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  WSH Advisory for Fatal Accidents in Second Half of 2023 The Ministry of Manpower has released the WSH statistics for 2023. Singapore’s wor...

Saturday, February 4, 2023

Mental Health Support

Mental health is a growing concern. The Singapore Mental Health Study conducted between 2016 – 2018 found that 1 in 7 people in Singapore have experienced a mental disorder in their lifetime, as compared to 1 in 8 people in 2010’s Mental Health Study.

International studies have suggested that work stressors were among factors associated with poor mental health1. This document sets out practical guidance on measures that employers can adopt to support their employees’ mental well-being, and provides resources employers, employees and self-employed persons can tap on.

Mental well-being at workplaces

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), work is good for health. A healthy state of mental well-being can also contribute to improved productivity. A negative working environment, however, can lead to physical and mental health challenges. While a person’s mental health is influenced by many factors, including both work and non-work factors, this Advisory’s focus is on what can be done in workplaces to support employees’ mental well-being.

Causes of work stress

Work stress can come from multiple factors and can relate to work content and work context. Work content refers to working conditions, such as job content, participation and control, workload, pace of work, and work schedule. Work context refers to organisation of work and labour relations, such as organisational culture and function, interpersonal relationships at work, and home-work interface3. During the COVID-19 pandemic, practices such as mandatory work-from-home and split team arrangements have been widely adopted, leading to drastic changes to work content and work context that can and have contributed to work stress for many employees. While some degree of work stressors will not have adverse effects, employers should be mindful that extreme levels of such stressors at work can harm employees’ mental well-being.

Employers can consider the following recommendations to prevent work stress from compromising well-being and productivity. The recommendations can be implemented at three levels –

Individual employees;

Team / department level; and

Organisation level

Depending on your organisation’s readiness and available resources, it can adopt the recommendations that would work best to support the mental well-being of its employees.

I. Recommendations to support individual employees

Appoint mental wellness champions to raise employees’ awareness on mental well-being and mental health conditions through talks and workshops.

Examples of mental well-being programmes include lunch-time talks on stress management, emotional regulation, relaxation techniques, mental health first aid, crisis management skills, etc.

Employers can tap on the Health Promotion Board (HPB)’s existing mental well-being programmes under the Workplace Outreach Wellness (WOW) Package or Workplace Safety and Health Council’s Total WSH Programme.

Provide access to counselling services such as through Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs). These services allow employees to speak to a professional on their work and non-work related challenges.

To encourage utilisation of the service, assure employees that their conversations with the service provider will be kept confidential and will not be disclosed to the organisation without consent.

Individual employees should also look after their own mental well-being and reach out for help if they feel overwhelmed.

Employers of migrant workers should identify service providers conversant in their native languages. See Annex A for a list of possible EAP service providers. Foreign domestic workers (FDW) employers could remind their FDWs of the option to call the Centre for Domestic Employees if they want to speak to a third-party.

For companies with flexible employee benefits (e.g. medical benefits), consider extending the scope of coverage to include mental well-being programmes, mental health consultations and treatments. This signals the company’s desire to support its employees in overcoming their mental health challenges.

II. Recommendations for the team / department

Train managers / supervisors / WSH representatives / peer support leaders / union leaders to spot signs of mental distress, and on where they can refer employees to seek help from.

Employers may wish to tap on the service providers listed in  HPB’s Mental Health Workplace programmes to equip managers and HR personnel with skills to be supportive leaders at the workplace.

Foster a psychologically safe and trusting work environment by having open and regular conversations on mental well-being.

Supervisors can schedule regular check-ins with employees to assess their state of mental well-being and review / prioritise their workloads where necessary. If employees share their mental health challenges, it is an act of courage and vulnerability. Supervisors should respond with sensitivity and provide assurance that their challenges will be kept confidential and will not be documented.

Teams could come together to share their thoughts / experiences related to mental well-being and their journey of overcoming personal struggles. Management can also encourage an open culture by sharing their stories. Such conversations seek to signal that “it is OK to not be OK” and aim to destigmatise negative associations around mental health challenges.

Strengthen the social support system at the workplace –

Form informal support networks such as peer support programmes, parenting support groups, mentor / buddy system, etc. Establish clear escalation protocols for these informal support networks to know when and where to refer their colleagues for professional help. It is also important to ensure that these peer supporters have their own network of support.

Set aside time and resources for bonding activities (both face-to-face and virtual) to strengthen relationships among employees.

III. Recommendations for the organisation

Review the state of employees’ mental well-being regularly as part of risk assessment for workplace health.

Conduct surveys to understand general state of mental well-being of employees and work stressors.

iWorkHealth - a confidential online self-administered assessment tool is one of such surveys that companies can tap on.

Employers should implement measures to address findings from the survey and track their effectiveness in improving the mental well-being of employees by monitoring the progress from survey findings and administrative data as proxy indicators (e.g. absenteeism / MC rates). Such measures could include upstream organisational changes to remove the source of the work stressor or minimise employees’ exposure to the stressor.

Review HR policies to ensure hiring practices, workplace practices and performance management systems are non-discriminatory and merit-based in nature.

The Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP) states that companies should not ask job applicants to declare personal information, which includes their mental health condition, unless it is a job-related requirement.

