WSH Guidelines Construction Procurement

Public Consultation for WSH Guidelines for Procurement in the Construction Industry

Workplace Safety and Health Council is currently seeking industry stakeholders views and insights to help shape the future of workplace safety and health in Singapore

In collaboration with key industry partners, the WSH Council has developed the WSH Guidelines for Procurement in the Construction Industry. This set of guidelines provides guidance to private and public developers on integrating WSH considerations into the procurement process by selecting competent contractors that can execute the construction project in a safe and healthy manner. 

By considering the WSH implications of decisions made during the procurement process, various stakeholders in the construction industry can influence positive WSH outcomes during the construction life-cycle and in turn, strengthen WSH ownership within the industry.

The WSH Council invite industry stakeholders to share your feedback on the draft WSH Guidelines for Procurement in the Construction Industry before it is finalised and published. Please email the completed public consultation form to contact@wshc.sg by 17 October 2023.  

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WSH Guidelines - Management and Removal of Asbestos

Introduction

What is WSH Guideline 
WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program 

Check out the free WSH Guidelines - Management and Removal of Asbestos to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

What is Asbestos?

Asbestos had been widely used in buildings, plants and ships due to its excellent fire, heat and chemical resistance properties. However, exposure to asbestos, such as through inhalation of asbestos fibres, can lead to serious diseases. 

In response to these health risks, the use of asbestos in buildings was banned in Singapore in 1988 by the Building Control Division (now the Building and Construction Authority [BCA]). Many old buildings in Singapore still contain asbestos or asbestos-containing materials (ACMs).

These asbestos and ACMs can be released into the air when disturbed, affecting building occupants. It is therefore important to manage asbestos in buildings and workplaces to prevent harmful exposure.

Precaution and care must be taken when conducting work activities involving ACMs. These activities include building structural works (e.g., repair, dismantling, demolition, renovation, maintenance and alteration) and other related operations (e.g., handling, sawing, cutting, grinding, drilling, lagging and delagging).

WSH Guidelines - Management and Removal of Asbestos was developed to provide guidance on the proper management of ACMs and how to work with them safely.

It is primarily aimed at contractors, occupiers and building owners, especially those in the construction sector, shipyards and petrochemical facilities. 

The guidelines will first discuss some health effects of asbestos exposure and list examples of ACMs. It will then elaborate on the management of ACMs and good industry practices. This is followed by a description of the various aspects of asbestos-removal work. Salient points on air monitoring, training and medical surveillance will also be covered. 

Here's what you will learnt 

After reading this guide, contractors, occupiers and building owners should be able to: 

• identify ACMs in workplaces; 

• understand the health risks of work involving asbestos; and 

• manage the risk of ACMs through appropriate controls.

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WSH Guidelines-Process Safety Performance Indicators

What is WSH Guidelines

WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program.

Check out the free WSH Guidelines-Process Safety Performance Indicators to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

WSH Guidelines-Process Safety Performance Indicators Scope

This set of guidelines aims to introduce the concept of process safety performance indicators, with a greater focus on leading indicators in performance monitoring for process safety management. It provides guidance on the development of process safety performance indicators, and how these indicators can contribute to better safety and health outcomes in the process industry.

This set of guidelines is intended to assist the middle-to-senior management and WSH personnel of companies in the process industry, including the SMEs and plants of smaller operation scale. It will help these stakeholders to identify any possible risks arising from their work processes, and take steps to rectify them before the risks manifest into undesired consequences. With more knowledgeable and responsible management and employers, the process industry can achieve improved safety and health standards.

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WSH Guideline -Toxic Industrial Waste Treatment

What is WSH Guidelines 

WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program.

Check out the free WSH Guideline -Toxic Industrial Waste Treatment to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

WSH Guideline -Toxic Industrial Waste Treatment Scope

The primary objective of this document is to provide guidance on minimising workplace safety and health risks in the waste treatment industry.

