National Trades Union Congress Secretary-General Chan Chun Sing’s recent speech at the Singapore Institution of Safety Officers’ Annual Workplace Safety and Health Officers Conference touched on four M’s: Man, Machine, Method and Mindset, with an emphasis on the last one.

Mindset plays a crucial role in enhancing the capability of workplace safety and health professionals to safeguard the people at work.

Should there be a mindset shift towards this end, the result will be better-quality products and services rendered.

For example, in Bahrain in 2007/8,a Singapore construction company was in the driving seat and, among the international contractors there, took the lead in the safety arena.

They paid frequent visits to site offices to get a sense of Singapore’s workplace safety and health standards. What mattered most was the heartfelt, selfless contribution to the community, irrespective of race or religion. That made a big difference.

Becoming a country renowned for best practices in workplace safety is one of the targets the Singapore Workplace Safety and Health Council has set in its WSH 2018 strategy. A mindset shift would further this mission.