In March 2006, the decades-old Factories Act was replaced with
the Workplace Safety and Health Act (WSH Act). This is a key
milestone in the overhaul of the WSH framework, in order to
achieve the target of halving the workplace fatality rate by 2015.
The initial coverage of the WSH Act was limited to the coverage
of the Factories Act because the immediate focus was on sectors
with the highest accident and fatality rates i.e. general factories,
construction sites and shipyards. While we continue to raise
WSH performance in such high-risk workplaces, the intention is
to ensure that workers in all workplaces are protected. Coverage
would be extended in stages over the next three to five years in
order to ensure a more sustainable build up of industry ownership.
In this regard, the Ministry decided to roll-out the next phase of
workplaces to be included under the WSH Act on 1 March 2008.
The sectors identified either have higher accident rates or where
the potential consequence of any accident can be serious. To
effect the expansion of coverage to the new workplaces, the
WSH (Amendment of First Schedule) Order 2007 was enacted
on 23 Nov 2007.
With effect from 1 March 2008, the WSH Act would apply to other
workplaces in six key sectors identified:
• Healthcare Activities
• Hotels and Restaurants
• Landscape Care and Maintenance Service Activities
• Services Allied to Transportation of Goods
• Veterinary Activities
• Water Supply, Sewerage and Waste Management
