Updated Workplace Safety Advice and Measures in View of More Adverse Weather Events

Sir, I thank the Senior Minister of State for his response. In the past few months, we have seen a wide variation of erratic weather conditions in Singapore, from extreme heat to extreme rain. These erratic weather patterns are set to become a norm due to climate change.

First, how will MOM manage unwanted consequences due to delays from all these adverse weather conditions and to ensure that employers do not compromise on safety due to the need to then catch up and meet deadlines?

Second, does MOM have any plans for long-term measures to better protect workers against these erratic and adverse weather conditions, such as updating building codes and also other workplace protocols?

Thirdly, I would like to ask if the MOM would study the health impact of long-term exposure to such erratic weather patterns, especially for workers who are performing outdoor work?

I thank the Member for his supplementary question. In fact, MOM and the other agencies monitor this quite closely, especially with the evolving weather patterns that are ongoing. But the challenge is that it is very difficult to impose a guide on when you put in stop work orders, because the variations may be quite different for different worksites.

Some may be construction sites, for example, or both may have different types of ways in which they conduct their work. One could be more prefab, so, therefore, it is more mechanical. Others may be more physical. Therefore, it is incumbent on the employer and the site occupier to be able to make the risk assessments. This is where we put the burden on the employers and the worksite occupiers to ensure that the workplace safety guidelines are all adhered to.

This is an evolving situation, but for example, we had recently put out an advisory for preparing for adverse weather conditions. And therefore, some of the recent guides that have been given to companies – as recent as September 2024 – were to, for example, monitor weather conditions via systems and alerts. This guides them to take a risk assessment, looking at what the weather is like and looking at all worksites and see how that impacts their risk assessments and how they need to implement suitable risk controls.

At the same time, to communicate hazards to workers and train them to report to their supervisors if there are adverse conditions that affect their work or safety. Ultimately, they also need to prepare a recovery plan because post adverse weather conditions, you will have to, for example, check on the structures and integrity of affected structures and critical outdoor machinery, after any weather event.

These are quite dynamic situations across different worksites and therefore, at the moment, I think it is important that employers come train, look into the advisories and see how best these weather conditions affect their worksites and how these affect their risk assessments.

As we move on, as we have done with the heat stress advisory, the agencies and MOM will study this and see what the long-term implications are. Because many of these are constantly evolving and we have been fortunate not to have extreme weather conditions such as extreme heat waves, for example. We will continue to monitor and look at scientific evidence to determine what the course of actions would be, if there would be any.

Thank you, Speaker. I have a supplementary question for the Senior Minister of State. Can the Ministry consider introducing industry-specific best practices and training to be rolled out, in collaboration with industry associations and unions, in preparing companies to implement workplace safety measures for adverse weather conditions?

I thank the Member for her question. Certainly, MOM works closely together with the Workplace Safety and Health Council, as well as our tripartite partners and the trade associations to ensure that we engage both employers and workers to make the assessments on what are the best practices. From time to time, even before incidents occur, we try to provide templates for risk assessments and how they can manage these advisories.

The information is disseminated to employers and workers to various channels, such as our websites, FWMOMCare app, unions, trade associations and social media platforms, as well as fora conducted by Workplace Safety and Health Council and seminars.

I think it is important that we continue to issue reminders to the industry on weather-related hazards through various communication channels. Some of these materials that were recently introduced would be materials, such as the heat stress management compliance checklist, the advisory for preparing for adverse weather events, guidelines on wet-bulb globe temperature, or WBGT, monitoring for outdoor work. And these are already specific guides to help them implement good practices and to protect their workers from weather related hazards.

Ultimately, I think even within Singapore, from time to time, in different locations, you will have variations in weather conditions as well, and therefore, it is hard to say a one-size-fits-all rule for everyone. All employers, as I mentioned earlier, do need to make that risk assessment based on your worksite conditions, based on the equipment that you are using, based on the structures that you have, to ensure that your workers are best protected against weather hazards. And that also includes post-weather hazard events as well, to ensure that, post-work hazards, these do not affect structures and equipment that could affect them as they operate after the weather event.

So, in short, yes, we will do that. Do look out for these advisories as they come along, as this is a situation that is still evolving and one that we are monitoring.