WSH Council Launches WSH Advocate Programme for Major Industry Players to Enhance WSH Standards in Singapore

11 Sep 2024 Press Releases

The 8th edition of The Singapore Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Conference was held today at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre. Dr Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower, delivered the Opening Address, where he announced the WSH Council’s new WSH Advocate Programme.
 
In his address, Minister Tan highlighted Singapore’s record low workplace fatality rate, which resulted from the collective efforts of companies, employees and government. To sustain this world-class standard, he cited the “ABC” for good WSH – Alignment, Boldness and Collaboration. In aligning companies’ WSH excellence to business success, Minister Tan said the WSH Advocate programme aims to give safer contractors more business opportunities by having the apex pay-masters in various industries favour giving business to safer contractors. 

WSH Advocate Programme to incentivise SMEs to invest in WSH

The WSH Advocate Programme comprises major service buyers with extensive supply chains to champion WSH excellence. These WSH Advocates play a crucial role in influencing their contractors, particularly SMEs, to adopt robust WSH practices. 

The WSH Advocates play a “queen bee” role to nurture higher WSH standards among contractors by doing the following: 

  • Require all contractors and sub-contractors doing manual work in their premises to have WSH accreditation, such as at least bizSAFE Level 3; 
  • Favour awarding contracts to safer contractors, by making good WSH performance a qualifying criteria to a vendor, or by putting weightage on past WSH performance in evaluating prospective contractors; 
  • Reward contractors for good WSH performance on their projects, through greater preference for future contracts, or with monetary bonuses; and
  • Develop contractors’ and sub-contractors’ WSH capability through sharing best practices, training or engagement opportunities.  

The WSH Council has identified 18 companies to be in our pioneer batch of WSH Advocates (see Annex A) from the construction, manufacturing, and transportation industries.  

Mr Abu Bakar Mohd Nor, Chairman of the WSH Council, said: “It is heartening that Singapore achieved such a milestone in WSH performance last year, positioning us as a country with one of the lowest fatality rates in the world. We want and must do even better, and a key and significant partner for us in this journey would be the “WSH Advocates”.
 
These are industry leaders with significant supply chains and outreach. The WSH Advocate acts as a “queen bee” to groom its contractors’ WSH capabilities within its eco-system and circle of influence.
 
We trust more SMEs would see the business advantage of investing in WSH, as it would enhance their working processes, productivity and help them foster stronger relationships with their respective WSH Advocates. We want to have more WSH Advocates in more industries. We can then have a more pervasive culture of WSH excellence, thereby promoting a safer and healthier working environment for all.” 

Over 1,600 delegates attending the Conference will hear from a diverse line-up of over 25 speakers and moderators, delving into topics such as prioritising WSH as a business strategy and how technology advancements in the age of AI can revolutionise WSH. 
 
Refer to Annex B for the full list of speakers.

For more information on the WSH Advocate Programme, please visit https://wshc.sg/wshadvocate.