SINGAPORE: New guidelines to improve the safety of working at heights will be launched early next year.
Co-developed by the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council and Manpower Ministry (MOM), it is the first safety and health competency framework developed in Singapore, for a specific area of work.
Working at heights is the leading cause of workplace death.
More than 100 workers have died from falls over the past five years, while 16 have died so far this year.
The new guidelines will address concerns raised by industry on competencies.
It is also aimed at raising the capabilities of all stakeholders, from professionals to workers.
There will be training at four levels of vocation -- workers, supervisors, assessors and managers.
Workers will be trained on basic working at heights knowledge.
Supervisors will be trained to ensure that they know how to check that all fall preventive measures are in place before any work is carried out.
Managers will be trained to evaluate and ensure that all systems and processes are implemented.
While assessors, who will do independent checks to ensure all procedures have been adhered to, must be deemed as "competent" under the new framework.
The framework has undergone industry validation.
Highlighting the significance of improving the competency of the workers, Mr Suresh Navaratnam, MOM's director of Policy, Information and Corporate Services from the Occupational Safety and Health Division as well as member of the National Work at Heights Safety Taskforce said, "While best practices, systems and processes have been communicated to industry, they cannot be successfully implemented without a competent workforce.
"To effectively manage WAH (working at heights) risks on the ground, the solution must be to get every stakeholder group to understand the risks, plan the safe work procedures and implement them well.
"Hence, this comprehensive and encompassing framework will help us to ensure that the standards we hope to achieve can be practically carried out by managers, supervisors and workers."
All industry stakeholders are urged to sign up their employees for the courses once they are available in early 2013.
- CNA/lp
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