To strengthen workplace safety, MOM introduced a six-month “heightened safety” period, which takes effect from Thursday till Feb 28.
Under this, companies who are found to have serious workplace safety lapses as well as their senior management will be held more accountable.
Among the new measures, companies with unsafe workplace conditions or poor risk controls following serious or fatal workplace accidents may be debarred from employing new foreign employees for up to three months.
Chief executives of these companies will also be required to personally account to MOM and take responsibility for rectifications.
Pointing out that more than half of workplace fatalities and injuries this year involved small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Mr Zaqy said MOM will expand the scale of an existing programme that provides SMEs with access to consultants who can help them identify safety and health risks at the workplace and implement good practices.
Between January and June, MOM took enforcement action against more than 9,000 workplace safety breaches – double the number of such breaches in the same period last year.
TARGETED MEASURES FOR CONSTRUCTION SECTOR
With the construction sector being a top contributor of workplace fatalities and serious injuries, targeted measures to strengthen workplace safety within the sector will kick in from next month.
This includes lowering the threshold for issuing demerit points under an existing system implemented in the construction sector, meaning that more demerit points will be issued for workplace safety breaches.
The revised demerit point system also means that errant companies with consistently poor safety performance will reach the penalty thresholds more quickly, resulting in being debarred from hiring foreign employees for up to two years.
From Oct 1, all public sector construction tenders will include a new, harmonised set of disqualification criteria. This will temporarily disqualify contractors with poor workplace safety and health performance from participating in these tenders.
Finally, a multi-sectoral taskforce chaired by Mr Zaqy will be set up to strengthen workplace safety practices and outcomes. This will be advised by an external experts panel comprising industry representatives and WSH consultants.