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Fatal injury rate stayed at 1.9 per 100,000 employed persons, but more non-fatal workplace injuries in 2016

Workplace safety and health
  1. In 2016, there were 66 workplace fatalities resulting in a fatal injury rate of 1.9 per 100,000 employed persons, similar to 2015. The number of fatalities reduced from 42 in 1H2016 to 24 in 2H2016, a 43% reduction. However, the number of workplace injury cases increased by 5.4%, from 12,351 cases in 2015 to 13,014 in 2016. Occupational disease cases decreased from 935 in 2015 to 732 in 2016.

    Table 1: Number of workplace injuries and occupational diseases, 2015 and 2016
    2016 2015
    Overall Workplace Injuries 13,014 12,351
    • Fatal Injuries
    		 66 66
    • Major Injuries
    		 594 597
    • Minor Injuries
    		 12,354 11,688
    Dangerous Occurrences (DO) 45 46
    Occupational Diseases (OD) 732 935
    Overview of workplace fatal injuries
  2. The Construction, Marine, Manufacturing, and Transportation & Storage sectors accounted for 76% (50 cases) of all workplace fatalities in 2016.

    Key findings for workplace fatal injuries:
    • The Construction sector remained the top contributor of workplace fatalities. However, the number of fatalities fell from 27 in 2015 to 24 in 2016. The fatal injury rate also decreased to 4.9 per 100,000 employed persons, the lowest since 2007.
    • The Marine sector, however, saw an increase in fatalities, from 4 in 2015 to 6 in 2016.
    • Fatalities in the Manufacturing sector also increased, with 9 in 2016, compared to 6 in 2015.
    • The Transportation & Storage sector accounted for 11 fatalities, compared to 15 in 2015.
    • Among the 66 fatalities, Falls was the leading incident type with 19 (29%) fatalities, followed by Struck by Moving Objects with 13 (20%) fatalities, Caught in/between Objects with 8 (12%) fatalities, and Struck by Falling Objects with 6 (9%) fatalities.

    Table 2: Number of workplace fatal injuries by industry, 2015 and 2016
    Industry 2016 2015
    All Sectors 66 66
    • Construction
    		 24 27
    • Marine
    		 6 4
    • Manufacturing
    		 9 6
    • Transportation & Storage
    		 11 15
    Overview of major and minor injuries
  3. The number of workplace major injuries decreased slightly from 597 cases in 2015 to 594 cases in 2016. Workplace minor injuries however, increased by 5.7% from 11,688 cases in 2015, to 12,354 cases in 2016.

    Key findings for major injuries:
    • Crushing, Fractures and Dislocations were the leading types of injury, accounting for 55% of all workplace major injuries. The number of cases went up slightly from 323 in 2015 to 329 in 2016.
    • Amputations were the second leading injury type, with 143 workers suffering from complete loss of a member/part of a member of the injured person’s body in 2016. This is a 22% increase compared to the 117 cases in 2015.
    • Falls, Struck by Moving Objects and Caught in/between Objects accounted for 65% (387 cases) of all major injuries in 2016.

    Key findings for minor injuries:
    • Slips, Trips and Falls remained the main area of concern for workplace minor injuries being 27% (3,315 cases) of all minor injuries in 2016.

    Overview of dangerous occurrences
  4. The number of dangerous occurrences (DO) decreased slightly from 46 cases in 2015 to 45 cases in 2016.

    Key findings for dangerous occurrences:
    • Construction sector was the top contributor of DO cases, accounting for 22 cases compared with 23 in 2015. This is almost half (49%) of all DOs in 2016.
    • Manufacturing sector was the second top contributor with 11 cases in 2016, down from 12 cases in 2015.
    • The top DO was Collapse/Failure of Structures and Equipment (60% of all DOs), of which 19 cases (42% of all DOs) were incidents related to crane such as collapse, failure of wire ropes and safety devices.

    Overview of occupational diseases
  5. The number of occupational diseases (OD) cases decreased from 935 cases in 2015, to 732 this year.

    Key findings for occupational disease cases:
    • Similar to 2015, the leading OD was Noise-Induced Deafness (NID) (322 cases), followed by Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (316 cases). Together they made up 87% of all OD cases.
    • The drop in the number of OD cases was due to a drop in NID cases from the Construction, Marine, and Manufacturing sectors.

    Concern over increase in workplace injury cases in 2016
  6. Executive Director of the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Institute, Dr Gan Siok Lin commented, “Besides looking at fatal injuries, there is a need to pay closer attention to major injuries which cause much suffering to the injured worker and also his family. Injured workers who are on longer medical leave and have some loss in function are more likely not to return to the workforce. I therefore strongly urge the industry to review their risk assessments, to ensure that all workplace hazards are identified and the control measures are communicated to workers so that they are not harmed by their work and can return home safe to their families. This will also help to raise morale and productivity when workers know their employers care."