Employers should adopt appraisal systems that are fair and objective, with measurable standards for evaluating job performance. Please refer to the TGFEP.

Employers can also establish an internal channel (e.g. designated officers, survey links to send anonymous feedback) for reporting feedback and dispute resolution related to practices that erode mental well-being. Clear policies related to maintaining confidentiality for reporting feedback should also be articulated.

Implement and encourage take up of flexible work arrangements (FWAs) to help employees meet both their work and personal demands. Types of FWAs include (but are not exclusive to):

Flexi-place such as telecommuting and work-from-home, which allow workers to work offsite to also meet their personal needs (e.g. caregiving).

Flexi-time such as staggered working hours, compressed work week and time-banking, which allow workers to adjust their daily work hours according to their personal needs and productivity.

Flexi-load such as part-time work and job-sharing, which allow workers to reduce their workload as required to balance with other personal needs.

For more information on FWAs as well as resources on how to implement them, please refer to TAFEP’s guide on FWAs.

Establish a work-life harmony policy to provide clarity on after-hours work communication.

Understanding the need for proper rest outside of work hours

Adequate rest outside of work hours will help reduce work burnout and improve productivity.

This is particularly pertinent for employees who telecommute, where the lines between home and work become increasingly blurred.

Work-life harmony remains key to employee’s overall well-being and optimal business performance5.

Establish after-hours policy for work communication

Employer are encouraged to establish reasonable expectations for work-related communication after hours and have it communicated to employees.

For unionised companies, employers may discuss with unions (where applicable).

Examples of after-hours policy that employers can adopt as good practices:

Employers should set out clear position that for work-related messages (e.g. SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram) and emails sent after work hours6, a response is not expected until the next working day, except for messages / emails marked as “Urgent”.

For non-urgent messages and emails sent outside work hours, senders could include a header stating that no immediate response is expected from the recipient.

If employees are required to work after-hours, supervisors should consider giving time-off for employees to have adequate rest.

Establish return-to-work policies to support employees who are recovering from mental health conditions.

Returning to work can be a daunting experience for an employee who is recovering from a mental health condition. Employers can support their employees by practicing FWAs (i.e. Flexi-load and Flexi-time) to allow them to gradually transit back to work while still providing time for treatments.

Employers may wish to refer to the NCSS Mental Health Toolkit for Employers on return-to-work guidelines

Total WSH Programme

Total Workplace Safety and Health Programme

What is Total WSH

Total Workplace Safety and Health (Total WSH) is an approach that looks at an organization safety and health issues and challenges together at work.  It covers:

• Workplace Safety; 

• Workplace Occupational health and 

• Employee personal health (including both physical and mental well-being) 

The Total WSH programme is a FREE programme where Workplace Safety and Health Council authorized Total WSH Service Providers will guide and teach  your company to manage safety and health in an integrated way, and educate your workers on how to better take care of their safety and health through modular activity packages.


Benefits of Total WSH Programme

• Reduces the risk of workplace injuries and ill-health

• Healthier and better staff well-being 

• Lower absenteeism rate and healthcare costs

• Better business performance from more productive staff 

Who May Apply 

You may apply if your company is based in Singapore and is not currently engaged in any Health Promotion Board’s workplace health outreach programmes.

Activity Package Details 

Your Total WSH service provider will guide you through the programme's onboarding, implementation, integration and sustainability, and offboarding phases.









 


Expected Timeline and Process

Your Total WSH service provider will guide you through the programme's onboarding, implementation, integration and sustainability, and offboarding phases: 



























Workplace Safety and Health Council service providers for Total WSH:



 For More Information 

Friday, February 3, 2023

WSH Alert - Pump Attendant Struck By Car

 

Pump attendant knocked down by a car

On 19 January 2023, a pump attendant was walking towards a pump island when he was hit by a car exiting the petrol station. The attendant fell to the ground and later passed away due to his injuries.

The WSH Council calls on all companies involved in operating petrol stations to do an urgent assessment of their traffic safety measures to prevent vehicle accidents.

What companies should do

Companies should urgently assess and ensure that their WSH management system includes the following measures or checks:

• Traffic Management Plan (TMP): Implement a TMP to minimise the risk of vehicle collisions and improve the safety of all persons at a petrol station. Suggested risk controls include:   

-   implement a speed limit within the station and communicate this clearly via traffic signage;  

-   install road humps or rumble strips at strategic locations to slow down vehicle movement;  

-   post signage (e.g. at the pump island) and/ or road markings to remind drivers to keep a lookout for pedestrians;  

-   place convex mirrors to eliminate blind spots within the petrol station; and

-   provide pedestrian crossing(s) that are clearly visible to drivers to facilitate safe people’s movement to and from pump islands.

• Hazard communication: Brief workers on the possible workplace hazards and the dangers of distracted walking (e.g. walking while looking at one’s handphone) at a petrol station. Movement to and from pump islands should only be at designated pedestrian crossings. Equip each worker with a high-visibility reflective vest. 

For more information, refer to WSH Council’s WSH Guidelines on Workplace Traffic Safety Management and 6 Basic WSH Rules for Traffic Management.

