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Fewer workplace fatalities and injuries in First Half 2017

Workplace safety and health

Vehicular-related incidents leading cause of fatal injuries

  1. There were 19 workplace fatalities in 1H 2017, down from 24 in 2H 2016, and 42 in 1H 2016. The manufacturing sector was the top contributor to workplace fatalities (5 cases) followed by construction sector (2 cases). There were fewer workplace injuries in 1H 2017 (6,151) compared to 2H 2016 (6,769) and 1H 2016 (6,245). However, the number of confirmed Occupational Disease cases increased from 341 cases in 2H 2016 to 467 cases in 1H 2017.

    Table 1: Number of workplace incidents
    1H 2016 2H 2016 1H 2017
    Overall Workplace Injuries 6,245 6,769 6,151
    • Fatal Injuries
    		 42 24 19
    • Major Injuries
    		 289 305 268
    • Minor Injuries
    		 5,914 6,440 5,864
    Dangerous Occurrences 26 19 19
    Occupational Diseases (OD) 391 341 467
    Overview of workplace injuries & occupational diseases
  2. The manufacturing sector accounted for the highest number (1,431 cases) of workplace injuries and occupational diseases. This was followed by the construction, accommodation and food service activities, and transportation and storage sectors. In total, these four sectors accounted for 54% of workplace injuries (3,300 out of 6,151) and 73% of the occupational diseases (340 out of 467) in 1H 2017.

    Table 2: Sectors with the most number of workplace injuries and occupational diseases 1H 2017

      Manufacturing Construction Accommodation and Food Service Activities Transportation and Storage
    Overall Workplace Injuries 1,247 955 570 528
    • Fatal Injuries
    		 5 2 1 3
    • Major Injuries
    		 60 47 27 25
    • Minor Injuries
    		 1,182 906 542 500
    Occupational Diseases (OD) 184 71 32 53
  3. Vehicular-related incidents and Falls continued to be the top causes of workplace fatalities. There were 7 fatalities from vehicular-related incidents in 1H 2017, down from 12 in 2H 2016. There were 4 fatalities from falls in 1H 2017, up from 3 in 2H 2016. The other causes of fatalities included fires/explosions, drowning, collapse of formwork, struck by falling objects, struck by moving objects (excluding vehicles), exposure to extreme temperatures and exposure to hazardous substances.

    Table 3: Leading causes of fatal injuries in 1H 2017

      1H 2016 2H 2016 1H 2017
    Vehicular-related Incidents 10 12 7
    Falls
    • Falls from Heights
    		 11 2 2
    • Slips, Trips & Falls
    		 5 1 2
    Fires & Explosions 0 0 2
  4. Falls was also the top cause of major injuries in 1H 2017 with 111 cases, or 41% of all major injuries, even though there was a reduction of 14% in the number of cases from 2H 2016.

    Table 4: Leading causes of major injuries, in 1H 2017

      1H 2016 2H 2016 1H 2017
    Falls
    • Falls from Heights
    		 34 39 35
    • Slips, Trips & Fallslip
    		 83 90 76
    Caught In/Between Objects (excluding vehicular-related) 28 28 25
    Exposure to Extreme Temperature 13 17 22
    Vehicular-related Incidents 28 22 20
  5. The top three Occupational Diseases in 1H 2017 were Noise Induced Deafness (NID), Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Occupational Skin Diseases. NID cases rose by 84% to 195 cases from the 106 cases in 2H 2016, accounting for 42% of Occupational Diseases in 1H 2017. The number of cases of Occupational Skin Disease doubled, likely due to greater awareness of reporting requirements. MOM will continue outreach efforts to engage industries in managing their health hazards.

    Table 5: Top Three Occupational Diseases

      1H 2016 2H 2016 1H 2017
    Noise Induced Deafness 216 106 195
    Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders 142 174 179
    Occupational Skin Disease 26 21 50
  6. Executive Director of Workplace Safety & Health Institute, Dr Gan Siok Lin commented, “While the number of fatalities had dropped compared to 1H 2016, we should continue to be vigilant. There is a need for added focus on vehicular safety given the higher incidence of fatality due to vehicular-related incidents. The increase in Occupational Disease cases also suggests that more effort is needed to manage health hazards in the workplace. I would like to remind employers and workers to focus on improving risk communication, supervision and work coordination as our analysis of fatal and major injuries had revealed these to be the main gaps.

    Enforcement Operations
  7. In 1H 2017, MOM conducted over 2,800 inspections. 400 of these inspections focused on workplace traffic management practices in warehouses, storage yards, factories and construction sites. Another 400 targeted work at height activities in the construction, manufacturing, marine & transport and storage industries.
  8. Arising from these inspections, 4,300 Workplace Safety and Health violations were uncovered and 28 Stop-Work Orders (SWO) issued. The average duration of SWOs issued was 4 weeks. Composition fines amounting to a total of $500,000 were imposed on 190 companies during this period. The three top violations were work at height-related (25%), unsafe storage and improper housekeeping (25%) and poor machine safety (15%).

    Upcoming Enforcement Operations
  9. In 2H 2017, MOM’s inspections will target three areas: (a) vehicular safety in the construction, logistics and transport sector; (b) fall from heights, slips, trips and falls in the construction, marine and manufacturing sectors, and (c) machinery safety in the construction and manufacturing sector.