Speech By Minister For Health, Mr Gan Kim Yong At Natsteel’s Safety & Health Day 2013, 7 Nov 2013

Mr Vivek Kamra, NatSteel President & CEO,

Ladies and gentlemen,

A very good morning to you. 

2.          It is my pleasure to be back at NatSteel once again and to join you at the NatSteel’s Safety & Health Day 2013. This special event is also held in conjunction with the NatSteel’s golden jubilee. 50 years of steelmaking is truly a momentous milestone. I’d like to take the opportunity to wish the company a happy anniversary.

3.          I am happy to see NatSteel has taken a very serious view of Workplace Safety and Health by dedicating a day to promoting Safety and Health within the company and for its stakeholders. 

4.          The Workplace Safety and Health Council, comprising leaders from major industry sectors, has been working tirelessly to raise workplace safety and health standards in Singapore. NatSteel has been lauded by the Prime Minister this year at the launch of the National Workplace Safety and Health Campaign for the innovative system for loading steel cages onto trailers, which reduces significantly the risks from working at height. This system, which is used as a case study by Ministry of Manpower, also won the Workplace Safety and Health Innovation Award in 2011.

 5.          Natsteel is also a two-time Platinum Award winner of the Singapore Health Awards. This also demonstrates leadership in workplace health promotion. I am pleased to note that it works closely with our Health Promotion Board to promote healthy living through preventive health programmes in the workplace. More employees have been participating actively in NatSteel’s workplace health programme which includes weight management initiatives, smoking-cessation programme and regular health screening. Besides having a direct impact on reducing healthcare costs for the company, these initiatives will, in the long run, build a community of physically active people who will encourage and motivate the people around them to live a healthy lifestyle.  A healthy workforce is also a prerequisite to a productive workforce.

 6.           Looking ahead, I see value in integrating both safety and health promotion in the workplace. The Health Promotion Board is working with the other government agencies to create a framework that encourages the integration of Workplace Safety and Health in companies. This synergy between safety and health can be achieved by training workplace safety coordinators on health promotion and empowering them to incorporate health promotion knowledge into existing workplace safety training programmes.

 7.          I hope that you will enjoy yourselves today gathering tips and learning about how you can improve safety and health at your worplace and beyond.

 8.          Thank you and have an enriching day ahead.