Under the WSH Act, first-time corporate offenders may be sentenced to the maximum fine of $500,000 whilst individuals can either be sentenced to the maximum fine of $200,000 and/or an imprisonment not exceeding 2 years. Read more on the WSH Act penalties.

During the Heightened Safety Period (1 September 2022 to 28 February 2023), the Ministry of Manpower will impose severe actions for serious WSH lapses, which include:  

•    Debarment from hiring new work pass holders   

•    Company leaders to personally account to MOM and take responsibility for rectifications 

•    Engaging external auditors to conduct a thorough review of company’s WSH processes 

WSH Guidelines -Transport of Goods Services

WSH Guidelines -Service Allied to the Transport of goods

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 -Service Allied to the Transport of goods to improve your organization WSH practices. For the latest WSH Guidelines update, refer to Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council Website.

Introduction

Logistics (service relating to the transportation of goods) is a sector that involves the moving of goods or cargo from point to point via a variety of transportation vehicles. This may range from picking of goods using forklift, stacker and other suitable equipment to palletizing, loading, unloading and depalletizing. The supply chain management method of handling goods has heightened the need for more safety and health awareness among various stakeholders.

The logistics industry contributes significantly to our country’s economy and supports many other economic activities. Logistics industry employees such as warehouse assistants, deliverymen, container drivers, cargo handlers, packers, freight forwarding and crating services employees, can be exposed to a variety of safety and health hazards at work depending on their specific tasks. Musculoskeletal disorders and injuries can arise from manual handling activities. Workers may be exposed to chemicals, noise, vibration and thermal stress. The type of accidents that may occur include falls, being hit by falling objects, crushing injuries, electrocution as well as fire and explosion.

Work-related injuries and diseases can happen as a result of unsafe acts and conditions. Unsafe acts occur when employees are unaware of the hazards and the proper work practices, for example, not adopting the proper lifting methods. Unsafe conditions arise out of ignorance or lack of diligence in ensuring a safe and healthy working environment, for example, a slippery floor. Work related accidents and diseases can be prevented by identifying the hazards and taking appropriate preventive measures.

These guidelines provide information and guidance on the identification of work hazards and their prevention. Employers should work together with employees to establish a safe and healthy work environment

To learn more click




SCDF Fire Fighting Suit

 SCDF introduces new firefighting protective suit with improved flame protection


The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) has unveiled a new firefighting protective suit (FFPS).

New firefighting suit with improved features

From Feb. 1, 2023, some SCDF firefighters will don the new FFPS when responding to emergency calls.

The new FFPS has a khaki-based colour and has added functions, such as better protection from extreme heat and environmental conditions, as well as increased visibility in low light conditions.

Additionally, the FFPS has an improved fit that provides better range of motion due to its lightweight and stretchable outer shell.

It also has highly breathable fabric layers that reduces heat stress, improved flame protection to enhance safety, and increased abrasion resistance to enhance durability.

To learn more click SCDF Instagram Post

Thursday, February 2, 2023

Develop Behavioural Safety Programme

Introduction

We associate the phrase “behaviour based safety” very much with the works of Dr E Scott Geller because he was the man that coined the phrase in 1979 which later on became the commonly used phrase of the safety systems industry

Behavioural Based Safety is defined as the process that reduces unsafe behaviours that can lead to incidents occurring in the workplace by delving into the act that causes the accident by looking into areas such as the work place; work environment, equipment, procedures and attitudes and by reinforcing safe behaviours and identifying the causes of unsafe behaviour

To answer to this question, it is necessary to make the following assumptions.

Multi-National Organization

The Behaviour Based Safety Program is specifically design and developed for the company Boh Chap Pte Ltd which is a multi-national organization that employed close to 1000 employees at their current manufacturing site in Jurong Industrial Estate.

Multi-cultural Workforce

The front line management and direct labours are typically made up of china and Indian nationals supervised and managed by local Singaporeans and other multi- nationals executives, engineers as well as managers

Nature of operations

Here we shall assumed the manufacturing activities in Boh Chap Pte Ltd are labour intensives due to the management reluctance’s to purchase mechanical aid for the mobilization of tools/products and most of the time workers have to use machineries and equipments which are poorly maintained to execute their daily activities.

Workers involved in the accidents/incidents

Here we shall assumed that based on the review and analysis of the accident investigation findings report, it was observed that there is a consistent trends in the accidence reported as almost all the accidents reported involved workers who were very experienced in their area of work and have been with the organization for at least 10 years.

Reactive WSH Management

Here we shall also assumed that the front line management and staff adopt the reactive style of approach in managing their WSH in the organization 

APPROPRIATE APPROACHES IN REDUCING ACCIDENTS/INCIDENT IN BOH CHAP PTE LTD

Before providing the answers to the approaches in reducing acidents/incident in the work place, there is a need to understands what constitutes the definitions of accident and incident.

The definition of an incident culled from the OHSAS 18001:2007 is defined as work related event(s) in which an injury or ill health or fatality occurred, or could have occurred. And an incident where no injury, ill health, or fatality occurs may also referred to as a “near-miss” , “near-hit”, “close call” or “dangerous occurrences”

We often associate the term accidents/incidents with OHSAS 18001 :2007 definition, where it defined incident as work-related event(s) in which an injury or ill health or fatality occurred, or could have occurred. One such example would be an emergency situation

On the other hand OHSAS 18001:2007 definition of an accident is an incident which has given rise to injury, ill health or fatality.

