here - Workplace Safety and Health Council

2 STRATEGIC STRIDES STRATEGIC STRIDES 3
LAUNCH OF THE
National Workplace Safety
and Health Campaign 2013
The Workplace Safety and Health (WSH)
Council was established on 1 April
2008 to raise the workplace safety
and health standards in Singapore. The
Council comprises 19 leaders from the
major industry sectors, the Government,
unions and professionals from the
legal, insurance and academic fields.
The Council’s key thrusts are to build
industry capabilities to better manage
WSH, to promote safety and health at
work, to recognise companies with
good WSH records and to set acceptable
WSH practices. There are seven industry
committees focusing on the areas of
construction and landscaping, healthcare,
logistics and transport, marine works,
chemical, metalworking, manufacturing
and hospitality and entertainment.
Three functional committees have also
been formed to identify, champion and
implement initiatives in the areas of
engagement and outreach, workplace
health and industry capability building.
SHINE is a quarterly newsletter on
workplace safety and health issues.
For contributions, feedback or more
information, please e-mail
WSHC_SHINE@wshc.sg
PUBLISHER
Workplace Safety and Health Council
ADDRESS
1500 Bendemeer Road,
#04-01 MOM Services Centre
Singapore 339946
This year, the National Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Campaign
brings a personalised message to all workers with “This could be you“.
The campaign strikes hard at a common safety mindset that “accidents
would not happen to me” and is a timely reminder to all that accidents can
happen to anyone if we ignore WSH practices.
The year-long campaign was launched on 20 May 2013 at The
Cube, Asia Square by Guest-of-Honour, Prime Minister (PM)
Lee Hsien Loong. In his opening speech, PM Lee highlighted
the importance of WSH and the role everyone can play to instil
safety consciousness and work safely in the workplace. While
Singapore’s fatality rate has halved — from 4.0 per 100,000
employees in 2005 to 2.1 per 100,000 in 2012 — there is still
room for improvement as Singapore lags behind developed
countries such as UK (0.6), Germany (0.7) and Australia (1.9).
At the launch, 37 government agencies showed their support
for WSH with a commitment to raise safety standards in public
construction and development projects by setting and enforcing
WSH rules.
Chairman of the WSH Council, Mr Lee Tzu Yang, also shared in his
opening address that this year’s campaign aimed to remind all
workers that accidents could happen to anyone and when they do
happen, the worker’s loved ones would also be adversely affected.
This message was also reinforced in the Council’s new TV
commercial that was unveiled during the event and can now be
seen on local and online media platforms. Striking a sombre tone,
the commercial shows a worker slipping and falling off the side
of a building at a construction site. As he plunges downwards in
slow motion, he is seen to personify various everyday workers
— a father of two, a newly-wed husband, an only child. This puts
a real face to the consequences of ignoring safety practices at
work. View the TV commercial at www.wshc.sg
PM Lee trying out the latest set of WSH exhibits that companies can tap on to
educate their workers on safety and health measures.
Catch our latest TV commercial at www.wshc.sg
INNOVATIVE WAYS TO SPREAD THE SAFETY MESSAGE
The event also unveiled WSH Council’s new augmented reality
installation. The installation features an interactive screen
showcasing seemingly ordinary workplace scenarios such as a
warehouse full of boxes, a loading bay and chemical drums placed
neatly in rows. When the participant steps on a trigger point in
front of the screen, he is visually projected within a workplace
scenario on screen. Within a split second, the scenario quickly
escalates into a “fatal” accident, with the participant being
“buried” by falling boxes, “hit” by a reversing truck or “burnt” by
a chemical fire. The installation drew crowds of participants from
school children to workers.
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A participant tries out the augmented reality installation.
For more information on booking WSH exhibits, visit www.wshc.sg