Marine & Offshore
General
1. How do I know if I am classified as a Marine & Offshore (M&O) company and if the following FAQs apply to me?
This set of FAQs apply to companies in the M&O sector. It covers Shipyards, Resident Contractors and Common Contractors as per the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM)’s Marine Shipyard sector definition, and other companies under Singapore Standard Industrial Classification (SSIC) codes 28112, 28241, 30110, 30120.
2. Which companies are required to comply with the Marine & Offshore COVID-Safe Restart Criteria?
The Marine & Offshore COVID-Safe Restart Criteria will apply to all Shipyards (both sponsoring and non-sponsoring), Resident Contractors as well as Common Contractors, as per the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM’s) definition of the Marine Shipyard Sector.
3. If I am not a Shipyard, Resident Contractor or Common Contractor, do I need to comply with the Marine & Offshore COVID-Safe Restart Criteria?
The Marine & Offshore COVID-Safe Restart Criteria only apply to Shipyards (both sponsoring and non-sponsoring), Resident Contractors as well as Common Contractors. Other companies are required to comply with MOM’s prevailing advisories.
4. How will checks be done to ensure that companies are complying with COVID-Safe Restart Criteria?
MOM will implement an Audit and Inspection regime to conduct checks and to ensure compliance on site based on relevant safe management measures.
Penalties will be imposed on firms which have contravened the Marine & Offshore COVID-Safe Restart Criteria or MOM’s Safe Management Measures, whichever relevant. In addition, firms will be required to resubmit their rectification plans, where applicable, and implement these measures as part of the follow ups to the enforcement actions taken.
5. What happens if a project or worksite is found to have a worker infected with COVID-19 after works have resumed?
Shipyards and contractors should immediately vacate and cordon-off the immediate section of the workplace premises where the confirmed case worked. There is no need to vacate the whole yard or building if there is no sustained and close contact with the confirmed case. Subsequently, carry out a thorough cleaning and disinfect all relevant on-site areas and assets exposed to confirmed cases, in accordance with the National Environment Agency’s (NEA’s) guidelines. Please refer to the Marine & Offshore COVID-Safe Restart criteria for further guidance on the handling of suspected and/or confirmed cases.
The whole team that the infected worker is from will have to be isolated and tested; works on site may be suspended.
Application to Resume M&O Works
1. For M&O companies that are seeking to resume operations or increase manning levels, how should they go about it?
Companies seeking to resume operations are to submit a General Exemption application via MTI’s GoBusiness portal here. For companies with existing General Exemption and who wishes to increase their manning levels, they are to submit their request via the “Application for Additional Manpower” function. Please download (https://go.gov.sg/declaredeployfwindorm) and complete the safe management measures declaration and foreign worker deployment details to be attached in the application.
Note that Resident Contractors are to work through their Sponsoring Shipyard to seek approval from EDB/ESG to resume operations or increase manning levels.
COVID-Safe Worksite
1. Where can I find resources to help me implement SafeEntry at my worksite?
On the deployment of SafeEntry, companies can refer to the SafeEntry website here for a full step-by-step guide and resources (including posters that can be displayed at scanning stations). FAQs and additional technical support are available here.
SafeEntry with checks specifically for the Construction, Marine & Offshore and Process (CMP) sectors is available to ensure that your entry checks incorporate sector-specific requirements such as the fulfilment of regular swabbing requirements, and use of TraceTogether. To install SafeEntry with checks specifically for the CMP sectors, please refer to this user guide here.
For access code related queries, companies can contact MOM here.
2. Who is responsible to enforce and ensure that all personnel in the Shipyard complies with COVID-Safe Worksite requirements?
The Shipyard operator is responsible for ensuring that all personnel (e.g. employees, contractors, clients, etc.) working on-site adhere to COVID-Safe Worksite requirements, and should work with its contractors to do so. Similarly, contractors will be responsible for their production sites outside of the Shipyards.
3. Can a Workplace Safety & Health Officer (WSHO) also be a Safe Management Officer (SMO)?
Yes, a WSHO can also be a SMO.
4. My worksite does not allow workers to hold on to mobile phones while at the work area due to safety/security reasons. Can I use other methods to replace TraceTogether?
All personnel entering the site must have a smart phone with TraceTogether app installed before they are allowed to enter the site. Workers should download, activate, and maintain the latest version of the TraceTogether mobile app to facilitate contact tracking. All personnel have to ensure that the TraceTogether app is turned on (i.e. Bluetooth is switched on) and that they carry their handphone with them at all times within the worksite, unless there are workplace health and safety risks and concerns. In the application to resume/ reinstate works or increase manning, the Shipyard and their contractors have to confirm that this requirement can be achieved.
5. Can a team be divided into sub-teams at the worksite?
Yes. Each sub-team will be treated as separate teams. Each sub-team will have to be segregated both at the place of accommodation as well as at the worksite from the other sub-teams even if they are doing the same activity. For example, if a worksite has 3 work locations e.g. vessels, each team will have to work within the designated zone and no exchange of workers between the 3 teams will be allowed.
6. Can a worksite be separated into 2 or more sub-sites?
Yes, a physical barrier or clear demarcation is to be implemented for each sub-site. The workers must also be housed in segregated accommodations. Within each sub-site, the same segregation requirements for each team working within a designated zone and segregation on the use of communal shared facilities will apply.
