SAND AND GRANITE QUARRIES BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

5.23 p.m.

The Minister for Law and National Development (Mr E. W. Barker): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move. "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The purpose of this Bill is to provide for the licensing and control of sand and granite quarries. The Sand Quarries Ordinance, 1961 (No. 33 of 1961) is to be repealed. At the moment, whilst sand quarries are licensed, granite quarries are not. This is an obviously anomalous position which it is now proposed to put right.

Granite quarrying is a major operation involving, amongst other things, the use of explosives and heavy plant and equipment. Further, granite is an important building material to the building industry which is rapidly expanding in Singapore. There is, therefore, a pressing need for granite quarries to be licensed and their activities brought under proper control. The control is to ensure that there will be proper supervision of the use of mechanically accepted plant and equipment for quarrying operations, as well as the imposition of adequate safety measures to prevent any nuisance or danger or damage to life or property. This is laid down in clause 13. As such, the penalty for the offence of operating a quarry without a licence has been increased from the existing fine of $1,000 with a continuing fine of not more than $50 a day provided under the Sand Quarries Ordinance, 1961, to a maximum fine of $5,000 with a continuing fine of $100 a day. This is provided for in clause 4.

The provisions of the Bill, in the main, follow the provisions Sand Quarries Ordinance which repealed.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

5.27 p.m.

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim (Kallang): Mr Speaker. Sir, I rise to support the introduction of the Sand and Granite Quarries Bill the purpose of which has been explained by the Minister. However, I must express my regret and disappointment that there are no provisions to protect the life, health and safety of the workers. There is little on safety except in clause 13. Clause 13 (1) is concerned with mechanical safety, and clause 13 (2) seems to be mainly concerned with the danger of blasting injuries. There is no mention of precautions to be taken against the great danger of silicosis to workers. I understand that silicosis can he controlled by (a) the use of exhaust ventilation, and (b) the use of wetting methods, and (c) the use of respirators. I hope regulations will be made by the Minister for the purpose of ensuring the health and safety of people working in granite quarries.

I believe some studies have been made in the past regarding the occurrence of silicosis in granite quarries. I understand that a study made of 40 workers of an original group of 62 men and women attending Medical Unit II. Silicosis Clinic. Outram Road General Hospital, since 1955 was reviewed for morbidity. It was found that (a) the incidence of silicosis had increased by 16 per cent from 80.69 per cent in 1955 to 96.7 per cent in 1968; (b) silico-tuberculosis had increased from 24.2 per cent to 43.7 per cent: (c) the highest mortality and morbidity rates were seen among crusher-stone truckers, crusher feeders and driers; (d) resistant pulmonary tuberculosis and pneumothorax were the main causes of death.

I hope the authorities will look into the dangers that are prevalent in granite quarries, and I hope the Minister will assure the House that he will introduce more comprehensive legislation, such as is found in the United Kingdom Mines and Quarries Act of 1954. Will the Minister also assure the House that the P.W.D, has the necessary personnel to administer satisfactorily the safety provisions in the Bill? In the past, the Factory Inspectorate in the Ministry of Labour could not manage to do so, so much so that many granite quarry workers in Singapore suffer from some form of pulmonary disease. However, since the Factory Inspectorate will be strengthened considerably I have a written assurance from the Ministry of Labour that it will be so - will the Minister designate the Chief Inspector of Factories to be the Licensing Officer referred to in clause 3 of the Bill, with tile courtesy anti agreement of the Minister for Labour of course? I consider such an arrangement possible because the Factory Inspectorate administers the general safety provisions in quarries. I prefer to concentrate the administration of safety provisions in one authority rather than in several departments. otherwise they might run their affairs at cross-purposes and cancel one another's efforts because of varying departmental attitudes and policies.

Further, I would propose that the Licensing Officer should be obliged to refer to the Industrial Health Unit of the Ministry of Health before a quarry is licensed to ensure that there are adequate provisions to protect the health of workers and the general public.

Next, I wish to suggest that the Minister should impress upon his colleague, the Minister for Labour, to include silicosis as a compensable disease under the Workmen's Compensation Ordinance.

To wind up my speech, I would like to quote from an International Labour Organisation publication called The Prevention and Suppression of Dust in Mining, Tunnelling and Quarrying:

`From the medical aspect, no satisfactory answer has been found either in the field of therapy, and, although research is being more and more actively pursued into such matters, it seems unlikely that new findings in these fields are being made which could lead to a victory over the two occupational diseases mentioned (silicosis and pneumonoconiosis) in the near future. In the light of present-day knowledge it cannot be doubted that the most fruitful methods for combating the dust diseases are to be found among those which rely on preventing the formation of dust in the various mining operations or upon suppressing it at, or as near as possible to, its source.