There are many approaches available which an organization can employ to help them reduce accidents/incident in their work place and this include:

Behaviour Change

Involves the use of behavioural change theories which provide insight into the formulation of effective teaching methods that tap into the mechanisms of behavioural change

Engineering Change

The creative application of scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or work utilizing singly or in combination to make safe the processes for the operator and the machinery at the workplace

Group Problem Solving

Applying group problem solving method to proactively identify potential foreseeable hazards/risks prior to an actual fail event and applied the mitigation measures to prevent the problems from actually occurring. Example would be the use of Failure Mode Effects Analysis ( FMEA)

Management Audit

Audit on the adequacy of the organization’s health and safety management using a relevant standard or benchmark . If standards are not clear, the assessment cannot be reliable. Audit judgements should be informed by the legal standards, WSH Act and regulations and applicable industry standards. Usually during an audit, documentary analysis is necessary to gauge the level of commitment towards WSH. Example would be to find out whether an organization implement what they have said in the risk assessment register.

Stress Management Program

Individuals stress levels at work can also affect accidents at the workplaces. And it is important to identify what are the workers triggering and intervention methods for controlling their workplace stress and develop an effective stress management programme

Poster Campaign

The use of textual and graphical elements which are eye grabbing, jaws dropping and enticing to promote and convey safety message to the workers

Near-miss Reporting

Monitoring and communicating near-misses incidents where near-miss is any event which is an unintentional unsafe occurrence that could have resulted in an injury, fatality or property damage for learning from experiences purposes

For this question, the appropriate approach to reduce the workplace accidents / incidents are identified as follows:

Behavioural Change

The reasons why behavioural change approach is identified as one of the appropriate is because, review and analysis on the accidents that occurred in Boh Chap Pte Ltd revealed that the causes of accidents/incidents in the workplace were mainly attributed by the workers human behaviour such as at-risk behaviours, failure of workers to don the PPE and the failure of maintenance crew to conduct machinery preventive maintenance. And moreover additional information gather from these accidents investigation also revealed that there is a consistent trend . among the reported accidents/incidents. It was noted that most of the reported accidents in Boh Chap Pte Ltd involved employees with at least minimum of 10 years service with the organization which could indicate to us complacency which is also part of human attribute –that is human behaviour

Group Problem Solving

The reason why group problem solving is identified as another appropriate approach is based on the review of the accident investigation findings reports for all the reported accidents recorded which revealed the front line management and staffs adopt a reactive style of approach in managing their WSH at their workplace meaning only when an accident/incident happened, then the management react by administering appropriate control measures. The reactive style of WSH approach does not serve any purpose nor benefits the organization as no efforts were undertaken to prevent the accident/incident from occurring.

Rather than reactive, the front line management and staff should adopt a proactive group problem solving style of approach to manage their WSH at the workplace. Meaning they are proactively involved as a group/team which involve both the front line management and staff to identify foreseeable hazards/risks/problems and applied mitigation measures before the situation escalated into an accident/incident

RESOURCES REQUIRED FOR REDUCING ACCIDENTS/INCIDENTS IN BOH CHAP PTE LTD

The 2 identified resources which are required for reducing the accidents/incident in Boh Chap Pte Ltd through the design, implementation and maintenance of the Behavioural Safety performance system are :

Financial resources

Finance is the science of funds management. The field of finance deals with the concept of time, money and risk and how they are interrelated. It also deals with how money is spent and budgeted. Budget is required to start a Behavioural Safety Programme which may includes the following aspects depending on the organization BSP , polices and organizational procedures

Employee rewards program in supporting of the BSP . Example a worker was rewarded a $50 NTUC voucher for seeing him coaching another co-worker for an unsafe act.

  • Organizing training for the BSP committee team
  • Printing of flyers or poster to promote BSP among workers internally
  • Printing of safety observation checklist
  • Faulty Machineries/Equipment Replacement

Human resources

Management of human resources through the allocation of human resources among various projects or business units, maximising the utilization of available personnel resources to achieve the organization business goals and the efficient and effective deployment of an organization’s personnel resources where and when they are needed and in possession of the skills, tools and training required by the work. Example would be undertaking training needs analysis to identify the require training program for the BSP team to equip them with the necessary skills, knowledge and competency to assume their BSP roles.

RECOMMEND ORGANIZATIONAL READINESS STUDY METHODOLOGY

Organizational readiness for change is a multi-level, multi-faceted construct. As an organization-level construct, readiness for change refers to organizational members' shared resolve to implement a change (change commitment) and shared belief in their collective capability to do so (change efficacy).

Organizational readiness for change varies as a function of how much organizational members value the change and how favorably they appraise three key determinants of implementation capability:

•task demands

•resource availability

•situational factors.

When an organizational readiness for change is high, organizational members are more likely to initiate change, exert greater effort, exhibit greater persistence, and display more cooperative behaviour and the result is more effective implementation.

•Study methodologies of organisational readiness may include:

•Employee risk perception approach

•Employer risk perception approach

•Peer risk perception approach

•Individual risk perception approach

•Organizational readiness study methods such as

Individual interview questionnaire

Small groups discussion

In this question, the safety climate survey will be discussed to check for the organization readiness to behavioural change programme.

