Workplace deaths rise in first half of 2011

[Alamaking]

Workplace deaths rise in first half of 2011

The number of workplace deaths in the first half of this year rose to 30, five more compared to the same period last year.

Nearly eight in 10 deaths came from the Marine, Construction or Manufacturing sectors.

Thirteen of the fatalities were due to falls from height, according to a statement by the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council and Ministry of Manpower (MOM). Other causes included being struck by falling or moving objects, fires and explosions as well as crane-related incidents.

Compared to the same period last year, nearly three times as many workers suffered from occupation-related diseases. The statement noted 361 such cases this year, compared to 124 cases in 2010.

The spike was attributed to an increase in reports of noise-induced deafness (NID) after an island-wide audit exercise by MOM. Of the 315 NID cases reported, one was in the advanced stage. Excluding NID, the number of occupation-related diseases numbered 46, compared to 37 over the same period last year.

Overall, however, the number of workplace-related injuries fell by 8 per cent to 4,775 from 5,176 last year, while the number of permanent disability cases dropped 37 per cent, from 76 to 48.

WSH Council chairman Lee Tzu Yang said, "Despite the drop in overall injuries, workplace fatalities have increased this half year. Any workplace incident has the potential of resulting in an injury or a fatality, so our goal must be to prevent all workplace incidents. The Council is committed to getting everyone on board, and we can only succeed if employers want to ensure their employees’ safety and take concrete measures to improve."

"Employees in turn need to follow the safety rules, learn to be aware of risks and look out for each other. Everyone must put safety first, and I include offices, wholesale and retail companies, which form part of the new sectors that account for 40% of workplace incidents,” he said.

 

[Protector Cromwell]

This is the rersult of bringing in many many FTs! These craps simply do not want to be f&%ked by their bosses and compromise Safety so that the progress of the project would not be affected.