The scope of the guidelines covers workplace safety and health in waste treatment facilities that store, treat and dispose of toxic industrial waste commercially.

The guidelines should be read together with the Singapore Standard CP 100: 2004 “Code of Practice on Hazardous Waste Management”* as well as MOM’s Guidelines on “Prevention and Control of Chemical Hazards”

Improper storing, handling, treating or disposing of industrial waste can jeopardise workplace safety and health; these translate into costs in terms of compensation, clean-up and lost time due to illnesses and accidents.

These guidelines are not meant for facilities that treat biological and/or radioactive waste. Please refer to the website of the National Environment Agency (NEA)‡ for details on the proper treatment and disposal of biological and radioactive waste.

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WSH Guidelines Commercial Diving

WSH Guidelines -Inland,Inshore Commerical Dving

What is WSH Guidelines 

WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program 

Check out the free WSH Guidelines - Inland,Inshore Commerical Dving to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

WSH Guideline -Inland,Inshore Commerical Diving Scope

This guide provides recommendations and guidelines for commercial diving operations, not exceeding 50 metres in water depth within Singapore’s inshore and inland boundaries.

1.1 Objective

The objective of this guide is to provide guidance and best practices for:

• Service providers such as commercial diving contractors and dive team;

• Service buyers such as shipyards, vessel owners, oil/gas and petrochemical plant operators; and

• Public agencies such as the Public Utilities Board, Singapore Food Agency on Fish Farm Aquaculture, National Environment Agency, National Parks Board, and Defence Science and Technology Agency.

The guide is not intended to be prescriptive but comprises proper planning and assessment of diving operation and use of compressed air breathing supply apparatus with the specifc requirements. The guide also covers risk assessment of common hazards and their recommended risk controls. Emergency response plans are included as a guide to address various emergency situations such as recovery of an unconscious or injured diver and loss of respiratory air.

1.2 Scope

The guide covers two diving methods, namely Surface-Supplied Diving Equipment (SSDE)/Surface-Supplied Breathing Apparatus (SSBA) and Commercial Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (CSCUBA). Recreational Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) shall not be used for commercial diving operations.

The scope does not cover recreational diving/technical diving, scientifc diving, archaeological diving projects as well as diving activities using oxygen-enriched gas mixtures (NITROX).

Note

This set of guidelines replaces the Technical Advisory for Inland/Inshore Commercial Diving Safety and Health published by the Workplace Safety and Health Council in 2009.

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WSH Guidelines -Workplace Ergonomics

WSH Guidelines -Improving Ergonomics in the Workplace

What is WSH Guidelines 

WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program 

Check out the free WSH Guidelines - Improving Ergonomics in the Workplace to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

WSH Guideline -Improving Ergonomics in the Workplace Scope

What is Ergonomics?

Ergonomics is the term applied to the field of science that studies and designs human-machine,human-tool, human-work environment and human-human interfaces to prevent injury and illness and improve work performance. It is a multi-disciplinary science drawing on anatomy, biomechanics, anthropometry, physiology, psychology, sociology, physics, engineering and medicine.

Putting in place an ergonomics programme in the workplace helps prevent work-related MSDs and injuries. Timely ergonomics intervention can also help employees with existing MSDs reduce the stresses on their bodies so that they can continue working.

This set of guidelines outlines how to develop an in-house ergonomics programme for a company or organisation to manage ergonomics problems and work-related MSDs at the workplace. Employees and employers can also obtain information on good ergonomics practices and the prevention of work-related injury or illness. In particular, through using this guidelines, workplace, equipment, task or job design can be better matched to the capabilities of the working population, including pregnant employees, older workers or those with functional limitations.

The guidelines will cover the legal requirements relevant to ergonomics in the workplace,risk factors of work-related MSDs, how to prevent ergonomics-related injuries and how to implement an ergonomics programme.

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WSH Guidelines - WSHMS for the Marine Industries

​What is WSH Guidelines

WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program.