Safety climate is a very important element of any organization safety culture. The ‘climate of safety’ in the organization at any given point in time determines the organization people’s safety behaviour. Safety climate survey are used to provide a snapshot of the workforce’s attitudes and perceptions about safety to help identify what is working well and what is not working as intended. 

The procedures of developing a safety climate survey would include:

 Step one : Developing the survey

•Survey statements should be worded so they can be understood by all respondents and will obtain the desired information

•All statements/questions must be frame clearly. Each item must have sense to every respondent. If an employee does not understand what is being asked, his/her responses may not reflect true perceptions causing misleading findings.

Step two: Select a Sample Size

•Including all, or nearly all, employees in the survey gives everyone the opportunity to participate

•Employee may feel more involved in the safety program as they have been invited to express their issues or concerns/ However, it is not always practical to survey all employees

•The sample size depends very much on the professional and financial resources available to administer the survey, and on the company’s ability to input and analyse the data

Step three : Test the survey

•Administer the pre-test as though it were the actual survey

•Thereafter ask the respondents whether the survey seemed straight forward

•Review the respondents answers to each statement of the survey carefully to identify whether the survey is eliciting the desired information

•Modify the survey as required and then re-test on a different sample group

Step four : Communicate intentions

•Employees generally do not appreciate surprises. For the survey to be positively received, communicate the plan to all employees in advance

•The surveyor’s goal is to constantly and continually communicate the progress while working through the survey process.

Step five : Administer the Survey

•Administer the survey through either the following ways:

Internet survey where employees are able to complete their survey at their own time and from any location

Assemble employees in a meeting room to complete the survey anonymously on a given time 

Groups of employees may be called to the survey room at a designated time, or task can simply be made part of a regular staff/safety meeting

Step Six : Analyse

•Once the survey have been conducted, the next thing is to correlate the survey’s reporting parameters with comments and by doing so ,the benefits of including comments in a survey is quite obvious

•Incorporating comments in a survey helps to clarify the survey results. Example when the survey data show only that some groups of respondents scored high and some scored low but offer no explanation as to why this occurred.

•Scores alone is not able to provide the direction required to take specific action. Whereas Comments can provide that information

Step Seven : Validate

•If the safety perception survey is designed according to the approach outlined earlier, the comments received from the respondent s will generally serves as a validation to the score

•However at times comments may not be able to provide enough information on what the employees feel should be done and in this case the focus groups would need to come in to help the surveyor gather the extra data

Step Eight : Feedback

•After survey has been administered, the employees may wish to know the results. To prevent misinterpretation of the survey findings, an easy to understand summary report should be provided with indication that the full report is only available upon request rather than overwhelming the employees with reams of detailed findings.

Step Nine : Re-evaluate

•Safety perception survey yields information about a company’s safety and health system, that other measures do not

•It can often take a company more than a year to plan and execute all of its responses to the survey findings. Therefore such a survey should not be conducted too often and most companies usually conduct such a survey every 1 or 2 years 

POSSIBLE ROOT CAUSES OF PAST INCIDENTS OR ACCIDENTS BASED ON ORGANIZATIONAL RECORDS

Various methods are available that organization can use to identify root causes of past incident or accidents and they are:

  • Root Cause Analysis ( RCA)

RCA focus on problems solving by attempting to correct or eliminate root causes, as opposed to merely addressing the immediately obvious symptom. It is viewed as a continuous improvement tools, a reactive method of problem detection and solving, and a proactive method as RCA has the ability to forecast the possibility of an event before it could occur

  • Simplified Explanation

Visual drawing used to identify the connections or dependencies of the main perceived symptoms of a problem and this leads to easy identification of areas which needs to be focus to achieve the positive change if tackled

  • Contextual Explanation

Map out a sequence of cause and effect from the core problem to the symptoms and by working backwards from the undesirable effects or symptoms to uncover or discover the underlying core cause. Symptoms arises from one core problem and by removing the core problem, the symptoms can then be removed

Current Reality Tree Example

Involves depicting a chain of cause and effect reasoning in graphical form by linking any two undesirable effects, elaborating the reasoning to ensure it is sound and plausible and linking each of the remaining undesirable effects to the existing tree by repeating the previous steps. This approach tends to converge on a single root cause

To be able to identify what are the root causes of past incidents or accidents would require a good understanding of what constitutes the following definitions:

Accident

OHSAS 18001:2007 definition of an accident is an incident which has given rise to injury, ill health or fatality

Incident

OHSAS 18001 :2007 definition of an incident as any work-related event(s) in which an injury or ill health or fatality occurred, or could have occurred 

Near-miss

An occurrence in a sequence of events that had the potential to produce injury, death or property damage but did not

Dangerous occurrences

Occurrences of serious workplace incident which does not involve the death or injury of any person at work

Reportable accidents

Accidents reportable to the Ministry of Manpower include death of worker, injury of worker ( more than 3 days MC or 24 hours in hospital), death or injury of self employed or member of public, dangerous occurrence and occupational disease

At-risk behaviours

Accidents caused by undesirable human behaviour and can be corrected by the action of the human being only Examples of at-risk behaviours include:

