Sembwaste among recipients of workplace safety award
SINGAPORE — Each week, refuse-truck drivers from waste management firm Sembwaste head to Bukit Batok Driving Centre to learn how to manoeuvre heavy vehicles in dangerous situations.
Since February, the company has been sending its drivers for these defensive driving courses to reduce the risk of road accidents and about a fifth of its 130 drivers have been trained. Apart from the course, Sembwaste has installed in-vehicle cameras and engineering systems to assist drivers whenever they veer too close to other vehicles.
Footage from the cameras, which have been installed over the past year in nearly all the refuse trucks, can also be used to investigate accidents.
These are some of the measures Sembwaste has employed to minimise workplace accidents, after it noted public feedback on workers engaging in unsafe practices. Yesterday, the firm won the inaugural U SAFE award, spearheaded by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) to recognise good practices on workplace safety.
Eight companies and five individuals, as well as the oil, petrochemical, energy and chemical cluster, received awards for efforts in improving workplace safety and health.
Mr Derrick Yeo, environment, health and safety manager at Sembcorp, Sembwaste’s parent company, said: “We operate in public areas. If employees have a better knowledge of workplace safety and health, we give assurance to the public that they are trained and able to handle situations.”
Apart from initiatives for drivers, talks are held each month for attendants and drivers so they can highlight day-to-day issues. Accident rates have halved since the firm introduced workplace safety measures in 2006. Last year, there were 0.4 to 0.5 traffic accidents for every 100,000km travelled.
Another award winner was Mr Mohd Ismail Meerasah, 52, a senior technician at Panasonic Industrial Devices Materials Singapore, who was recognised for his efforts to initiate talks with the management after he noticed workers constantly fell ill while they were on site.
An investigation by the firm revealed that choked filters had resulted in dust levels at the production site becoming “haze-like”, although they were still within government safety limits. After the filters were cleared, the average days of sick leave taken per worker fell from 10 to fewer than five per year. The company also removed the S$1,000 cap on annual medical claims after several workers exceeded the limit.
Speaking after the ceremony, NTUC’s director of workplace safety and health secretariat Yeo Guat Kwang said there was a need to do away with the “no news is good news” mindset. “If we give recognition only at the finishing point, it’s not fair. (Promoting workplace safety) is a marathon with no finishing line.”
A Workplace Safety and Health Institute report released earlier this month said there were 13,535 major and minor injuries at workplaces last year, a 9.3 per cent rise from 2013.
