Oral Answer to PQ on Enforcement and Adoption of Haze Guidelines for Outdoor Workers

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1518 OF 2026 FOR THE SITTING ON OR AFTER 4 NOVEMBER 2026
QUESTION NO. 3368 FOR ORAL ANSWER

MP: Ms Yeo Wan Ling

To ask the Acting Minister for Manpower in light of recent news reports on outdoor workers’ health being adversely affected by their working conditions, what actions can the Ministry take to ensure that employers improve the adoption rate of the Ministry’s haze guidelines among outdoor workers.

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1526 OF 2026 FOR THE SITTING ON OR AFTER 4 NOVEMBER 2026
QUESTION NO. 3420 FOR ORAL ANSWER

MP: Ms Eileen Chong Pei Shan

To ask the Acting Minister for Manpower regarding the Ministry's haze guidance for outdoor work (a) how the Ministry determines and enforces employer compliance with it; (b) what support the Ministry provides to employers who reduce or stop outdoor work in line with it; and (c) whether it will make the key measures for haze mandatory, as it has done for additional heat stress practices from 1 December 2026.

Answer:

Mr Speaker, may I seek your permission to address Oral PQs No. 3368 and No. 3420 together.

2 Under the Workplace Safety and Health Act, employers must take reasonable and practicable measures to keep their workers safe, and that includes protecting them from haze. It is mandatory for employers to adhere to MOM’s haze guidelines, which stipulate the measures that employers should adopt, based on the daily PSI forecast, in planning outdoor work arrangements for the following day. Since September this year, MOM has conducted more than 500 worksite inspections on compliance with the guidelines. Most workplaces inspected had the necessary protection measures in place. The most common lapse was an absent or incomplete risk assessment on haze-related hazards. For such cases, employers were issued Notices of Non-Compliance and required to rectify the lapse or face composition fines.

3 MOM has also issued an advisory based on 1-hour PM2.5 readings to help employers make timely adjustments on the ground. MOM encourages employers to adopt the measures in the advisory and will continue to remind employers to do so, including during worksite inspections.

4 When employers reduce or stop outdoor work due to the haze, the Tripartite Advisory on Haze-Related Workplace Measures provides practical guidance on how to manage the impact on their workers, including on flexible work arrangements, leave and salary matters.