Check out the free WSH Guidelines Implementation of WSH Management System for the Marine Industries to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

WSH Guidelines Implementation of WSH Management System for the Marine Industries Scope

Under the Workplace Safety and Health (Safety and Health Management System and Auditing) Regulations, shipyards are required to establish a Workplace Safety and Health Management System, which includes conducting audits and reviews. 

A Workplace Safety and Health Management System (WSHMS) is a systematic process for management of safety and health at workplaces. It is important to establish a WSHMS for continual improvement of workplace environments. 

For companies to have a better understanding of the WSHMS requirements, the Association of Singapore Marine Industries (ASMI), Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council jointly published the Workplace Safety and Health Manual for Marine Industries in 2009 termed as 'Guideline (2009)'. The document was based on the 14 elements for Process Safety Management System. 

With the release of the Internationd Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 45001:2018 (Occupational health and safety management systems- Requirements with guidance for use),the WSH Council together with ASMI and MOM have reviewed to integrate all 14 elements and content of the Guideline (2009) using a systematic approach with alignment to the ISO 45001:2018. 

This Guidelines provide guidance to companies in developing an effective and comprehensive WSHMS. It also highlights the importance of WSH and good industry practices. 

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WSH Guidelines -Event Management

What is WSH Guidelines 

WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program 

Check out the free WSH Guidelines -Event Management to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

Introduction

The dynamic and vibrant Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events (MICE) industry has propelled Singapore into one of the top global convention destinations, and is a significant contributor to the hospitality industry and Singapore’s economy.

Events range widely in scale and complexity, from one-day corporate seminars to public exhibitions and trade fairs that span several days. Events could be held in purpose-built multifunctional halls, or open spaces outdoors .To handle variationsmore efficiently, event management companies hire contractors to execute different aspectsof an event.

This publication helps event organisers and contractors identify work hazards present in various work activities, and suggests preventive measures to manage the associated risks. Employers should always look out for the safety, health and well-being of their employees. Through better safety and health management, companies can strive towards a goal of zero harm.

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WSH Guidelines -Landscape and Horticulture Management

What is WSH Guidelines 

WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program 

Check out the free WSH Guidelines -Landscape and Horticulture Management to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

Introduction

The Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Act came into effect in March 2006. Under the Act, stakeholders are responsible for managing the risks they create at the workplaces, and taking reasonable practical steps to ensure workers’ safety and health. From September 2011, the WSH Act was extended to cover all workplaces including maintenance works under the landscaping sector for their works involving general cleansing of parks, horticultural work, turf work and tree work.

Workers in the landscaping sector are exposed to hazards such as working alongside moving traffic, working at heights, excessive noise, use of machinery and equipment, contact with insects, use of chemicals and heat stress. The risk of accidents and ill health due to these hazards can result in suffering, sickness, absenteeism, productivity loss, disability or even death. All these can be prevented.

The purpose of this guide is to provide information and guidance on common workplace hazards which workers involved in landscaping maintenance activities may face, and their preventive measures. For ease of reading, the set of guidelines is divided into two parts:

Part A – Work Activities

Part B – Legislative Requirements

All landscape contractors and their supervisors should familiarise themselves with this set of guidelines. It is the responsibility of everyone to ensure that workers are healthy and are working in a safe environment. Through better safety and health management, companies can strive towards a goal of zero harm.

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WSH Guideline -Tent Related Works

What is WSH Guidelines 

WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program 

Check out the free WSH Guidelines -Tent Related Works to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

Scope

This publication specifies the recommended practices for both traditional and engineered tent-related works. Key work activities include, but are not limited to, warehouse storage, transportation of materials, erecting and dismantling of tent structures and handling of electrical installations.

This publication also aims to raise WSH awareness of stakeholders (e.g., tent service buyers,contractors and workers) in the tent sector.

