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ACCORDING to the Ministry of Manpower, in 2008, there were 399 workplace injuries per 100,000 employees in the marine industry. This compares with 796 injuries in the construction industry. In the ship repair environment, the risks of accidents are increased owing to the fast turnover time required by ship owners, the escape routes in each ship is different, and each ship has different hazards. In the ships, there is the presence of gases and oil residues which are combustible.
Workplace accidents lead to loss of productivity and delays in the completion of projects. Companies in Singapore are paying great attention to the improvement of safety in their workplaces.
The Keppel Corporation spent S$17.5 million in 2008 to keep its Singapore yards, offices, and plants safe and its people trained. For its overseas operations with 49 per cent of its total workforce, the group invested S$21.4 million on improving safety.
In 2008, Keppel's Board Safety Committee (BSC) launched the motto "Safety Starts with Me" with a safety logo to unify and rally employees behind the group's commitment to safety.
The safety logo depicts the five safety principles:
1. If safety is expensive, disasters cost more
2. Value everyone's safety
3. Zero tolerance for incidents
4. Recognise safe behaviour, and
5 Passion for health, safety, and environment (HSE) excellence.
The five green strokes in the logo symbolise:
* Board/management leadership: HSE has to be driven from the top, guided by the board and championed by management. When top and middle management take great interest in the inculcation of safety culture, the operatives will follow.
* Safety as a line function: Line managers, supervisors, and subordinates are directly responsible for HSE. An example would be that if a worker sees his colleague doing an unsafe act, he is empowered to tell the person not to repeat the action.
* Stakeholder involvement: All stakeholders, including all Keppel employees, business associates, and partners have to be involved as an active agent for HSE to create an incident-free environment. This involves not only employees but all those who have dealings with the group.
* Leading safety indicators: These are indicators which if heeded will prevent many incidents from happening.
* Positive reinforcement: Recognition and rewards should be given to those practising good HSE behaviour.
Charles Foo, managing director of special projects at Keppel Offshore and Marine Ltd, KOML, says: "The group's safety objectives are to ensure that no harm comes to people, property, and the environment. Everyone deserves to go home safely to their family. Safety is everybody's business and safety is a journey. We worked with the Du Pont consultants to develop a safety culture."
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All employees must be involved in building a safety culture. Figure 1 shows the Du Pont model of the three factors involved. In the case of frontline workers, the emphasis is on their skills. With better skills accidents can be minimised. Middle managers need to improve their knowledge in order to guide the operatives. Leaders of the company must have the will to develop safety culture in the firm.
New employees are put through a safety initiation programme as part of the group's orientation programme. During the year, many external consultants and experts help to educate the employees, share lessons learnt and experiences of successful companies in promoting safety.
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Foo explains that the Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Act came into force on 1 March 2006. This replaces the Factories Act. The new Act moved from a prescriptive approach to an ownership approach. The new Act defined the desired outcome. CEOs and managers have to determine how outcomes could be achieved.
KOML, which accounts for 77 per cent of the group's workforce, maintained a low accident frequency rate, AFR, of 0.37. The AFR is the number of reportable incidents per million man-hours worked. The group achieved an AFR of 0.41 in 2008.
The accident severity rate, ASR, records the number of man-days lost per million man-hours worked. The group achieved an ASR of 125 in 2008. The group suffered nine fatalities worldwide.
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All board meetings in Keppel companies began with a review and discussion on safety matters. At the Keppel Merlimau Co-generation plant, daily walkabouts are done with the goal of identifying unsafe behaviour or hazardous situations to prevent accidents.
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Recognition and Rewards
Keppel Land introduced a safety recognition campaign for contractors where every 100 days or 1,000 man-hours worked without a lost-time injury would be celebrated. The residential project Reflections at Keppel Bay celebrated its one million accident-free man-hours in December 2008.
There are penalties for poor safety behaviour. Foo says: "Workers with such behaviour could be punished with the loss of the annual bonus. They love their bonus. Others could be warned depending on the severity of the breach. Workers can also be sacked. Sub-contractors could be barred from future jobs. Gifts are provided for participants of each safety programme. Then there is the safety bonus provided by ship owners."
On the coordination of safety excellence and maintaining its safety record across all its subsidiaries, Foo says: "With the merger of KOML and Keppel FELS, the latter looks after the safety of the yards overseas. Overseas yards are managed by managers from Singapore who have the same safety cultures. Managers overseas could be other nationalities who have worked with Keppel."
Foo says that to keep track of safety, the group uses lagging indicators such as statistics, costs, and penalties. The leading indicators include safety audit and observations, near-miss reporting, employees' perception of safety, and unsafe acts per hour.
Risk assessments are done before starting on large jobs. Risk assessment is an integral part of risk management. It involves identifying and analysing safety and health hazards associated with the project; assessing the risks involved; and prioritising measures to control the hazards and reduce the risks.
On the success of safety excellence in the Keppel group, Foo says: "We adopt the Du Pont felt leadership principles. Concern for safety comes from the heart. Workers must feel that you are sincere about safety. There must be leadership visibility and not just paying lip service. Safety at Keppel is driven from the top. Management champions the various safety programmes. The challenge is now to cascade the safety culture to the workers."
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