•Messaging peers using hand phone whilst walking down a flight of stairs with Eyes not on path

•Busy chatting away with co-worker whilst performing hammering of nails jobs with eyes not on work

•Not following safe work procedures such as not adhering to the LockOut TagOut safe work procedure prior to the conduct of machine preventive maintenance

Unsafe Conditions

Define as the existence of a mechanical, physical, chemical or environmental condition, situation or state of affairs, which may cause hazard or accident Example of unsafe conditions:

No Machine guarding Defects found on ladder

After considering the methods of identifying root cause of accidents and the definition of the accidents categories, the two possible root causes of past incidents and accidents based on organisational records are identified as:

•At-risk behaviours

•Unsafe condition 

CRITICAL BEHAVIOURS WHICH CAUSED ACCIDENTS/INCIDENTS IN THE ORGANIZATION ASSOCIATED WITH WORK LOCATION AND ERGONOMICS

Patterns of behaviours can be defined as an observable action or series of actions or activities that result in patterns that affect the safety of an individuals or a group of workers

Individuals behaviours are repeatable meaning if you have done it once, you will likely to do it again whether it has been done consciously or sub-consciously

Some patterns of behaviour can be found in some of the safe work procedures and a positive WSH culture must have such procedures to develop the training and practices so as to make these patterns of behaviour safe to use

An example would be the managing director has this particular pattern of behaviour where he will always make sure he holds on the handrail during ascending and descending the stairway and he has never failed once without holding the handrail

Research indicates that 80 to 90% of all workplace accidents, regardless of industry, are caused by critical errors involving the following four unintentional (or habitual) at-risk behaviors:

1.Eyes not on task.

2.Mind not on task.

3.Moving into or being in the line-of-fire.

4.Loss of balance, traction and/or grip

Consider the activity of driving a forklift at the workplace

What happens if we take our eyes off the road, even for a moment? (Eyes not on task.) Or what if we are driving while distracted by a handphone phone call? (Mind not on task.) Or if we exit a parking lot without first looking to make sure we're not pulling out into oncoming traffic? (Moving into the line-of-fire.) And how easy is it to slip and fall if we climb out of the forklift without first checking our footing? (Loss of balance/traction and/or grip)

Ergonomics is a way of designing workstations, work practices, and work flow to accommodate the capabilities of workers. Ergonomic design reduces risk factors known to contribute to occupational ergonomic injuries and illnesses, such as sprains and strains and cumulative trauma disorders

If work is performed in an awkward postures or with excessive effort, fatigue and discomfort may result. Under these conditions the muscles, ligaments, nerves and blood vessels can be damaged. Injuries of this type is known as musculoskeletal disorder

The critical behaviours that caused accidents/incidents in the organization associated with ergonomics are:

1.Working in an awkward posture

2.Working with excessive effort.

3.Failure to use mechanical aids to lift heavy object

4.Failure to adopt proper lifting and lowering method during manual lifting of items

We often associate tools and equipment hazards with the physical condition of the tools and equipments. Example would be machinery guarding not in place or the hammer have a chipped off handle.

The critical behaviours that caused accidents/incidents in the organization associated with tools and equipments are

1.Inappropriate use of tools and equipments which they are not intended for. Example would be the use of screwdriver as a door wedge to prevent the door from auto-closing due to a malfunctioned door ledge

2 Using the tools and equipment in the wrong way

3. Use of wrong tools/equipments for a particular job

4The moving parts of the machinery/equipment was observed not protected with a machine guards when the machine is still in operations

The critical behaviours that caused accidents/incidents in the organization associated with procedures are

1.Failure to adhere to safe work procedures. Example would be the failure to conduct the LockOut Tag Out procedures prior to the machinery preventive maintenance

2.Failure to follow the safe work procedure for the use and disposal of chemicals

The critical behaviours that caused accidents/incidents in the organization associated with personal protective equipment are

1)Failure to wear the appropriate PPE . Example would be failure to wear the chemical resistant boots, gloves, face shield and coverall when handling hazardous chemicals which are corrosive

2)Wearing the wrong PPE for certain task

RECOMMEND THE MODES AND FREQUENCY OF DATA COLLECTION

There are many methods available for data collection and this may include:

a)Paper Collection

Where data collected are in the form of hard copies where employees conducting the observations, record the data on printed observation checklists while the person in charge will follow up on the manual calculation of the total safe and at risk behaviours

b)Machine readable paper

Where data are collected using the special OAS paper where employee deployed as observer have to shade observation results on special OAS paper. The duly shaded OAS paper will then feed into a machine which will scan the paper and compute observation results via software

c)Personal Digital Assistance (PDA) Collection

Where data are collected by the means of using PDA where the employees deployed as observer will direct key in the observation results into the PDA while conducting the observation

d)Web based collection

Where the data collected from the observations are being manually keyed into an online system, where results will be computed out. Employees are able to access the observation analysis online

The frequency of safety observation data collection is not fixed and it may include:

•Daily

•Weekly

•Monthly

•Sampling Frequency

IMPLEMENT BEHAVIOUR SAFETY PROGRAM

ESTABLISH THE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF BSP STEERING AND WORKING COMMITTEE

The roles and responsibilities of BSP Steering committee may include:

