The Singapore Contractors Association expressed "grave concern" over the recent spate of workplace accidents and fatalities yesterday, and has brought forward a scheduled safety timeout.

This would allow companies to take time off from their routine operations to review a particular work activity or system to ensure safe operations, the association said yesterday. The timeout was originally scheduled for next month.

The call came following the death of a foreign worker at a Sengkang construction site after he was struck by a sheet pile last Saturday. There has been seven workplace fatalities this year, of which five were from the construction sector.

The association's president, Mr Kenneth Loo, called on all construction firms to conduct a safety time-out as soon as possible to reinforce a "shared responsibility" for workplace safety.

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