Debated in Parliament on 4 Oct 2021.
Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for Manpower for each month since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (a) how many inspections of workplaces have been carried out by the Ministry for breaches of safe management measures; (b) how many of these inspections have been notified to companies and workplaces in advance of the inspection; and (c) how many breaches have been discovered.
Since March 2020, the Ministry has conducted close to 45,000 inspections on safe management measures at the workplace. About 21,000 inspections were conducted between March 2020 and end May 2020 during the Circuit Breaker period, and the remaining 24,000 inspections were conducted between June 2020 and September 2021.
The vast majority of workplaces inspected have been compliant with the safe management measures, but there were breaches. A total of 140 Stop Work Orders, 247 Remedial Orders and 399 Composition Fines were issued to 776 companies for breaches of safe management measures. The common breaches were (i) failure to implement work-from-home arrangements for employees who were able to work from home; (ii) failure to wear mask; and (iii) failure to ensure at least one metre between any two individuals. Companies with serious lapses were asked to cease operations until rectifications were completed.
The Ministry does not notify companies or workplaces in advance of our inspection.
PAPERCUTS