SINGAPORE — The collapse of a highway structure under construction at Upper Changi Road East on Friday (July 14), which killed one worker and injured 10 others, is one of the worst construction worksite accidents since the Nicoll Highway collapse 13 years ago, where four people died.

TODAY looks at some fatal worksite accidents in recent years, as the authorities grapple with the perennial challenge of improving workplace safety.

April 20, 2004: Four people were killed and three others injured, when a tunnel being constructed as part of the underground Circle Line, near Nicoll Highway station, collapsed.

Just nine days later, a reinforcement cage at the Fusionopolis construction site at Ayer Rajah Avenue collapsed, killing two workers and injuring 29 others.

The following month, an oil tanker fire at Keppel Shipyard killed seven workers.

April 2006: Three workers died and another three were injured at SembCorp Marine’s PPL Shipyard, when a part of a crane and its 185-tonne load came crashing down.

July 2012: The collapse of a supporting framework structure during construction of the Downtown Line (DTL) Bugis Station killed two workers and injured eight.

September 2013: Two workers were killed and four others severely injured after a tower crane collapsed at the construction site of the National Art Gallery, near the Padang.

October 2015: A laboratory fire caused multiple explosions at the factory of a gas manufacturing firm in the Jurong industrial area, killing a 30-year-old chemist and injuring seven others.

March 2016: Two trainee SMRT staff were killed after being run over by a train as they were carrying out routine maintenance work on a track near Pasir Ris MRT Station.

Over the last few years, the workplace fatality rate has plateaued to around 2.0 per 100,000. Singapore’s target is to have fewer than 1.8 fatalities per 100,000 employees by 2018.

While the number of workplace fatalities has fluctuated between 55 and 70 cases over the past decade, it has been increasing since 2012, when 56 cases were reported.

There were 59 in 2013 and 60 in 2014, and 66 in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

The construction sector continued to be the prime culprit last year, being responsible for 36 per cent of total workplace fatal injuries.

However, more workers have been getting hurt on the job. The total number of workplace injuries rose from 10,018 in 2007 to 13,014 last year.

While the construction sector has seen fewer injuries within that period — 831 in 2007 to 467 last year — it still has seen the second-highest overall injury rate since 2011, after the manufacturing sector.

Since the Nicoll Highway collapse, the authorities have made workplace safety a top issue to tackle, putting in place various initiatives.

To tackle safety risks at their source, the Government replaced the Factories Act with the Workplace Safety and Health Act in 2006. It requires all parties — employers, suppliers, occupiers, manufacturers, designers and workers — to assume responsibility for identifying the risks and to take steps to prevent or mitigate them.

In 2009, a new national plan for workplace safety and health (WSH) was launched. Two higher-risk sectors — marine and construction — were targeted first, with the aim of halving their fatality rates within five years.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) also sought to improve crane safety at workplaces in 2011, following an increase in the number of dangerous occurrences involving cranes.

In 2012, the MOM’s Occupational Safety and Health Division and the Workplace Safety and Health Council announced enhancements to workplace safety, such as the Enhanced Construction Safety Orientation Course for construction workers and the SNAP@MOM mobile app, which lets workers and the public report unsafe practices at worksites.

On the regulatory and enforcement front, the ministry reviewed existing WSH regulations and introduced new ones for various industries and job roles, including codes of practice for WSH risk management and safe-lifting operations in the workplace.

In 2014, the ministry also said it had enhanced its Business Under Surveillance programme — which closely supervises poorly performing companies — by broadening the entry criteria and tightening the exit criteria for businesses.

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam noted that while overall workplace fatalities had fallen from 2005, “the rate of improvement has slowed and we are at risk of plateauing or even slipping back”.

Last year, following a spike in workplace fatalities, the MOM imposed harsher penalties on errant companies. Such companies face longer minimum stop-work order periods and could temporarily be barred from hiring new foreign workers.

SINGAPORE — Mr Kevin Wang, 32, used to smoke a pack of cigarettes every day when he was living in Paris. But one year after moving to Singapore, in 2016, the public officer who works at a statutory board kicked the habit.

“The environment in Singapore made it hard to smoke everywhere. Not seeing smokers all the time helped me to stay focused and not relapse."

At the time, smoking had been banned in entertainment outlets, educational institutions and public areas at residential sites.

Ever since then, the rules have been tightened further. Today, smoking is not allowed in all parks and recreational beaches. Smoking is also banned at Orchard Road except at designated smoking areas, which are marked by yellow boxes.

On the flip side, the outdoor smoking ban has not stopped information technology executive Salihan from smoking as much as he always has.

He finds it inconvenient to head to the limited number of smoking points in the Central Business District where he works, but instead of smoking less as a result, he just makes sure to light up more cigarettes during each smoke break, to “compensate” for the reduced number of smoking sessions.

The stories of Mr Wang and Mr Salihan reflect the successes and limitations of Singapore’s efforts to curb smoking.

Singapore's smoking rate has fallen steadily over the years. According to the 2023 National Population Health Survey conducted by the Ministry of Health, 8.8 per cent of Singapore residents smoked daily, down from 13.9 per cent in 2010.

This shows the extent to which the near-total ban on outdoor smoking, alongside other measures such as gradual price hikes, has succeeded in nudging many smokers to kick their habit while dissuading younger Singaporeans from ever picking it up.

But that remaining 8.8 per cent of daily smokers is a testament to the fact that perhaps government policies can only go so far in stamping out smoking altogether: For some, the addiction to nicotine is strong enough to overcome the many barriers placed in their way.

