More employers caught breaching safety standards for helpers cleaning windows

Between 2015 and 2024, an average of 15 employers each year faced enforcement actions for failing to comply with safety standards regarding window cleaning by their migrant domestic workers (MDWs).

- Christine Tan

This was up from an average of 12 people a year taken to task between 2016 and 2020 for such breaches, as stated by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in 2021.

The latest figures were revealed by Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng in a written parliamentary reply on Oct 14 to questions from labour MPs Melvin Yong (Radin Mas) and Wan Rizal Wan Zakariah (Jalan Besar GRC).

On Sept 25, a 39-year-old domestic worker was found dead at the foot of a Toa Payoh HDB block. She is believed to have fallen while cleaning windows. MOM is investigating her death.

In another incident in March 2021, a 26-year-old Indonesian maid died in hospital after she was found at the bottom of a block of flats near Hougang MRT station. She is also believed to have been cleaning windows when she fell.