Firm stripped of workplace safety and health award for lying about injury
A company has been stripped of a safety and health award and banned from participating in future editions after it was found to have lied about its workplace injury record.
The company had declared that no workplace injuries had occurred at one of its sites in 2023, when in fact two minor injuries had occurred at the site that year.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) defines minor injuries as non-severe injuries with any instance of medical leave or light duties.
If it had declared the injuries, it would not have been awarded the Safety and Health Award Recognition for Projects (Sharp) Award, said the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council in a statement posted to its website on Nov 23.
When asked by The Straits Times, the council declined to name the company but said that a whistle-blower had alerted it to the possible falsification of information in the application for the award.
This prompted an investigation and the company was found out.
The council administers the award, which recognises large-scale projects or worksites that have exemplary safety and health performance, and workplace safety and health management systems. There are no monetary prizes.
More than 80 companies won the Sharp Award in 2024.
The offending company has been barred from participating in the awards for three years.
“We are committed to upholding the integrity of the awards and will investigate all claims of wrongdoing,” the council said.
The WSH Council has also referred the incident to MOM “to assess if the company had breached injury reporting laws”.
ST has approached the ministry for comment.
To be eligible to apply for the award, companies must have had no dangerous occurrences at their project or worksite, no major and fatal injuries, and no breach in WSH and labour matters between Jan 1 and Dec 31, 2023.
Companies with reported minor injuries can still apply, provided that they have clocked a minimum of 1.5 million man-hours and have an injury rate that is lower than 25 per cent of the industry injury rate, based on application guidelines published by the council in 2024.
ST understands that based on the verified man-hours for the project, which was below the 1.5 million threshold, the company would have been ineligible for the award if it had reported any minor injury.
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