SAFETY COMMITTEES (Establishment in companies with less than 50 workers)

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon asked the Minister for Labour whether his Ministry will consider introducing amending legislation to encourage companies with less than 50 workers each to establish safety committees as present legislation requires only companies with 50 or more workers each to set up such committees.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Mr Speaker, Sir, in a large factory, the opportunity for direct interaction between management and workers would be much less. Hence, in order to provide a mechanism for management and workers of larger factories to deal with safety and health issues, the Factories Act requires factories in which 50 or more persons are employed, to form safety committees for the purpose of promoting the safety and health of the workers employed in such factories. Such committees must meet at least once a month.

The law also requires that such a committee comprises a chairman, a secretary and representatives of both employees and the management. The chairman and the secretary are appointed from the management representatives. To enable the committee to function effectively, the law stipulates that the number of representatives in the committee (including the chairman and secretary) is not less than six, three from the employees and three from the management.

Sir, in factories which employ less than 50 workers, there should be more opportunities for direct interaction between management and workers. Such factories can adequately ensure the safety and health of their workers through their managers and supervisors interacting directly with the workers without having to go through a safety committee. Furthermore, some factories may be so small as to have practical difficulty to form meaningful safety committees. My Ministry has no intention to require factories with less than 50 employees to form safety committees. Nevertheless, my Ministry continues to monitor closely industrial safety and health in such factories and should the need arise, we will review the law. Furthermore, we encourage small factories to form safety committees on their own. And if they have any difficulty trying to do so, my Ministry will assist them.