MOM urges safety time-out for construction & transport sectors

SINGAPORE – Companies in the construction and transportation and storage industries have been urged by the authorities to conduct a voluntary safety timeout from Oct 5 to Oct 18 to review safety procedures at the workplace.

This comes on the back of seven workplace deaths since September, concentrated in the two industries, said Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash on Oct 5.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in a Facebook post on the same day that companies in the two industries are encouraged to review their workplace safety and health procedures, strengthen risk controls, and address safety gaps.

In particular, they should focus on the safe use of concrete pumps and vehicle roll-away prevention measures, added the ministry.

These include ensuring handbrakes are engaged before drivers leave their vehicles and using wheel chocks when needed. A wheel chock is a wedge-shaped safety block that prevents a parked vehicle or heavy equipment from accidentally moving.

On Sept 28, a 22-year-old worker died after falling from height at a Build-To-Order construction site in Kallang. He was using a mobile concrete pump on the 12th storey when the incident happened.

MOM said in its post that it will also implement enhanced enforcement measures in both industries from Oct 5 to Nov 4 to strengthen deterrence and accountability.

It will increase fines for first-time offences from $2,000 to $3,000, with higher fines for repeat or more serious offences.

It will also increase the minimum duration of stop-work orders from five weeks to eight weeks, and debar companies from hiring new migrant workers for three months in egregious cases.

Other cases of workplace deaths in September include one on Sept 22 where two workers, aged 33 and 44, died after falling into the sea while moving cargo at Tuas Port. The duo were being lifted on a work platform when the platform was dislodged from a crane and fell into the sea.

On Sept 11, a 35-year-old worker died after he was struck by a hose connected to a compressed air pump at a construction site in Jurong Port Road.

MOM said the recent workplace fatalities in the construction and transportation and storage industries are a grave reminder that workplace safety and health cannot be taken for granted.

Dinesh said: “We must act decisively to prevent further loss of lives.”

He added: “I also call on our industry partners and stakeholders, including the labour movement, to reinforce these efforts within their networks. Continued vigilance and collective effort will help us strengthen safety practices and build safer workplaces.”

In a Facebook post on Oct 5, the Built Environment and Urban Trades Employees’ Union’s executive secretary Melvin Yong said the tougher penalties send a clear message, that “companies that cut corners on safety must face serious consequences”.

Yong, also NTUC’s assistant secretary-general, echoed the call for a safety time-out from Oct 5 to Oct 18, and urged companies to “not treat it as a paper exercise”.

“Safety is not optional, and responsibility cannot be outsourced. Employers must provide safe systems of work, supervisors must stop unsafe work immediately, and workers must be able to speak up without fear,” he said.

There were 21 workplace deaths in the first half of 2026, partly due to an increase in the number of platform workers who lost their lives on the road, compared with 18 deaths in the same period in 2025.

Vehicular incidents claimed nine lives and were the leading cause of the 21 recorded deaths. 

Other top causes included drowning or suffocation, which caused five deaths. These included the deaths of three crew members in a collision between a supply boat and a landing craft off Pasir Panjang Terminal in June.

The transport and storage industry had the highest number of deaths, with five lives lost.