WSH Forum for Facilities Management 2021

29 Nov 2021 Forum Past Event Cleaning and Custodial Services , Mental Well-being , Total WSH Facilities Management

• Date:

  25 Nov 2021

• Time:

  10:00 AM - 5:00 PM

• Location:

  Zoom

• Spots Available:

  500

• Event resources:

  Added
  (Jump to event resources)

Pertinent workplace safety and workforce health issues for FM industry highlighted at forum

The Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council held its annual WSH Forum for the Facilities Management (FM) Industry on 25 November 2021. This year, the Forum consisted of two distinct tracks with presentations by a diverse panel of speakers from the government and industry.

The morning track focused on “Safety in Refuse Handling Equipment”, where Guest-of-Honour Mr Milton Ng from the Waste Management & Recycling Association of Singapore emphasised that the industry must do more to prevent accidents. This was in light of the recent fatality involving a cleaner who died while operating a refuse handling equipment (RHE). Mr Ng added that companies should adopt programmes such as Total WSH to improve their workers’ safety, health and well-being.  

Key takeaways from the morning track were:
• Only authorised personnel should operate the RHE;
• Refuse truck drivers must be properly trained to operate the RHE; and 
• Workers should be encouraged to adopt a culture of care and safety, and be empowered to report safety infringements.  
In the afternoon track themed “Total WSH in a Pandemic Impacted Singapore”, Guest-of-Honour Mr Daniel T’ng, Co-Chairman of the WSH Council (FM) Committee, stressed that safety is a shared responsibility between employer and employee. He urged employers to do more to ensure that their employees are safe and healthy at work. 

Mr T’ng also launched the “WSH Guidelines on Working Safely During Installation, Maintenance and Replacement of Escalators and Moving Walks” to raise WSH knowledge and competencies amongst escalator specialists and technicians.

Participants learnt a diverse range of safety and health related topics relevant for FM stakeholders from WSH challenges that the industry faces, technologies that can better WSH outcomes, to improving indoor ventilation to prevent transmission of infectious diseases, and caring for workers’ health and mental well-being. 

Both tracks of the Forum saw a lively exchange between the panelists and audience, with 580 practitioners and stakeholders from the FM industry attending. 

Read the Opening Address by Daniel Tng at the WSH Forum for Facilities Management Industry 2021. 

Download the WSH Guidelines on Working Safely During Installation, Maintenance and Replacement of Escalators and Moving Walks. 

Download and share the list of collaterals and resources as well as speakers’ slides below. You can now share these collaterals with your workers via WhatsApp by scanning the QR codes in the slides.

FM practitioners may provide feedback on the WSH issues that they are facing and technology solutions that they have tried or are exploring.