PM Lee: Workplace safety improving but more needs to be done

SINGAPORE - Singapore has improved on workplace safety and health, but the fatality rate still exceeds that of developed countries, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Monday.

Workplace fatality rate has halved from four in 100,000 employees in 2005 to 2.1 last year. This is higher than that of Britain (0.6), Germany (0.7) and Australia (1.9), noted Mr Lee.

He urged employers and workers to reach the target of 1.8 sooner than the 2018 deadline, and set a more ambitious goal to match standards of developed countries. He noted that many incidents are preventable and involved foreign workers: "We owe it to them to keep them safe, and value them the same as we value Singaporean workers."

Mr Lee was speaking at the launch of the National Workplace Safety and Health Campaign at Asia Square, where 37 government agencies pledged their commitment to workplace safety and health in public projects.

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