WSH (Workplace Safety and Health Officers) Regulations

The WSH (Workplace Safety and Health Officers) Regulations will take effect on 1 August 2007.

The Regulations will replace three subsidiary legislations under the former Factories' Act:
(a) Factories (Qualifications and Training of Safety Officers) Notification;
(b) Factories (Registration and Duties of Safety Officers) Regulations; and
(c) Factories (Safety Officers) Order.

The key change in the new regulations is the removal of the distinction between a full-time and part-time WSH officer. It adopts an outcome-based approach where occupiers decide on the extent of appointment for the WSH officers, whether part-time or full-time.

Workplaces required to appoint a WSH officer are stipulated in the Second Schedule of the Regulations, including:
(a) Shipyards in which any ship, tanker and other vessels are constructed, reconstructed, repaired, refitted, finished or broken up;
(b) Factories used for processing petroleum or petroleum products;
(c) Factories in which building operations or works of engineering construction of a contract sum of $10 million or more are carried out; and
(d) Any other factories in which 100 or more persons are employed, except those which are used for manufacturing garments.

(Extracted from OSH ALert dated 17 July 2007)