Workplace deaths must be confronted at the roots

3 March 2021

HOME is deeply saddened by each of February’s 11 workplace deaths. Each worker so violently and untimely deceased leaves behind loved ones who depended heavily on them. HOME extends heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families.

February’s fatalities come in the wake of last year’s 30: lower than 2019’s 39. But the construction, marine and process sectors largely halted for several months: resuming on-site work only gradually, even post-circuitbreaker. This suggests 2020’s incidence of deaths by volume of industrial activity may have actually increased. Far from a freak oddity, 11 deaths in 28 days indicates deep-rooted systemic problems that must be squarely confronted.

Constant pressure from project timelines has been worsened by the circuitbreaker’s disruption. Workers have shared that sometimes they are even pushed to shortcut safety processes, to save time and cost.

Fatigue compounds these dangers. With the post-circuitbreaker labour shortage, workers are clocking 12 to 16–hour days, including those operating machinery or vehicles.

Migrant workers are especially vulnerable. Work Permit holders have no legal right to remain and find new jobs in Singapore once their employment is terminated. Fearful of losing their jobs, few dare whistle-blow unsafe practices. HOME has had cases where whistleblowers were not protected; and instead, repatriated.

Strict enforcement is needed: including unannounced inspections of work sites under actual conditions, with anonymous, protected interviews of rank-and-file workers. An effective approach must recognise that principal contractors, shipyard management and other site occupiers have much greater ability to improve worksite safety than individual workers. Accountability should be weighted accordingly.

To nip unsafe practices in the bud, employers’ under-reporting and downplaying of non-fatal injuries must also be proactively rooted out and punished.

Finally, all workers should be free to seek new jobs. Reasonable opportunity to continue employment will empower workers to speak up and protect themselves and colleagues.

Nothing can compensate the loss suffered by these families who never got to say goodbye to the loved ones who worked hard to support them. The least our society can do is put our wholehearted effort into making workplaces safer for their colleagues. A retroactive approach, only reacting to the iceberg’s-tip of fatalities, is inadequate. To improve safety, we must confront the workplace safety culture that lies unseen below the waterline.