Opening Address by Mr Tang Tuck Weng at the WSH Landscape Safety Forum 2024
07 Aug 2024 Speeches
Opening Address by Mr Tang Tuck Weng, Chairman,
WSH Council (Landscape) Sub-Committee at the
WSH Landscape Safety Forum 2024 on
Thursday, 7 August 2023, 9.30am
Ms Hwang Yu-Ning, Chief Executive Officer, National Parks Board,
Ms Jacqueline Allan, President, Landscape Industry Association (Singapore),
Mr Raj Joshua Thomas, Chairman, WSH Council (Facilities Management) Committee,
Industry Partners,
Ladies and gentlemen.
1. A very warm welcome to the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Landscape Safety Forum. I am heartened to see so many of you here today.
2. My thanks to everyone and especially to our distinguished speakers for taking the time to be here. Your presence here this morning shows how much you value the importance of workplace safety and health in our landscape industry.
WSH concerns for landscape workers
3. One of the key pillars of the Singapore Green Plan 2030 is to transform Singapore into a “City in Nature”. It seeks to create a green, liveable and sustainable home for Singaporeans. This involves planting 1 million more trees by 2030; develop over 130 hectares of new parks while enhancing 170 hectares of existing ones; and add 1,000 hectares of green spaces by 2035.
4. The impact of these targets on the landscape industry in Singapore is huge. As we transform Singapore into a “City in Nature”, we must address the WSH risks and challenges faced by our landscape workers during landscaping activities, such as planting and maintenance.
5. In addition to prevalent WSH risks such as slips, trips and falls, there has been an increase in newer types of risks faced by our workers. These include injuries sustained from encounters with wild animals and insects in the course of their work. Speakers from the Ministry of Manpower, Land Transport Authority, Singapore Pest Management Association and Landscape Industry Association Singapore will provide more insights and updates on the WSH incidents, best practices and prevention strategies in our landscape industry.
WSH Performance of the Landscape Industry
6. In the WSH National Statistics Report 2023, the Cleaning & Landscape Maintenance Activities industry recorded a fatality rate of 1.2 and a major injury rate of 26.7 per 100,000 workers. This was an improvement from the fatality rate of 2.5 and major injury rate of 37.4 per 100,000 workers in 2022. I am heartened by our landscape industry’s improvement and thank everyone for your efforts. We have made good strides but there’s more to be done. We need to continue to strive for further improvement.
7. As you are aware, Singapore also reached a significant milestone in WSH last year, with a record low workplace fatality rate of 0.99 per 100,000 workers, putting us among the best in WSH globally. This would not be possible without the collective efforts of all stakeholders.
Collective Responsibility in WSH
8. Everyone in the landscape value chain plays an important role in WSH. It is our collective responsibility of top management, supervisors and the landscape workers to ensure that the WSH standards are upheld.
• Senior management should walk the talk and take the lead by setting and implementing sound WSH policies and strategies. You have the power and influence to set the tone for WSH and keep robust WSH management, so that your workers are equipped with the proper skills and knowledge to carry out their tasks safely. Empower your workers to report unsafe workplace situations and recognise their efforts in doing so.
• Supervisors must ensure that safe work procedures are implemented and rectify unsafe situations promptly. They should conduct regular and thorough inspections to identify and manage potential hazards and keep lines of communication open so that workers can report near-misses and raise suggestions to improve their safety and health.
• Workers too, must play their part. They must embrace safe work procedures to protect themselves and their co-workers. They must refrain from taking short-cuts, abide by the procedures and practices, and report any unsafe situations to their supervisors.
9. These are the three “E”s for WSH – empowering workers, ensuring the implementation of safe work procedures and embracing safe work procedures.
10. Good WSH practices must be embedded into an organisation’s workplace culture. Landscape activities are dynamic with unique challenges to individual work sites, which makes it even more important to conduct pre-work checks and briefings in case new hazards present themselves. Landscape service buyers must ensure that risk assessments and safe work procedures are in place prior to the commencement of work.
11. In the dynamic environment where landscape service providers operate, technology is a significant way for us to mitigate the labour crunch, enhance productivity and sustainability, and most importantly, strengthen workplace safety and health.
12. One such technology solution is the Stability Control System (SCS) for Lorry Cranes. Many of our landscape service providers use lorry cranes for a myriad of activities, like hoisting tree trunks, pruning and hauling horticulture waste. The Ministry of Manpower announced last month that all newly registered lorry cranes must be installed with an acceptable type of stability control system. The SCS is a proven technology that prevents lorry cranes from toppling, thus keeping workers safe. To assist the industry to defray some of the installation costs, the Ministry of Manpower also introduced the Lorry Crane SCS Grant last year. Eligible businesses may tap on this grant which is available until 31 March 2025.
Conclusion
13. In conclusion, I hope you will feel inspired by the presentations and insights shared by our speakers today. Please share them with your colleagues and workers and start a conversation on how to further enhance WSH in your organisation. Let us work together to strengthen our culture of WSH excellence in Singapore. I wish you a fruitful Forum ahead. Thank you.