•Planning of BSP implementation schedule; this should be a one year plan, which includes the awareness campaign, training, pilot run, full roll out and programme audit

•Organization of BSP resources; allocation of human and financial resources should be plan in accordance to the nature and size of organization

•Selection of BSP observers; it is preferred to have volunteers in BSP participation. However , in view of the introvert nature of Asian, most BSP observers need to be appointed by the Steering committee of HOD

•Review of BSP implementation progress; tracking the progress of the implementation is crucial

Additional roles and responsibilities of BSP Steering committee may include:

•Ensuring the implementation of BSP observation and maintaining the quality of observation from the observers

•BSP Facilitators; the members in the working committee will serve as the sub facilitator of BSP, facilitating the programme by ensuring the observation schedule is being followed

•Act as BSP coaches and responsible for the quality of the BSP observers through coaching to calibrate the BSP observer’s observation quality

•Act as BSP observers and stand in as BSP observer in case there is a shortage of observers due to unforeseen circumstances

•Facilitation of BSP implementation Plan

•Coaching of BSP observers in identifying at-risk and safe behaviours

•Collection of observation date according to planned frequency

•Analysis of data collected and identifies the at risk and safe behaviours

•Implementation of action plans to reduce at-risk behaviours 

IDENTIFY THE APPROPRIATE TRAININGS REQUIRED FOR BSP STEERING AND WORKNG COMMITTEE

The specific training appropriate for the BSP Steering committee may include:

  • Objectives and background of BSP
  • Motivation factors of safe and at-risk behaviours
  • Development of critical behavioural list
  • Management of resistance during implementation BSP Strategies for managing resistance in BBSP
  • Make it clear that the change will occur
  • Emphasize the need for change
  • Have clear expectations
  • Gives details of the change
  • Get input from people
  • Modify change and change process to accommodate concerns
  • Hold people accountable
  • Recognise/reinforce participation and change Overview of BSP implementation phases

The specific training appropriate for the BSP Working committee may include:

Basic principles of BSP, which may include:

  • BSP implementation phases
  • BSP observation skills
  • Looking at the right critical behaviours-observer need to be able to discriminate safe from at-risk behaviours( during observation)

Observers interaction skills, which include:

  • Observers providing effective feedback
  • Observers getting feedback
  • Behaviour analysis skills

Analysis requires knowledge of basic human behaviour models such as the ABC Model

  • Data analysis skills with particular focus on the following:

-Categories that have a lower % safe than the overall % safe

-Items that have higher potential for injury. These might be items that are often involved in injury, or items with potential for serious injury 

-Check to see how often the item has been marked. The % Safe for an item may be low, but it may not have been marked very often

-Write down possible focus areas. Make a list of possible focus areas. Write down the item number and description, and the %Safe

Behavioural corrective action

To ensure the objectives are met, provide effective feedback and make suggestions for future improvements

DESCRIPTIONS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BSP OBSERVATION TO DETERMINE SAFE AND AT-RISK

Implementation of the BSP observation to determine safe and at-risk behaviours involves the following steps:

a)Selection of observers

It is important to ensure that only responsible, patient and employee who have at least certain knowledge in safety are selected as the observer as the observers are entrust with the responsibilities of convincing and explaining the BSP objectives and benefits of the BSP program to the organization employees.

b)Training of observers.

When the right employees are selected as the BSP observers, the organization would need to provide them with the following trainings to equip them with the knowledge and know- how to assume their roles

-Data collection techniques

-Observation preparation tasks

-Observation methods

-Post-processing tasks

Data collection mode and frequency

Preparation of observation

-Preparation of behaviour checklist, definitions , location and time of observation etc

e)Conducting observation

•Identify critical safety-related behaviours

•Discover the causes of the at-risk behaviours

•Record what is seen by using Critical Behaviour checklist 

•Provide feedback. The observer points out the places when the employee was performing safely and tried to discover the reasons behind at-risk behaviour

•Write quality comments. Records co-worker suggestions and ideas about barriers to safe work. Provide practical suggestions to improve unsafe behaviour

f)Reporting and analysis of collected data at the end of the Observation

PROVISION OF APPROPRIATE COACHING TO BSP OBSERVERS TO ENSURE OBSERVATION IS CARRIED OUT IN ACCORDANCE WITH ORGANIZATION PROCEDURES

In order to ensure that the BSP observers conduct the observation in accordance with organization procedures, organization should ensure appropriate coaching, supervision and assistance are provided to the BSP observers which may include:

•Periodic monitoring of the BSP implementation which involves monitor and provide feedback to individuals that will help to improve some safety problems

•Identify areas where BSP require further improvements which include:

Review of the observation coaching guide and data trend report together

Brainstorm suggestions for improvement and provide guidance feedback

•Ensuring BSP activities are carried out according to requirements

Coaching technique for BSP observers

Maintain Behavioural Safety Programme

CRITICAL ELEMENTS REQUIRED FOR A SUCCESSFUL BSP IMPLEMENTATION

The success of the BSP implementation depends on the following critical elements which include

a)Management engagement

Management commitment and leadership is critical in the success of the BSP implementation. Management should demonstrate their commitment by showing that they care about the success of the BSP implementation through the provision of adequate resources to promote the behavioural safety approach and creating an environment of accountability in which each and every employee are made accountable and responsible for his/her own safety as well as the safety of his/her colleagues.

