Recently, MOM conducted numerous surprise safety checks on shipyards and construction sites following series of accidents and mishaps. Several shipyard and construction companies were given warning letters and some were fined for safety lapses. In addition, about 42% of the fatalities occurred at night (Straits Times dated 28 Sep 2009). Lack of supervision was one of the key findings in all the crane incidents in Singapore (WSH Council Study on crane incidents, 2009).
Yes, supervisors play a critical role in ensuring that work is carried out safely and workers do not take short cuts or ignore safety rules. Supervisors cannot be everywhere and continuously alert workers at all times to enforce safety and maintain a safe workplace. Workers need to be responsible and accountable for both, their own safety and also that of their co-workers.
We often see and hear the safety slogan, “Safety is Everyone’s Responsibility” or “Safety Begins with Me”. For the workers to be aware and responsible for safety, workers need to be trained and informed on the task, environment and safety, and most importantly acclimatise themselves to the safety culture of that workplace or organisation. This commitment has to be mutual between the management and the workers. The management has to be committed to providing a safe workplace and ensuring all workers work safely. Therefore, sufficient, proper and suitable training needs to be conducted periodically to ensure workers are aware of the risks and surrounding situations. It is through planned periodic trainings, which include refresher courses that workers can take care of themselves and their co-workers. Safety and hazard communication is another critical element and has to be done in a timely manner to complement the lessons learnt from training.
With training and communication comes competency and cooperation. Workers who are competent tend to cooperate well and are more willing to take ownership when performing a task or a group of tasks thus reducing risk and preventing or minimising any potential incidents from occurring.
Supervision at this stage has enlarged its coverage as it involves all workers in a set of multiple and overlapping supervision layers at all times because they are trained, informed, competent and have the capacity to help and take care of each other.
Therefore, a supervisor supervising alone is inadequate unless the supervision ratio to workers is small which is not cost effective and unrealistic. A more prudent, sustainable and effective approach is to train the workers and provide a strong safety communication platform so they are competent and knowledgeable in executing the tasks safely without much supervision. It is imperative to understand that you cannot supervise effectively without properly training and understanding the importance of timely safety or hazard communication.
By Ng Lee Tak
Senior Vice-President (CLC, PSB Academy)
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