FACTORY SAFETY COMMITTEES (Compliance with Regulations)

Encik Abbas Abu Amin asked the Minister for Labour, since the introduction of the Factories (Safety Committee) Regulations, 1975, (a) what percentage of factories, which are required to set up safety committees, have complied with the Regulations; and (b) what measures his Ministry has taken to ensure compliance with these Regulations by all affected factories.

Mr Lee Yock Suan: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, factories employing 50 or more workers are required to form safety committees. So far, 690 or 93% of these factories have formed them.

Of the 50 or so factories that have yet to form safety committees, about half of them are new factories which have been established less than six months ago. Most of these are in the process of forming safety committees.

My Ministry provides assistance to those factories that have difficulties in forming safety committees. Enforcement action is taken against those that persistently fail to do so despite warnings.

The Department of Industrial Safety closely monitors the activities of the committees to ensure that they discharge their functions as prescribed in the Regulations. It also provides assistance and guidance to the committees when needed.