As the success of the BSP implementation depends very much on the people implementing and managing the BSP tools, the organization shall ensure that the management plays the leadership role in the BSP implementation process to ensure that it will not primarily become the responsibility of the employees

b)Employee engagement.

The success of the BSP process also depends very much on the employees ownership of their BSP roles in their work groups as BSP process requires continual employees participation in the following phases which include:

-Design stage

-Implementation of the BSP project

-Training

-Ongoing observation

And the employees are expected to use the resulting data to develop action plans in their work groups so as to address the hazards and encourage safe work practices

c)Observation checklist

To ensure the effectiveness of the behaviour based safety, the observation checklist should be specific to the organization’s workplace risks associated with the activities undertaken by the employees.

Generic checklist is only effective in increasing the employee level of awareness in safety but does not really address the unsafe behaviours of employees which are the major contributor for the past injuries

Based on these findings, organization should identify and define safe work practices rather than specific behaviours that are clear enough so that they can be easily and reliably identified

d)Data Analysis

BSP team have to take into consideration the confidentiality and anonymity of the employees during the data collection stage and be sensitive to issues such as recording the time of the conduct of the observation. As some employees may feel unsecured if the observation time is being recorded for fear of being identified as the observed employee

Behaviour safety process is a simple process which involves the collection of data and analysis of the observed activities. Usually the decision about what data to gather and how is established by the BSP team and the team only collect data that are required and analyzed the data to make planning decision.

The BSP team should establish a strategy which can help them to improve or make adjustment to fine tune the safety/process based on the results of their plans so as not to lose credibility with the workforce and with the management when unsuccessful tactics are allowed to continue to be used.

Having an established strategy in places will help the BSP team to reduce the resources invested on an ineffective strategy.

e)Provision of adequate BSP training

Adequate BSP training shall be provided to the observer and the facilitator as well as to the employees for BSP awareness purposes. Employees who have undergone the BSP awareness training will have a better understanding of the BSP process and why the organization is adopting such program and hence they are more supportive , less resistant towards the acceptance of the BSP process

f)Removing barriers through appropriate interventions

The objective of the feedback session during a safety observation is to remove the barriers through appropriate interventions which involves the development of relevant intervention strategies by the work teams which includes:

•Complimenting the employee being observed for enhancing safe behaviour

•Counselling the employee being observed for reducing the difficulties associated with safe behaviour

•Coaching the employee being observed for educating the workers on risk perception 

•Correcting the employee being observed for removing the barriers associated with unsafe behaviour

It is important to take note that these four strategies are to be used only after a careful analysis of the critical behaviours observed on the employees.

IDENTIFY THE TYPE OF DATA REQUIRED TO BE COLLECTED AND ANALYSED DURING BSP IMPLEMENTATION

The type of data required to be collected during the BSP implementation is relevant to the Boh Chap Pte Ltd manufacturing activities and is tabulated in the safety observation checklist below: 

The type of data required to be analysed during the BSP implementation may include:

•At-risk behaviour percentage

% At-risk = Total Safe / ( Total Safe + Total At-risk) x 100%

•Safe behaviours percentage

% Safe = Total Safe / ( Total Safe + Total At-Risk) x 100%

•Safety intervention during observation

•Action items closure from behavioural corrective action

The objective of analysing the data is to identify when and where the at-risk behaviours are most apt to occur. Based on this analysis, the BSP committee should develop an action plan that addresses both behavioural and facility issues that contribute to the at-risk behaviours


WSH Alert -Worker Crushed By Forklift

 



Worker Crushed Between Forklift & High Beam

On 7 July 2022, a worker was standing on the rear of a forklift to hang a cable on an overhead beam. However, the forklift suddenly moved backwards, resulting in the worker being crushed between the forklift and the beam. He died at the hospital.

Recommendations

Using the wrong equipment at work can result in serious injuries or even death. Forklifts should only be used to move goods on pallets. Forklifts are not meant for workers to gain access to higher work areas; use ladders or work platforms instead. Consider the following measures to prevent similar accidents:

• Safe work platform: Use a proper work platform for tasks requiring work at height.

Safe Work Procedure: Develop a Safe Work Procedure (SWP) for the task. Communicate the SWP to workers and provide supervision to ensure the SWP is followed.

Competent forklift operator: Allow only competent and authorised operators to operate forklifts. Ensure all forklift operators have completed the necessary certifications such as the Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) Operate Forklift Course. Forklift operators should never allow workers to stand on the forks or at the rear of the forklift.

Preventive maintenance: Forklift servicing and maintenance should be carried out regularly according to the manufacturer’s recommendation. This is to prevent sudden forklift failure which can create an unsafe situation.

Safe worker behaviour: Implement a behavioural observation and intervention initiative at your workplace. Encourage workers to look out for one another and empower them to stop the work should they come across an unsafe behaviour.

For more information, please refer to WSH Council’s Code of Practice for Working Safely at Heights, WSH Guidelines on Safe Operation of Forklift Trucks and WSH Guide to Behavioural Observation and Intervention.

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