New guidelines, reporting requirements for work-related road safety

Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Manpower Hawazi Daipi announced the move at the Council's first forum on workplace traffic safety management on Monday. The law will also be changed in the first quarter of next year, to require companies to report all work-related traffic accidents. Data on such accidents will also become part of the Council's regular statistics releases.

Get the full story from The Straits Times.

Here is the factsheet on the Workplace Safety and Health Council initiatives for work-related traffic accidents:

Background

In 2012, 13 lives were lost in work-related traffic accidents. These accidents not only claim lives and cause injuries, but also endanger the public and cause operational delays. While vocational drivers have a responsibility to operate their vehicles in a safe manner, employers also play an equally critical role in implementing safety measures and educating employees on safe work procedures.

To help employers better manage the safety of their drivers, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council will continue to work with the Traffic Police and Singapore Road Safety Council (SRSC) to engage employers and their employees in this respect.

Increased Support for Employers and Employees

The WSH Council, in collaboration with the SRSC, is developing a set of practical guidelines on workplace traffic safety, which comprises information on how to better plan driving routes, and manage the maintenance of vehicles and work schedules of drivers. The WSH Council is consulting the industry on the draft guidelines, which are available for reference at www.wshc.sg. In addition, the WSH Council is developing an educational video detailing safe vehicle operation procedures for heavy vehicle drivers. The video is part of WSH Council's ongoing plans to create awareness of workplace traffic hazards and will be ready by September 2013.

Inclusion of Work-related Traffic Accidents in Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Statistics report

To raise awareness of the issue and facilitate data tracking for identification of possible areas of concern, the MOM will be amending its WSH (Incident Reporting) Regulations to require all companies to report any work-related traffic accidents in the first quarter of 2014. Consultation with the public on the amendments will commence on 3 September 2013. The WSH statistics report will also be amended from 2014 to include work-related traffic accidents. This will enable more effective tracking of the frequency and causes of work-related traffic accidents to identify possible areas of intervention.