Additional WSH resources for the tent sector can be found in the Annex:

• Tentage safety checklist (see Annex B)

• Five Golden Safety Rules (see Annex C)

Relevant Legislation

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WSH Guideline -Cleaning and Custodial Services

What is WSH Guidelines 

WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program 

Check out the free WSH Guidelines --Cleaning and Custodial Services to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

Introduction

The cleaning and custodial services industry plays a crucial role in maintaining sanitary standards. Activities that employees carry out on a daily basis include sweeping, mopping, washing, and collecting and disposing refuse. During the course of their work, employees are exposed to numerous occupational hazards such as; chemicals, loud noises, sharp objects, slippery surfaces, and poor work postures.

The nature of their work also exposes them to the potential of falling from heights, as well as sustaining injuries such as cuts, electrocution, burns and crush by objects. We should also look out for our older workers who may be more prone to risks that are a result of aging; such as reduced flexibility and physical strength, declining eyesight and hearing and chronic health conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.

Employers need to recognise that all hazards can be appropriately and effectively managed and thus avoid all injury and ill-health. Besides employers, employees can also play their part to strive toward zero harm in their daily work. This guideline serves as a resource for all, providing guidance in identifying work hazards and sharing advice on plausible preventive measures.

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WSH Guidelines- WSH Healthcare

What is WSH Guidelines 

WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program 

Check out the free WSH Guideline - WSH Healthcare to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

Introduction

The healthcare industry in Singapore is growing and adapting to new challenges in order to meet the growing healthcare demand. Due to heightened awareness of quality healthcare services, a rapidly greying population, longer life expectancy and greater economic growth, the healthcare industry will need to review its work processes and ensure that the lives of their employees and patients are safe and healthy.

Healthcare employees are as vulnerable to workplace safety and health (WSH) hazards as any other employee. A safe and healthy work environment can boost the wellbeing, morale and productivity of these employees. Poor WSH practices can contribute to illness, absenteeism, productivity loss, disability and even death. The WSH Act covers all workplaces including healthcare facilities, and all stakeholders must take reasonably practicable measures to ensure the safety, health and wellbeing of every individual.

Recognising that healthcare employees are exposed to a wide array of work-related safety and health risks, this set of guidelines was developed in 2008 and subsequently revised in July 2015 to provide useful guidance on the proper management of WSH risks in healthcare facilities. This second issue of the guidelines highlight information on potential common hazards faced by healthcare employees as well as good industry WSH practices to prevent and control these hazards. The guidelines is applicable to various public healthcare clusters, private hospitals, community hospitals, private general practitioner (GP) clinics, nursing homes, Tradition Chinese Medicine (TCM) clinics and veterinary clinics.

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WSH Guidelines- Management of Indoor Air Quality

What is WSH Guidelines 

WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program 

Check out the free WSH Guideline -Management of Indoor Air Quality to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

Introduction

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is an important subject in our daily life as we spend a substantial amount of our time indoors. Most people spend their working hours in indoor spaces such as offices, factories and other buildings. In Singapore, where the climate is hot and humid, we rely heavily on air conditioning and mechanical ventilation (ACMV) system to provide thermal comfort in sealed indoor environments. The subject of IAQ becomes more pertinent since the potential for indoor air contamination is increased. Sources of contamination can include carpets, rugs, laser printers and photocopiers. The air quality in these tightly sealed environments is hence affected by gases (including volatile organic compounds),particulates, and microbial contaminants such as mould and bacteria.

Poor air quality in indoor air-conditioned workplaces can result in potential health and comfort problems for occupants. Some acute health effects associated with poor IAQ include coughs, headaches and eye irritation or connotatively referred to as sick building syndrome. This can then lead to the consequential decline in work productivity when sickness-absenteeism prevails. Good IAQ is therefore essential to ensure the health and wellbeing of all people in indoor environments such as buildings and offices.

