Singapore, 08 November 2014 – Construction workers at City Developments Limited’s (CDL) new worksites with onsite workers’ quarters will soon get computers and free wi-fi as part of the Company’s efforts to enhance their well-being. These new initiatives and the inaugural Safe Worker Award were announced today at a special event to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of CDL’s annual 5-Star EHS Awards.
Launched in 2005, the EHS Awards recognise exemplary builders and workers for their excellence in enhancing workplace standards for safety, health and well-being. Each year, all CDL builders must undergo quarterly EHS inspections and audits by an independent auditor who grades them on a scale of 1 to 5 stars in areas such as energy, water, waste management, safety, noise and public health management.
Builders’ collective pledge to uphold workers’ well-being, safety and health
At the event to mark the anniversary, CDL’s nine main builders which manage 16 CDL worksites and employ over 6,000 construction workers, pledged their commitment to uphold workers’ well-being, safety and health. Witnessed by Minister for Manpower Mr Tan Chuan-Jin and over 1,200 workers, the pledge is possibly the first and largest collective gathering of its kind in Singapore.
Minister for Manpower Mr Tan Chuan-Jin also presented the CDL 5-Star EHS Awards to winners of the various categories – EHS Excellence Award, Productivity Excellence Award, Workers’ Welfare Award, and the new CDL Safe Worker Award – as well as the champion team Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd for the finale soccer match of the CDL EHS Cup Tournament.
Mr Kwek Leng Joo, CDL Deputy Chairman, said, “Construction workers are the foundation of our building industry. Their hard work has to a large extent enabled us to create a better place for everyone to live, work and play. As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of CDL’s annual 5-Star EHS Awards, we would like to recognise the contributions of our construction workers – the unsung heroes of our industry, and to further strengthen our efforts to promote their well-being holistically.”
Mr Kwek added, “Beyond sustained vigilance to ensure safety at the worksites, we must continue to look for ways to create a better, happier and healthier workplace for workers. By providing free wi-fi and computers, workers can stay connected with their family, and have another avenue for recreation and to acquire knowledge. Through the Safe Worker Award, we wish to recognise exemplary workers who live the safety message and inspire fellow colleagues to be more safety conscious. Ultimately, we want every worker to return home safely to their loved ones. CDL will also continue to organise activities to engage with our workers, such as soccer matches to promote a healthy lifestyle and strong camaraderie.”
Inaugural CDL Safe Worker Award
The new Safe Worker Award was presented to 14 exemplary individuals across CDL’s worksites. The 14 workers are from Bangladesh, China, India, the Philippines and Thailand.
One of them, Mr Han Yu Xi of Nakano Singapore Pte Ltd, who works at CDL’s Lush Acres site, made the effort to find out the Chinese meanings of the checklist items for inspection purposes, and took the initiative to display risk assessment documents at the site office’s noticeboard to encourage fellow workers to read and understand the risk and control measures. Another Safe Worker Award recipient, Mr Malaiyandi Muthusamy of Woh Hup (Private) Limited, who works at CDL’s H2O Residences site, has shown tremendous awareness of safety and health. Not only is he a good role model by following proper safety procedures, he has also given constant reminders to his peers on working safely onsite. He constantly seeks opportunities to learn more about safety and health from his supervisor and Workplace Safety, Health and Environmental personnel.
This new award complements the CDL Workers’ Welfare Award introduced in 2012 to honour builders who have devoted excellent effort to ensure workers' welfare, including caring for their health, safety, living conditions and well-being.
Minister for Manpower Mr Tan Chuan-Jin said, “CDL has set its sights beyond high WSH and environment standards. It has also shown its commitment to the culture of care - that the role of developers should extend to the well-being of all workers, including foreign workers. I am happy that CDL’s contractors have pledged to commit to providing good living and working conditions for their foreign workers. I hope other developers and contractors will follow suit and provide their workers with the assurance that their well-being will be taken care of.”
Workers were treated to the finale soccer match between workers from builders Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. They were the two teams left standing from the CDL EHS Cup Tournament, a series of soccer matches that CDL organised in the past few months to foster camaraderie and promote a healthy lifestyle among workers. Some workers also walked away with prizes such as grocery vouchers and electronic gadgets from a lucky draw. In addition, there were game stations designed to impart educational safety messages, and photo booths to provide fun pictorial keepsakes.
Over the years, CDL has been driving EHS excellence at its worksites and across its supply chain. Besides pioneering the 5-Star EHS Assessment System in 2001, CDL has introduced various innovative technology and construction methods since the early 2000s to enhance safety and productivity. For instance, CDL has been adopting prefabricated bathroom units, which significantly reduce manpower required onsite as the components are manufactured in factories. Fewer workers required onsite in turn lead to fewer accidents.
In 2013, CDL achieved an Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) of 0.72 accidents per million man-hours worked, significantly lower than the industry-average AFR of about 2. A Workplace Injury Rate (WIR) of 178 per 100,000 persons employed was also recorded, well below the industry-average WIR of 276 per 100,000 persons.
Moving forward, CDL will be the first developer in Asia to adopt the use of advanced construction technology, Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction (PPVC), for a large-scale residential development. Some 3,300 building modules will be used to build CDL’s Executive Condominium (EC) at Canberra Drive in Sembawang. The EC comprises eight 10 to 12-storey blocks with an estimated 636 units. This is likely to be the largest application of PPVC in the world for a large-scale residential project. Construction productivity is expected to increase by more than 40% with some 55,000 man days saved. As a result, the EC is expected to be completed four months ahead of schedule. Worksite safety and cleanliness will also be enhanced as fewer workers are required onsite and construction waste is reduced.
