Hazard Evaluation and Loss Prevention Consultants

Hazard Evaluation and Loss Prevention Consultants Our services include but not limited to confined space assessor, rescue, training, talks, and risk assessment

04/09/2023

Crane operation carries with it a heavy responsibility. It is important that comprehensive, specific and thorough medical examination be afforded to all crane operators. Certifying a crane operator as fit for duty when undergoing a normal employment examination is a NO go.

24/06/2023

How many of us as EHS professionals and facilitators at Risk Management Team would review and update the risk assessment with work progress? Reference is made to the Tanjong Pagar fatal case.

19/06/2023

Do you not agree that accidents cannot be prevented ? Safety will only be as important as top/senior management is committed to make it happen. They must demonstrate the three important foundation pillars of safety - namely interest, involvement and investment or in short “3i”. Without the “3i” do you think an accident can be prevented with no commitment from all levels of management ? Accidents can only be prevented if hazards (actual and potential) are identified early before work commences and not during or after through the application of a comprehensive risk assessment and control measures are implemented effectively. Is the risk assessment consider and form part of an accident investigation or is it just a paper exercise or a wayang show ?

09/05/2023

Do you not agree? Safety is no safety when MOM has to continue with periodic/regular inspections and issue fines/stop work orders to ensure compliance with the regulations. Hence, there is no end to MOM inspection, no end to MOM issuing fines and stop work orders, no end to MOM enforcement activities, no end to MOM fattening Govt coffers and no end to MOM working tirelessly and effortlessly to achieving zero accident. This is what I consider or call safety and accident prevention in Singapore. Shouldn’t MOM and industries consider initiating and driving towards self-regulation as been done in previous years in the 70s and 80s ?

07/04/2023

Mr Anwar also said Dr Mahathir had done some damage while he was leading the country. Read more at straitstimes.com.

18/03/2023

When a forklift is driven into a public road to offload or upload the work materials meet with an accident and sustain injury who is liable and responsible? Does it come under the purview of WSHA or Road Traffic Act ? Can the injured ( forklift driver and car driver/passenger) claim under WCI or under the company general insurance ?

09/12/2022

The latest workplace fatality is not the first to happen during this heightened safety period since it was implemented on 1-9-22. If my monitoring record is correct, there were two other cases in OCT. Other than summoning the Director/MD to account to the commissioner for the accident, issuing of stop work order until improvement is carried out, imposition of fine, barring the company for 3 months from employing/recruiting foreign workers, I wonder whether there are alternative control measures to enhance its effectiveness. Would the authority consider introducing harsher and more stringent control measures to protect and save the life of workers ?

26/10/2022

It is, of course, fitting and appropriate to delegate the authority for leading and managing the corporate safety management system to safety professionals. After all they are trained and competent professionals and it is their job. However key decision makers need to be mindful and understand that delegating this authority DOES NOT absolve them of the responsibility. Hence, the requirement for the COP on Chief Executives and Board of Directors’ Duties on WSH. Though this is long overdue, it is a move in the right direction as the saying goes: SAFETY STARTS AT THE TOP.

20/10/2022

The causes of an accident are multi-factorial. It is therefore difficult to associate and identify fatigue as the root cause of the accident. The symptoms of fatigue can be identified and control/managed by site management. To state that fatigue is the cause of an accident due to the rise in fatalities to my mind is too simplistic, ridiculous and a joke.

05/07/2022

Safety is a professional job. It is managed by trained, qualified and competent professionals. They are registered under the WSH Act. The core functions/duties are stated in the various legislations. Basically, they advise management, conduct site walks, inspections, risk assessment/management, accident/incident investigations, safety meetings, etc. To assist the WSHO in the discharge of his core functions/duties, the WSH Act provides him with the powers but not the authority. The reporting hierarchy of WSHO is silent in the Act and it’s subsidiary legislations. Whom the WSHO reports to in the organisation chart is the prerogative of management. Most WSHOs, as I understand report to the line manager on site - ie project director or project manager. Where is his authority? To make WSHO responsible for site safety, without giving him the required authority to intervene in production/construction matters where hazardous conditions are identify is ridiculous and unfair. Whenever WSHO identify gaps or hazardous conditions or issues on site during his site walk or inspection rounds, it is still the onus of management to decide whether to proceed with the WSHO’s recommendations or to over-rule him and compromise safety for profit and progress/productivity. The powers given to WSHO in the regulation is useless and unlikely to be effective since management would likely not bother with his advice or recommendations. Arising from such compromised situation (not his creation or decision)and should an accident occur: be it fatal or serious (permanent disablement) WSHO would most likely be pointed at. In such a circumstance, would he be liable to be charged in court for failing to discharge his duties with due diligence and be sued for negligence by parties concerned? As WSHO is legislated under the Act, shouldn’t there be an open channel to MOM for WSHO to seek recourse without any repercussion to his employment or reprisal from his employer or termination of his contractual agreement ?

