SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Manpower will amend the law in Q1 2014 to require companies to report all work-related traffic accidents within 10 days.
MOM is hoping that the data can help it identify the frequency and common causes of work-related traffic accidents.
The information will be included in the existing Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) report that MOM publishes every six months.
Christopher Yeo, general manager of OCWS Logistics, said: “First thing that comes to the mind to a lot of organisations is — is this a chore? But we find it useful. Many times when reports come, we hear of… past statistics, how many incidences have happened.
“I hope that we can go into (tackling) more near-miss situations, what can we learn from near-miss situations to minimise such things from happening.”
In addition, a set of guidelines will be developed to help companies better plan driving routes, schedule sufficient breaks for drivers, and maintain their fleet of vehicles.
Bernard Tay, president of the Automobile Association of Singapore, said: “Some of them are paid based on the number of trips they’ve done in a day, so they have to rush and to make as much trips as possible, so if they are not attentive, or fatigued, this will definitely cause accidents.
“The Traffic Police has just released the statistics — the violation has increased, some of them by 50 per cent. So, it looks like more has to be done on the road.”
Bernard Chan, safety executive at Poh Tiong Choon Logistics, said: “For night-shift drivers, it’s very different. When you’re working in the night time, actually you’re very stressed and tired. With this compulsory break period of 30 minutes, it actually helps them to regain back their alertness in their job.”
These changes were announced by Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Manpower Hawazi Daipi at the Workplace Traffic Safety Management Forum on Monday afternoon.
He also said business owners must take responsibility to ensure their drivers drive safely, and added that steps that they could take include offering monetary incentives for safe driving, implementing compulsory break periods and carrying out daily vehicle checks.
He noted that 13 people died as a result of work-related traffic accidents last year.
Mr Hawazi said: “We cannot assume and shift the responsibility on driving safely solely to the drivers. As business owners, we have an important role to play. Managing your fleet and ensuring that your drivers drive safely is not a difficult process.”
source: channelnewsasia.com