Others have quit cigarettes only to start vaping instead, despite the fact that vapes, or electronic cigarettes, have been outright banned here since 2018.

It raises the question: If there is any progress to be made in the fight against nicotine, how can it be achieved, and is this even a realistic aim?

WHY IT MATTERS

The ever-increasing restrictions on smoking, coupled with other moves such as hefty hikes in the tobacco tax over the years, have had mixed results.

They gave some smokers, like Mr Kevin Wang, the motivation to quit.

Others say the difficulty of finding smoking points means they smoke less when they have to leave home, and especially if they have to go to the Orchard Road area or the Central Business District.

A regular smoker who wanted to be known only as Madam Quek said that she smokes an average of six to eight sticks daily, but when she heads out to town, that number drops to four.

But there are also smokers who have simply adapted to the rule changes and found ways to maintain their habit.

Mr Robert Fernando, for example, said that the restrictions did not deter him from cutting down his frequency of 20 sticks per day. The 65-year old just avoids the places where he can no longer enjoy his cigarettes freely.

“I stopped going to Orchard Road unless it’s absolutely necessary, because it takes my freedom away”.

Some former smokers, meanwhile, have switched to vaping, ironically because they find it more convenient in some ways — since it is illegal everywhere, they feel they can light up anywhere.

“Vaping offers the nicotine hit with better flavours, no smell, and the flexibility to vape anywhere, even indoors (which is not possible with cigarettes),” said a creative director in his 30s who wished to remain anonymous.

“You can take a hit anytime, anywhere. It is so common in Singapore that no one’s surprised when you see someone doing it. This normalisation makes it easier to vape indoors — at offices, house parties, even in public toilets”.

Vapes have become so popular that the authorities have been stepping up enforcement measures against offenders.

THE BIG PICTURE

Singapore made early moves to curb smoking in 1992 with the passing of the Smoking (Prohibition in Certain Places) Act, which consolidated existing bans on tobacco advertising and smoking on buses, the MRT, and in cinemas.

Over the years, amendments have been made to the laws to ban smoking in more and more premises. In 1994, for example, smoking was outlawed in air-conditioned areas such as factories and private offices.

In 2007, the smoking ban was widened to include entertainment outlets such as pubs and nightclubs, and in 2013, people could no longer smoke in the common areas of residential buildings too. Between 2013 and 2017, the smoking rate dropped from 13.1 per cent to 11.8 per cent.

Another big move was made in 2019, when the entire Orchard Road precinct was designated a No Smoking Zone. A year later, the smoking rate dipped to 10.1 per cent from 10.6 per cent.

And then in 2022, there was no more smoking allowed in public parks and on recreational beaches.

As the Government progressively stepped up these prohibitions, designated smoking points were set aside where smokers could light up legally while outdoors.

For example, by 2017, Nee Soon South built 50 open-air smoking points, fitted with angled benches and zinc roofs, around the neighbourhood.

Over in Holland-Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency (GRC), there are two cooled smoking booths and the town council plans to add three more.

These smoking points are a hit — but only among non-smokers, who are protected from secondhand smoke.

Smokers themselves are not so enamoured by these designated points and cabins, saying that they tend to be stuffy and uncomfortable.

THE BOTTOM LINE

There is still room for improvement in Singapore's cigarette smoking prevalence rate.

Globally, the accepted definition of a "smoke-free nation" is one where fewer than 5 per cent of its residents smoke daily.

At 8.8 per cent, Singapore is near that standard but certainly can do better, health experts said.

Dr Yvette van der Eijk, an assistant professor at the National University of Singapore who specialises in tobacco control and mental health research, said that if Singapore wants to be smoke-free in the next five years, it could adopt more aggressive measures, such as reducing nicotine content in cigarettes. 

The United States' Food and Drug Administration said in 2022 it was planning to make such a move, but the plan faces fierce backlash from tobacco companies and may take years to take effect, if at all.

New Zealand passed a law in 2022 that would have adopted this move as well, but the measure was scrapped when a new government took over last year.

If Singapore wanted to stamp out smoking over the next 10 years, it could go even further by banning added flavours such as menthol and fruits in cigarettes and implement even more aggressive taxes tied to annual inflation, Dr van der Eijk added.

To stamp out smoking fully over the next 30 to 40 years, the country could consider a generational ban, which would prohibit anyone born after a certain year from buying cigarettes, she said.

In the shorter term, Singapore could consider banning smoking at the outdoor dining areas of bars, restaurants and coffee shops, she added.

“If all of that were just made smoke-free, that would go a long way in helping to de-normalise smoking in these kinds of settings."

She added that social smokers tend to smoke when they are out drinking with their friends, so a ban on food and beverage establishments would disband the association between drinking and smoking.

At the same time, with vaping becoming so popular, it will be important for the Government to step up enforcement against vaping and stop the influx of vapes into Singapore, said Mr Sean Ang, a smoking cessation specialist at Success Alliance Enrichment.

"If we are not careful, one day we might have few cigarette smokers but become a nation of vapers," he warned.

Meanwhile, some noted that anti-smoking policies and programmes must address the root cause of addiction.

Nee Soon GRC Member of Parliament Carrie Tan noted that many people smoke as a way to deal with stress. She believes that to truly address smoking, that is the issue that needs to be fully studied and understood. 

“I think how people are encountering challenges and what resources they have to cope with the difficulties in their lives is what we need to be focusing on."