27/09/2021

The birth of safety officer dates back to the 60s in the midst of the industrialization program in Singapore when an expert from the International Labor Organization was engaged to develop a program amongst other portfolios on safety and accident prevention. To meet the needs of the then main industrial sectors namely, construction, shipbuilding and repairing, chemical and manufacturing, a position of a full time or dedicated safety officer - i.e. 44 hours per week was created and mandated into law under the then Factories Act. The safety officer is required to undergo a 6 month training course before he is registered under the Factories Act.

Following a few years later and the concern on safety and accident prevention in small and medium sized enterprise (SME) , the law was updated to provide for another category namely part-time to cover only 8 hours or 15 hours per week., depending on type and classification. Almost around this period, the registered safety officer has been renamed or re-designated as Workplace Safety and Health Officer who are in the business of advising, creating and maintaining a safe and healthful environment for all employees and minimizing the potential risks for the organization through his advisory roles.

Sad and a disappointment to many the primary functions of safety has been compromised and much diluted when WSHO has been deployed or assigned to administer and manage non-related safety functions such as facility, security, quality, fire-safety, canteen, environment (earth works) ,etc with little or no adjustment in salary. As if their job functions and responsibilities are not enough work to keep them occupied, they are required by two regulatory and enforcement agencies including the management to administer and manage the various programs under the current covid-19 safe management measures, including monitoring and testing ART. The WSHO also acts as safe management officer, environment control officer, earth control measure office and fire safety manager.

It must be emphasized that safety and health, though closely related are not the same in function and responsibilities. Safety is concerned with injury causing situations and hazards to humans that result from severe conditions. However, health is concerned with disease causing conditions from industrial processes (as against covid-19 which is infectious in nature) which deals with reactions to exposure to dangerous but less intense hazards. How then that the relevant organizations concerned , namely workers' representative, employers' representative and the professional organization did not help to put the legal roles and responsibilities of the WSHO into perspective. ? In the above circumstances, will the EHS professionals (i.e. WSHO and WSH Coordinator) be held
liable for negligence and fail in their duties to discharge that responsibilities with due diligence owing to the many duties that he has been deployed or assigned to ?

10/08/2021

Two enforcement inspections, under different code names, were conducted in March and May 2021 by a senior leader from a regulatory/enforcement agency. This was in tandem with a call from industrial leaders for Safety Time Out (STO). As reported 400 such inspections were carried out during each period, mainly in construction, marine, process, manufacturing, etc. Focus was primarily on regulatory compliance and workplace conditions but seldom on workplace practices/acts. Outcome is that more non-compliance or breaches were identified, resulting in fines, stop work order and other punitive measures. Whether such impromptu/unplanned inspection is sustainable in the long term to translate into improved safety performance with significant reduction in accident rates remain to be seen in the months to come. Sustainability, as one would believe, is achievable when such inspections are pre-planned on a quarterly basis, perhaps led by a senior leader from the regulatory/enforcement agency jointly with senior corporate bosses from the stakeholders in particular the main contractors and the subcontractors. Such an arrangement would lend a strong weightage in its interest, involvement, investment (in terms of time and manpower) and commitment towards safety and accident prevention. Corporate team members, upon completion of the inspection, were invited by the team leader to a meeting for tea and follow-up action. Outcome was positive and results were impressive. This was done in the past and shouldn't this be revisited for consideration and implementation ? Site safety inspection, to identify hazards: potential and actual, pre-planned on a daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly basis is a good tool for accident prevention. However, observations through participation revealed shortcomings in the system. Most, of which the serious ones warrant concern are as follows: an element of biases against subcontractors to the extent that potential hazards are not covered or highlighted, fear of reprisals from main contractor representative for highlighting its shortcoming/deficiencies, inspecting and checking work progress instead of actual inspection activities, lacks completeness of inspection for the whole site with short duration of less than the minimum standard of 2 hours, lack of experience and trained team members whose competency leave much to be desired. Such is the way a normal inspection is carried out. Could this lead to a safer and healthy workplace? Remember, there's a safe way for every job only if inspections are well pre-planned and implemented by competent team members rather than having a group to shoot from the hips.

Address

C/o. Jurong East Avenue 1
Singapore
600329

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Monday 09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 09:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 09:00 - 17:00
Thursday 09:00 - 17:00
Friday 09:00 - 17:00
Saturday 09:00 - 17:00
Sunday 09:00 - 17:00

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97536226

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