Important Fatalities Number Shows Decline, Overall Injuries Increase in Singapore

Fatalities, Major Injuries, Days Lost All See Decreases

A new report on Singapore indicates the number of workplace fatalities and major injuries has dropped in the first half this year.

According to the latest Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Statistics Report, there were 26 workplace fatalities over the first six months of 2012, a decrease from 31 in the same period last year.

There were 246 cases of major injuries, a slight decrease of 3 percent compared to the same period last year. This contributed to a 6 percent dip in man-days lost due to work incidents.

Minor Injuries See 11.3% Increase

As for minor injuries, there were 5,001 cases, or a 11.3 percent jump compared to the same period last year.

Overall workplace injuries – which includes fatalities – grew by 10.4 percent.

Occupational diseases (ODs) also increased by nearly 67 percent to 603, from 360 over the same period last year. The most common OD (89 percent) is noise-induced deafness followed by occupational skin diseases. The manufacturing sector continued to tally the largest number of OD cases, accounting for 51 percent of total ODs, up from 39 percent of cases as at end June last year.

Construction, Marine, and Manufacturing See Decreases in Fatalities

The Construction, Marine and Manufacturing sectors saw a drop in the number of fatalities.

There were 17 fatalities, compared to 25 in the same period last year. However these three sectors saw an increase in major injuries (8 percent) and minor injuries (25 percent).

Other sectors (including accommodation, food services, waste management, logistics and transport) contributed to about 35 percent of total work fatalities in the first half of this year, up from 19 percent in the same period last year.

Many of these cases were slips, trips and falls from heights as well as workers struck by moving or falling objects.

As for major injuries, these sectors witnessed a 14 percent decline while minor injuries saw a marginal 2 percent increase. The logistics and transport, accommodation and food services as well as health sectors accounted for 13 percent of major injuries.

<pAuthor Michael B. Stack, CPA, Director of Operations, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in employer communication systems and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. He is a writer, speaker, and website publisher. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.

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