Workplace Safety and Health (Construction) Regulations 2007

No. S 663

Workplace Safety and Health Act

(Chapter 354A)

Workplace Safety and Health (Construction) Regulations 2007

In exercise of the powers conferred by sections 28, 30 and 65 of the Workplace Safety and Health Act, the Minister for Manpower hereby makes the following Regulations:

PART I

PRELIMINARY

Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Workplace Safety and Health (Construction) Regulations 2007 and shall come into operation on 1st January 2008.

Definitions

2. In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires —

“blaster” means a person responsible for detonating explosives;

“brace” or “bracing” means a member incorporated in a formwork structure for stability;

“bulkhead” means an air-tight structure separating a working chamber from free air or from another chamber under a lower pressure than the working pressure in the working chamber;

“caisson” means a structure that is sunk through ground or water for the purpose of excavating and placing work at the prescribed depth and which subsequently becomes an integral part of the permanent work;

“competent person”, in relation to any work to be carried out, means a person who has sufficient experience and training to perform the work;

“compressed air” means air that is mechanically raised to a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure at sea level;

“contract sum”, in relation to any building operation or works of engineering construction, means the value specified in a contract of the works to be carried out by the contractor undertaking the building operation or works of engineering construction, which value includes the goods and services tax payable in relation to the supply of the work;

“contractor” means a person (whether or not he is also a main contractor or sub-contractor) who has entered into a contract for the purpose of carrying out any building operation or works of engineering construction;

“demolition work” means the work incidental to or connected with the total or partial dismantling or razing of a building or any other structure, and includes the removing or dismantling of any machinery or other equipment;

“designated person” means a competent person appointed in writing by —

(a)	an occupier of a worksite;
(b)	an employer of persons carrying out work in a worksite; or
(c)	a principal who gives direction to persons on the work carried out by those persons in the worksite,

to perform any task or duty prescribed under these Regulations in connection with the worksite;

“employee’s lift” means a powered car operating in guides and used primarily to carry persons in a substantially vertical direction;

“excavation” means a man-made cut, cavity or depression in an earth surface, formed after the removal of earth, rock or other material;

“excavation work” means the removal of earth, rock or other materials in connection with any building operation or works of engineering construction;

“falsework” means the structural supports and bracing for formworks or forms;

“flashpoint” means the minimum liquid temperature at which a spark or flame causes an instantaneous flash in the vapour space above the liquid;

“formwork” means any mould, surface, support or framing used to define the shape of concrete until the concrete is self-supporting;

“formwork structure” includes formwork, falseworks, shores and any other support;

“guard-rail” means a horizontal rail secured to uprights and erected along the open or exposed sides of scaffolds, floor openings, runways, gangways and other places in a worksite to prevent persons from falling;

“lock attendant” means the person in charge of a man-lock or medical lock and who is responsible for controlling the compression, recompression or decompression of any person in such lock;

“low pressure air” means air supplied to pressurise working chambers, man-locks or medical locks;

“magazine” means a place in which explosives are stored or kept, whether above or below ground;

“man-lock” means any lock, other than a medical lock, used for the compression or decompression of persons entering or leaving a working chamber;

“materials lock” means a chamber through which materials and equipment pass from one air pressure environment into another;

“medical lock” means a double compartment lock used for the therapeutic recompression and decompression of persons suffering from the ill-effects of decompression;

“medical practitioner” means a person registered as a medical practitioner and who has in force a practising certificate issued under the Medical Registration Act (Cap. 174);

“pressure” means air pressure in bars above atmospheric pressure;

“professional engineer” means a person registered as a professional engineer and who has in force a practising certificate issued under the Professional Engineers Act (Cap. 253);

“project manager” means the person who is stationed at a worksite and who has overall control of all the works carried out in the worksite, and includes any competent person appointed by the occupier of the worksite in the event that the project manager is unable to perform his duties under these Regulations;

“rock bolt” means —

(a)	a mechanical expansion bolt; or
(b)	a bolt used with a cementitious or resin anchoring system,

which is set in a drilled hole in the arch or wall of a tunnel to improve rock competency;

“safety assessor” means a safety assessor appointed under regulation 11(1)(b);

“scaffold” means any temporary structure —

(a)	on or from which persons perform work in any worksite; or
(b)	which enables persons to obtain access to or which enables materials to be taken to any place at which such work is performed,

and includes any work platform, gangway, run, ladder or step-ladder (other than an independent ladder or step-ladder which does not form part of such a structure) together with any guard-rail, toe-board or other safeguards and all fixings, but does not include a lifting appliance, a lifting machine or a structure used merely to support the lifting appliance or lifting machine or to support other plant, equipment, gear, machinery, apparatus or appliance, or any part thereof;

“segment” includes a cast iron or precast concrete segmented structure formed to the curvature of the cross-section of a tunnel and used to support the ground surrounding the tunnel;

“shaft” means an excavation having a longitudinal axis at an angle greater than 45° from the horizontal —

(a)	for the passage of persons or materials to or from a tunnel; or
(b)	leading to an existing tunnel;

“sole plate” means a member used to distribute the load from a standard to the supporting surface;

“temporary electrical installation” means any electrical installation used for the purpose of supplying electricity for any building operation or work of engineering construction, and includes an extension socket-outlet or an extension cable, comprising either a connector or a socket-outlet which is joined to a cable;

“tunnel” means a subterranean passage made by excavating beneath the over-burden and into which a person enters or is required to enter in order to work;

“vehicle” means a vehicle propelled or driven by mechanical or electrical power and includes a trailer, traction engine, tractor and road-building machine;

“work platform” means a platform which is used to support workmen or materials;

“working chamber” means the part of the worksite where work in a compressed air environment is carried out, but does not include a man-lock or medical lock;

“working pressure” means pressure to which persons in a working chamber are exposed;

“worksite” means any premises where any building operation or works of engineering construction is or are being carried out by way of trade or for purposes of gain, whether or not by or on behalf of the Government or a statutory body, and includes any line or siding (not forming part of a railway) which is used in connection with the building operation or works of engineering construction.

Application

3. These Regulations shall apply in relation to all worksites in Singapore.

Made this 28th day of November 2007.

LEO YIP

Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Manpower,
Singapore.

[C010-034; AG/LEG/SL/354A/2006/1 Vol. 5]

(To be presented to Parliament under section 65(8) of the Workplace Safety and Health Act).

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