WHY OFFICE SAFETY?

Despite common beliefs that the office provides a safe environment in which to work, many hazards exist which can potentially cause injuries and health problems among office workers. Today's modern offices are substantially different from the office environment of 20 years ago. Sweeping changes have occurred in the workplace as a result of new office technology and automation of office equipment. Consequently, office workers are faced with many more hazards.

In addition to obvious hazards such as a slippery floor or an open file drawer, a modern office may also contain hazards arising from lighting, noise, furniture design and equipment, and machines which emit noxious gases and fumes. Even the nature of office work itself has produced a whole host of stress-related symptoms and musculoskeletal strains. For example, long hours at the video display terminals (VDT) can cause pains in the neck and back, eyestrain, and a general feeling of tension and irritability.

WHAT IS THE PROGRAMME ALL ABOUT?

The Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Act, enforced by the Ministry of Manpower, covers all workplaces from 1st Sept 2011. Under the WSH Act, employers and employees will need to take reasonably practicable measures to ensure that their workplaces are safe. This includes proper risk management (WSH Risk Management Regulation), which details steps to identify and manage the existing risks in the workplace so that work incidents can be prevented.
A workplace is any premises where a person carries out work or is to work. Since an office is considered a workplace, it is covered by the Act. Therefore, it is essential that the safety, health and well-being of the office employees are ensured and protected.

The three main objectives of the office safety programme are as follows:

1) Recognize hazards present in the office environment (i.e., ergonomic; slips, trips and falls; manual handling; electrical; chemical; fire) by using the NUS office safety inspection checklist;
2) Learn how to evaluate risks in the office environment through utilization of the activity-based risk assessment spreadsheet;
3) Suggest appropriate control measures aimed in mitigating office hazards.

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF THE PROGRAMME?

Appointment of office safety coordinators

Directors, Deans and Heads of Department are encouraged to appoint office safety coordinators in their schools, departments, faculties, centers. For laboratory based department, this role can be incorporated into existing safety coordinators/leads.

The no. of office coordinators should be decided by the Heads of Department based on the size and risk profile of the department. They may use the benchmark by WSH First aid regulations, which require one first aider for every 100 employees (if the work area has 25 workers).

The office safety coordinators should firstly attend the office safety training programme conducted by OSHE. For laboratory based faculties, this training would be conducted by faculty safety and health officer to the office safety coordinators. For non laboratory based faculties the office coordinators can sign up for the online training that will be available on November 2012 via IVLE.

Role of the office safety coordinators

The office safety coordinator should conduct regular inspections of the departments using the office safety checklist
At a minimum this should be done on a quarterly basis.

The NUS office safety checklist covers electrical appliance safety, fire and emergency handling safety, manual materials handling and first aid, and office ergonomics.

The checklist was developed based on a risk assessment conducted on the generic activities conducted in NUS offices. A copy of the risk assessment can be found at

https://nusu.sharepoint.com/sites/corporate/forms/safety_and_health/General-Lab-Safety-Forms/Activity-based-risk-assessment.xls

In addition to the training, there are a lot of resources for office safety coordinators to educate themselves on office hazards, risks and risk control, for example:

Information about office ergonomics can be found in the NUS office ergonomics manual, which can be viewed at

https://nusu.sharepoint.com/sites/corporate/procedures/safety_and_health/Ergonomics/Manuals/NUS%20Office%20Ergonomics%20Manual.pdf

Information about first aid boxes and first aid standards can be found at

https://nusu.sharepoint.com/sites/corporate/procedures/safety_and_health/General-Safety-and-Health/NUS%20First%20Aid%20and%20First%20Aiders%20Standard.pdf

HOW DO WE GET THE NUS OFFICE SAFETY TRAINING SLIDES AND CHECKLIST?

The NUS office safety training slides is available from the following website:

https://inetapps.nus.edu.sg/osh/portal/training/training.html

The NUS Office Safety & health inspection checklist is available at

https://nusu.sharepoint.com/sites/corporate/forms/safety_and_health/General-Safety-and-Health-Checklists/Checklist-office-safety-inspection.pdf

WHEN IS THE NUS OFFICE SAFETY TRAINING OFFERED IN MY FACULTY/DEPARTMENT/RESEARCH INSTITUTE?

Your faculty/departmental safety and health officer conducts the NUS office safety training on a periodic basis. For exact dates and times when the training will be offered in your respective faculty/department/institute, you may contact them directly.

WHO CAN I ASK IF I WANT TO GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE NUS OFFICE SAFETY TRAINING AND CHECKLIST?

Your faculty/departmental safety and health officer conducts the NUS office safety training and facilitates the implementation of the NUS office safety checklist. For other concerns, you may contact ormcaudit@nus.edu.sg