WSH Bulletin, 27 August 2020: Join the SMF’s webinar to learn ways to implement SMM at your workplace // WSH Council urges all to play a part in preventing FFH workplace accidents // Industry Workshop

WSH Bulletin, 27 August 2020: Join the SMF’s webinar to learn ways to implement SMM at your workplace // WSH Council urges all to play a part in preventing FFH workplace accidents // Industry Workshop

Aug 27, 2020

27 August 2020, Ref: 2021043

Join the SMF’s webinar on good practices to implement SMM and WSH at the workplace
 

As companies move into a new normal after the Circuit Breaker, they are now more concerned with ensuring that their workplace is in compliance with the Safe Management Measures (SMM). 
 

With the support of the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council, Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) has come up with a webinar on SMM and WSH for companies in the manufacturing sector. Join the webinar to find out ways on how you can properly implement SMM at your workplace.
 

Through the sharing of good practices, the webinar also seeks to encourage companies to continue keeping WSH as a top priority in their daily operations, while integrating SMM into their existing WSH framework.
 
Date: 9 September 2020 (Wednesday)     
Time: 10:00am – 12:00pm 
 
Register here.
 
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WSH Council urges all to play a part in preventing FFH workplace accidents
 

Falls from height (FFH) remain a major contributor to workplace deaths. In 2018-2019, FFH alone averaged 18.7% of all fatal injuries. That is to say, almost one-fifth of the total workplace deaths were due to falls from height. FFH also made up 10.9% of all major injuries and 4.8% of all minor injuries on average over these two years. See Figure 1 below.
 
                   
                Figure 1: Percentage of FFH for total fatal, major and minor injuries.
 
To assist employers in addressing the high incidence of FFH cases, the WSH Council has put together a list of accident advisories for fatal FFH-related accidents from 2018-2019 (see Tables 1 and 2), each containing valuable lessons with situation-specific recommendations to prevent the recurrence of similar accidents.
 
Accident Date Brief Accident Description                                    
1 May 2018 Worker fell through floor grating
5 May 2018 Worker fell from a building under construction
21 June 2018 Worker fell together with formwork structure
28 June 2018 Worker fell through fall opening
13 August 2018 Worker fell through skylight
19 October 2018 Worker fell through roof insulation
6 November 2018 Worker died after a fall in warehouse
1 December2018 Worker fell from height
Table 1: FFH workplace fatalities in 2018
 
Accident Date Brief Accident Description                                    
22 January 2019 Worker died while carrying out painting works
9 May 2019 Worker fell while installing glass panels
9 June 2019 Worker fell into pit
14 November 2019 Worker fell through partition board
26 November 2019 Worker fell within cargo hold of vessel
22 December 2019 Worker fell from aircraft during maintenance work
Table 1: FFH workplace fatalities in 2019
 
Recommended control measures to prevent FFH accidents (non-exhaustive):
• Establish and implement a fall prevention plan (FPP), where applicable.
     – An FPP includes a summary of site hazards and their corresponding risk
       control(s), safe work procedure (SWP) for the work activity, permit-to-work
       (PTW) system where a worker has risk of falling from a height of more than
       3 metres.
• Ensure that workers are aware of on-site hazards and the corresponding
   control measures.
• Provide adequate supervision to ensure that workers adhere to safe work procedures.
• Cover or barricade all openings where workers may fall through in a proper and
   secure manner.
• Provide an effective edge protection for all open sides.
• Select the right ladder for the work activity and advise workers to adopt good
   practices while using ladders e.g. always maintain three points of contact, and
   use ladder on level and stable ground.
• Identify and clearly mark all fragile surfaces (e.g. skylight) before work
   commencement, and advise workers never to step on a fragile surface.
• Select appropriate work platforms for the intended task, and provide safe access
   to and egress from the work platform.
• Use travel restraint or personal fall arrest system properly.
     – Note that secure anchorage points or lifelines must be provided for these
        systems to work effectively.
     – Emphasise to workers the importance of anchoring to secure anchorage points
        or lifelines when using travel restraint or personal fall arrest system. 
 
Take care of workers’ health and well-being
An accident such as FFH can also happen due to a state of health which may unknowingly place the workers and the co-workers at risk. Besides putting in place safety measures, companies can help the workers to take care of their health and well-being by facilitating regular check-ups or encouraging workers to embrace a heathy lifestyle. For resources on improving health at work, visit the National WSH Campaign microsite.
 
 

Workshops

Artificial Intelligence – Can AI Really Solve Our Workplace Safe Distancing Management Obligations?
 
Through this course, participants will get to know the challenges in implementing safe distancing in the workplace and how Artificial Intelligence is used to maintain a safe distance and crowd sizes at workplaces.
 
Get more information here.
 Date: 3 September 2020 (Thursday)
 Time: 11am – 1145am

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