakeholders — top management, supervisors and workers alike should build safe workplaces and prevent any deaths or injuries.
Let’s first understand what the Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Act (WSHA) is, and why it’s so important.
In this factsheet, we cover:
Download the factsheet now.
The Workplace Safety and Health Act is key legislation enacted in 2006, which covers the safety, health and welfare of persons at work. It holds stakeholders accountable in taking practical steps to ensure the safety and health of workers, and others affected by work.
Before the enactment of the WSHA in 2006, the Factories Act was the main legislation covering industrial safety in Singapore. However, it was deemed to be inadequate in coverage and penalties amidst an increase in workplace fatalities and incidents in Singapore — including the shocking Nicoll Highway tunnel collapse. The Factories Act was thus repealed and led to the enactment of the WSHA.
The Factories Act initially only covered companies involved in construction, marine, semiconductor, metal works, as well as oil and petroleum, but with the enactment of the WSHA, it included all workplaces by 2011. The Workplace Injury Compensation Act was also enacted to ensure fair compensation of injured workers across all businesses.
The new framework of the WSHA is guided by the following principles as outlined by the MOM:
There is also a whole list of subsidiary legislations under the WSHA. Each subsidiary legislation applies to different premises, such as factories, all workplaces, and more.
What is the purpose of the Workplace Safety and Health Act?
The WHSA aims to ensure the creation of a strong safety culture in the workplace, and cultivate good safety habits in every employee, regardless of where they stand in the workplace.
The WSHA places the responsibility of workplace safety on all relevant stakeholders along lines of control in the workplace — and identifies what their legal obligations are. In essence, the WSHA protects everyone in the workplace by holding them accountable for carrying out their required actions.
Stakeholders identified under the WSHA are:
Every employee wants to work in a safe and comfortable environment — who wants to be doing work that requires them to risk their lives? Ensuring occupational safety needs to be a top priority for employers, not least because it is a legal obligation for employers to provide workers with a safe working environment.
By ensuring that your workers are protected, you’re also ensuring higher productivity levels and reduced absences because they can be at ease and performing their best. Minimising downtime caused by accidents, injuries or illnesses means less disruption to your business, as well as well-executed projects and deadlines being met. Not to mention it saves your business from exorbitant costs.
Maintaining a good reputation and safety record is also a huge competitive advantage — it builds trust in your brand and opens your business up to more opportunities. Clients certainly don’t want to be working with businesses who have a poor safety record — there’s so much at risk that can affect profitability of the business, create legal implications, and even result in closure of the business.
When you make safety a priority for your business, you get to keep your business running smoothly, boost staff morale, enhance productivity and profitability, and spur future growth. Invest in workplace safety, and both your business and employees will thank you.
Employers can refer to plenty of free and available resources to better manage WSH at the workplace. WSH case studies and alerts in particular, enable employers to learn from past incidents and implement additional measures to prevent a similar recurrence.
The CheckSafe database also enables anyone to look up a company’s safety statistics. It details workplace fatalities, stop-work orders issued, and any accolades a firm has received, such as MOM’s WSH Award or bizSAFE Award.
The StartSAFE programme is completely free and helps small and medium enterprises (SMEs) identify WSH risks and implement good WSH practices. If you’re keen to improve workplace safety and health practices in your organisation, check out the START Your Safety and Health at Work guide, which will steer you through a five-stage approach.
Does your company have a workplace safety and health policy at the moment? A well-written and clearly communicated policy helps to set clear expectations around employee behaviour and workplace procedures. It’s not difficult to write one for your business — here are some helpful tips.
And don’t forget, workplace safety and health doesn’t just apply to contractors, or construction worksites and industry. With the rise of remote work, it’s also important for employees to have an ergonomic setup when they work long hours from home.
For growing Singaporean SMEs looking to ensure a safe and conducive working environment for all your employees, why not do it seamlessly with Employment Hero? Our all-in-one payroll and HR software allows you to manage your people easily with built-in policies, contracts and templates ready to go when you need them.
Enjoy fuss-free paperless onboarding with new hires quickly and compliantly by having virtual contracts, policy acknowledgements, and employee files completed electronically, especially with all things pertaining to health and safety in the workplace. Employees can also easily access internal policies anytime and anywhere, for quick reference when needed.
When it comes to workplace health and safety, being proactive is always better than being reactive.
Learn more about the Workplace Safety and Health Act in Singapore by downloading this factsheet now.