Recognising the need for practical guidance in the management of IAQ in buildings and/or workplaces, this set of guidelines was developed. It will also supplement the Singapore Standard SS 554: 2009, Code of Practice for Indoor air quality for air-conditioned buildings,in the effective establishment and on the-ground implementation of the IAQ Management Programme.

This set of guidelines is primarily aimed at building owners or occupiers of workplace who have direct control over the risks associated with poor IAQ, as well as the responsible person who is appointed as the IAQ Manager (e.g., facility manager) for the premises in which he or she owes a duty of care.

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WSH Guideline -Statutory Medical Examinations

What is WSH Guidelines 

WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program.

Check out the free WSH Guideline -Statutory Medical Examinations to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website..

WSH Guideline -Statutory Medical Examinations Scope

This set of guidelines would assist Designated Workplace Doctors (DWDs) in the conduct of the medical examinations for workers who are exposed to the following 19 hazards under the Workplace Safety and Health (Medical Examinations) Regulations:

• Arsenic and its compounds

• Asbestos

• Benzene

• Cadmium and its compounds

• Work in a compressed air environment

• Raw Cotton

• Lead and its compounds

• Manganese and its compounds

• Mercury and its compounds

• Noise

• Organophosphates

• Perchloroethylene

• Free Silica

• Tar, Pitch, Bitumen and Creosote

• Trichloroethylene

• Vinyl chloride monomer

Other WSH professionals and management of companies may also find these guidelines useful to understand the rationale for the recommendations made by the DWD

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WSH Guidelines -Improving Workplace Ergonomics

WSH Guidelines -Improving Ergonomics in the Workplace

What is WSH Guidelines 

WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program 

Check out the free WSH Guidelines - Improving Ergonomics in the Workplace to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

WSH Guideline -Improving Ergonomics in the Workplace Scope

What is Ergonomics?

Ergonomics is the term applied to the field of science that studies and designs human-machine,human-tool, human-work environment and human-human interfaces to prevent injury and illness and improve work performance. It is a multi-disciplinary science drawing on anatomy, biomechanics, anthropometry, physiology, psychology, sociology, physics, engineering and medicine.

Putting in place an ergonomics programme in the workplace helps prevent work-related MSDs and injuries. Timely ergonomics intervention can also help employees with existing MSDs reduce the stresses on their bodies so that they can continue working.

This set of guidelines outlines how to develop an in-house ergonomics programme for a company or organisation to manage ergonomics problems and work-related MSDs at the workplace. Employees and employers can also obtain information on good ergonomics practices and the prevention of work-related injury or illness. In particular, through using this guidelines, workplace, equipment, task or job design can be better matched to the capabilities of the working population, including pregnant employees, older workers or those with functional limitations.

The guidelines will cover the legal requirements relevant to ergonomics in the workplace,risk factors of work-related MSDs, how to prevent ergonomics-related injuries and how to implement an ergonomics programme.

To learn more click

WSH Guidelines -Workplace Housekeeping

WSH Guidelines -Workplace Housekeeping

What is WSH Guidelines 

WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program 

Check out the free WSH Guidelines Workplace Housekeepingto improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

WSH Guideline -Workplace Housekeeping Scope

This guide introduces the 5S concept of housekeeping and how it can be used to enhance WSH and improve workplace efficiency and productivity at the same time. Good housekeeping initiatives support WSH culture-building efforts and can be used to enhance the “Ownership and Teamwork” attribute of the WSH CultureSAFE Mode

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WSH Guideline -Safe Loading On Vehicle

WSH Guideline -Safe Loading On Vehicle

What is WSH Guideline 

WSH Guidelines showcased workplace safety and health best practices and WSH program for controlling workplace hazards and improving occupational health for various industry and program 

Check out the free WSH Guideline -Safe Loading On Vehicles to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

WSH Guideline -Safe Loading On Vehicle Scope

The scope of this guidelines includes safety principles of transportation, cargo arrangement, restraining methods for different cargo types, and loading and unloading activities. While the content aims to be comprehensive, it is not exhaustive.

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