Singapore Law Blog

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) would like to invite feedback from members of the public on the following 2 draft Regulations:
(a) Workplace Safety and Health (Shipbuilding and Ship-repairing) Regulations; and
(b) Workplace Safety and Health (Scaffolds) Regulations.

Principles of Review

2. The purpose of the review is to update and align the provisions to the new Workplace Safety and Health Act. This includes:
(a) Reviewing the original intent of the subsidiary legislation to establish whether it is still valid under the new regime;
(b) Updating the provisions and make it less prescriptive, where possible;
(c) Updating all relevant terminologies (e.g. from Chief Inspector to Commissioner);
(d) Clarifying the intended duty holder for the provision; and
(e) Introducing offences and penalties provisions for the breach within the Regulations.

Workplace Safety and Health (Shipbuilding and Ship-repairing) Regulations

3. This draft Regulations will replace the Factories (Shipbuilding and Ship-repairing) Regulations. The major policy changes reflected in this draft includes:

(a) The safety and health management system to be implemented by all shipyards will no longer be prescribed or limited to the 14 elements currently within the law. Instead, the format of the safety and health management system will be outlined based on prevailing codes of practices that can be updated regularly;

(b) Requiring safety and health training for all supervisors; and

(c) Removal of prescriptive provisions from the legislation which would be transferred into codes of practices to serve as guidelines for the industry.

Workplace Safety and Health (Scaffolds) Regulations

4. This draft Regulations will replace the Factories (Scaffolds) Regulations. The major policy changes reflected in this draft includes:

(a) The draft Regulations will apply to all workplaces (subject to the First Schedule of the WSH Act);

(b) Duties on Professional Engineers who design the scaffolds;

(c) Requiring safety and health training for all scaffold supervisors, erectors and riggers; and

(d) Removal of prescriptive provisions from the legislation which would be transferred into codes of practices to serve as guidelines for the industry.

Scope of the consultation exercise

5. The purpose of this consultation exercise is to seek your views and comments on the draft Regulations.

Guidelines

6. To ensure that the consultation exercise is productive and successful, please follow these guidelines:

(a) Identify yourself as well as the organization you represent (if any) so that we may follow-up to clarify any issues, if necessary;

(b) Give clear and concise comments;

(c) Use the prescribed template provided to help us understand your feedback better; and

(d) Explain your points with illustrations, examples, data or alternative formulations of the amendments as far as possible.

Period of Consultation

7. The period of public consultation is from 6 June to 13 July 2007. All comments received through the consultation exercise will be reviewed thoroughly and, if accepted, will be incorporated in the Regulations.

Feedback Channel

8. Stakeholders are invited to give their feedback and express their views on policy positions taken and the provisions in the draft Regulations using the prescribed template. You can send your comments via any of the following methods:

(a) email : Lee_Kah_Bee@mom.gov.sg [Subject Heading: Consultation on WSH (SSR) Regulations / WSH (Scaffolds) Regulations ]

(b) fax : 6324 7572

(c) post : Ministry of Manpower
Occupational Safety and Health Division
5 Maxwell Road #20-00
MND Building, Tower Block
Singapore 069110
Attn : Mr Lee Kah Bee

9. We strongly encourage your views through email for speed and ease of consideration.

Summary of Response

10. We will publish a summary of the main comments we received together with our responses by the end of July 2007. The summary will not disclose the identity of respondents, and may not separately address or acknowledge every comment received.