In those countries which were first to recognise the health hazard of airborne dust and which made provision for the introduction of dust-preventive measures and regular medical examination supported by suitable legislation,

So I would like to appeal to the Minister again that he should consider introducing legislation similar to the United Kingdom Mines and Quarries Act.

I continue with the quotation:

- and where the compulsory payment of compensation for miners who contracted silicosis encouraged the application of such measures, -

Here, I would like to appeal to the Minister again to urge his colleague, the Minister for Labour, to make silicosis a notifiable disease - it is so in the Factories Ordinance - and to make it a compensable disease in the Workmen's Compensation Ordinance.

I continue with the quotation:

`- the statistics show without doubt that great advances have been made both in the health of the underground workers and in working conditions found in the mines.'

5.33 p.m.

Mr Teong Eng Siong: (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I feel that the introduction of this Bill at this juncture is most appropriate because the building industry has been growing very rapidly recently. The Government and the private sector are both engaged in the construction of buildings. Furthermore, the network of roads is being extended continuously. This means that the use of sand and granite is increasing every day.

This Bill provides for the licensing and control of sand and granite quarries with provisions for safety measures. Without these safety measures, workers may be injured or killed, thus bringing misery to their families. So the introduction of this Bill should be welcomed.

I would also like to point out that with the implementation of the Bill, the revenue of our country will also be increased and it will be a great help to our country financially.

Just now, the Member for Kallang spoke at great length on how workers should be safeguarded against accidents. I feel that people working in quarries are risking their lives. So if there are no adequate safety measures in the quarries, the workers are liable to be injured. This Bill merits the support of all Members of the House.

I also feel that there should be regulations to implement this Bill so that the objectives can be achieved.

Mr Barker: Sir, the Bill has not as yet been passed and Members are telling me what to put into the regulations! I wonder whether they are jumping the gun, as it were, or barking up the wrong tree, telling me to induce my colleague, the Minister for Labour, to do this, that and the other. Suffice it to say that we had no Ordinance before. We now have a Bill which is really necessary and perhaps should have been introduced some time ago to control the operations of sand and granite quarry operators. Regulations will be passed. What these regulations will be will depend really on the conditions of work in the quarries. I doubt whether the figures cited by one Member in respect of silicosis can be confined merely to granite quarries. He has mentioned the United Kingdom Mines and Quarries Act. But surely conditions in the United Kingdom are different. Working in coal mines underground is entirely different from working in granite quarries above the ground. Whether or not it should be made compulsory for granite quarry operators to provide their workers with respiratory masks will really depend on the conditions in the quarries.

I am grateful to the Members for giving their support to this Bill and drawing my attention to certain aspects of it which might have to be improved and amendments passed in the future. I give the Members my assurance that if the facts back up an amendment, we will amend the Bill. If the matters complained of deserve the support which the two Members think they do, they will he looked into.

As to the suggestion that the Licensing Officer should be one man and not two, I am afraid I cannot give that assurance here. This matter will have to be gone into and I will have to ascertain whether or not the Member is correct when he says that there should be one man.

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim: Mr Speaker, Sir, I do not know who is trying to fool whom. I understand that granite quarries are now being registered under section 6 of the Factories Ordinance because a granite quarry is regarded as a factory which is involved in the process of "breaking up an article".

Mr Speaker: Inche Abdul Aziz, I presume you are trying to clarify?

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim: Yes, Sir,I have had some correspondence with the Chief Inspector of Factories and he gave me the impression that he is the authority who registers granite quarries. With the introduction of the Sand and Granite Quarries Bill and if it becomes law, the licensing of sand and granite quarries will be done by the Director of Public Works or somebody in the Ministry of National Development. I am wondering whether the Chief Inspector of Factories will be carrying out certain functions. Can the Minister give some clarification?

Mr Barker: They are two different Ordinances administered by two different persons. The Member should, in fact, be happier that we are catching granite quarries, as it were, under two separate Ordinances. The Factories Ordinance imposes certain conditions and regulations. This is another Ordinance. But surely they can work together. Is the Member unhappy that this Bill is being passed?

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim: Mr Speaker. Sir, I have said that I support this Bill.

Mr Speaker: Inche Abdul Aziz, I think I have allowed you a lot of latitude.

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim: Sir, I am not against the Bill. But it is not comprehensive enough, it should be similar to the United Kingdom Mines and Quarries Act.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Mr Barker.]

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment: read a Third time and passed.