17 workplace deaths in first half of 2025; vehicular incidents remain top cause

Seventeen people died from injuries sustained at work in the first half of 2025, a slight decrease from 19 in the same period in 2024.

- Vanessa Paige Chelvan Correspondent

Like in 2024, vehicular incidents were the top cause of death. Nine people were killed in vehicular incidents in the first half of 2025, compared with 11 in the whole of 2024.

The other top causes of deaths were falls from height and being struck by moving objects, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Sept 30.

The construction and transportation and storage industries accounted for 65 per cent of workplace deaths in the first six months of 2025, according to midyear workplace safety and health figures published by MOM.

The construction sector accounted for seven fatalities. This is up from five deaths in the first half of 2024 and down from 15 in the second half of that year.

Four deaths were reported in the transportation and storage industry in the first six months of 2025. There was one death recorded in the same period in 2024 and eight in the second half of that year.

The wholesale and retail trade sector registered two workplace deaths in the first half of 2025, up from one recorded in the whole of 2024.

Two deaths were recorded in the administrative and support services sector, which did not report any fatalities in 2024.

MOM said Singapore’s workplace fatality rate in the first half of 2025 was 0.92 death per 100,000 workers. This is down from one death per 100,000 workers in the same period in 2024 and 1.2 deaths per 100,000 workers in the second half of that year.

Singapore’s target is to keep the rate below one death per 100,000 workers by 2028.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a visit to window supplier Sapphire Windows in Loyang, Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash said on Sept 30 that while any workplace death is tragic, the country is “trending in the right direction” with fewer fatalities recorded.