7. Are multiple accommodations allowed?
It is possible for workers of a worksite to be housed at one or more accommodations. All on-site accommodations at shipyards are required to be dedicated to the worksite.
COVID-Safe Workforce
1. Who would need to be regularly swab tested?
All Shipyards’, Resident Contractors’ and Common Contractors’ employees are required to undergo regular swab tests (or Rostered Routine Testing) every 14 days, with the exception of non-dormitory workers who work in non-production sites or work from home.
Dormitories include purpose-built dormitories, factory-converted dormitories, construction temporary quarters, temporary occupation licence quarters, temporary living quarters and government decant sites.
To ensure that the risks of COVID-19 transmission at shipyard premises continue to be well mitigated, personnel from non-Marine Shipyard sector who are required to work at the shipyards’ production sites for 15 or more days out of 30 consecutive days, will need to undergo RRT. Companies should ensure that affected employees have undergone RRT by 19 October 2020. The 15 or more days which a personnel is working in the shipyard’s production sites need not be consecutive.
This is applicable for Singaporeans, Singaporean Permanent Residences, Work Permit Holders, S Pass Holders and Employment Pass Holders.
2. If my office finance and administrative staff do not go to production site or come into contact with production site workers, do they have to be regularly swab tested? They do not reside in dormitories.
Non-dormitory workers who work in non-production sites or work from home do not need to be regularly swab tested.
3. Are client/owner representatives who frequent the shipyards’ production sites required to undergo RRT?
Yes. Personnel who are required to work at the shipyards’ production sites for 15 or more days out of 30 consecutive days are required to undergo regular swab testing. Companies should ensure that affected employees have undergone RRT by 19 October 2020.
4. How can companies register for swab testing for eligible employees?
All companies can apply for Swab Registration System (SRS) company account creation via link. They will receive a follow-up email from swab@edb.gov.sg on SRS onboarding and instructions within 5 days. Companies in the non-Marine Shipyard sectors are to indicate the Shipyard’s company name where their workers will be working at.
All companies are to submit their Manpower Declaration in GoBusiness indicating employee details and their respective work premises. Companies will receive an email informing them of the expected timeline from which they can start submitting their manpower declaration.
For companies in the Marine Shipyard sector, employees working on the shipyards’ production site and shipyard contractors’ external production site e.g. workshop, are to be captured under “Production site” premises while employees working from home or at non-production site e.g. back office, are to be captured under “Non Production Sites”.
For companies in non-Marine Shipyard sectors, only employees deployed to the shipyard’s production site are to be captured under “Production site” premises. All other employees deployed to other premises e.g. office, other industry sites, are to be captured under “Non Production Sites”. This is to facilitate registration and access to RRT for employees deployed to shipyard’s production site.
Please ensure that details are valid and kept up to date.
5. I am unable to key in the specific work premises of my employees in the GoBusiness portal. Who should I approach?
Please contact COVID_GoBusiness@mti.gov.sg.
6. What is considered a “Production site” premise?
Production site includes shipyards’ production areas (e.g. dry dock, onboard vessels in shipyards, fabrication workshops), resident and common contractors’ workshops. “Non Production Sites” include back office, supporting sectors’ (e.g. manufacturing) workshop.
7. What should companies from supporting sectors do after they have completed their jobs and are no longer working at the shipyard’s production site?
Companies are required to update their employees’ work premises to “Non Production Sites” via the Manpower Declaration in GoBusiness. Companies need not register them for subsequent swab appointments in SRS if they are no longer required to work at shipyard’s production site.
8. What should companies from supporting sectors do if their employees will only be working at the shipyard’s production site for a few days (less than 15 days out of 30 consecutive days)?
Companies need not register these employees for swab appointments in SRS. However, they are to remind employees to adhere to safe distancing measures and avoid interaction with shipyard-based personnel except for safety checks and worksite inspection.
9. Are ship crew required to undergo RRT? They are based onboard the vessel which is berthed/docked at our shipyard for repair works.
Ship crew are to refer to MPA’s Port Marine Circular for the latest guidelines such as signing-on/off SHN and COVID-19 PCR test requirements.
10. When should the last swab test be taken before personnel is allowed to enter shipyards’ production premises?
The personnel should have taken their swab test and tested negative within the last 14 days.
11. My company does not fall under the Marine Shipyard sector. However, my employees are deployed to the shipyard’s production site for 15 or more days and are required to undergo RRT according to the latest advisory for the Marine & Offshore sector. Why is their health status in Safe@Work still showing “Exempted from Rostered Routine Testing (RRT)”?
Personnel from non-Marine shipyard sector are not required to undergo RRT on a normal basis such as when carrying out work activities at non-Marine related sites e.g. manufacturing. Such employees’ health status in Safe@Work reflects this by displaying “Exempted from Rostered Routine Testing (RRT)”. However, to ensure the risks of COVID-19 transmission at shipyard premises continue to be well mitigated, these personnel are required to undergo RRT as per the “Advisory for Rostered Routine Testing for the Marine & Offshore Sector” issued on 2 October 2020. They can show proof of their RRT records using FWMOMCARE for migrant workers or HealthHub for Singaporeans and Singapore Permanent Residents. Shipyards have the right to refuse entry to personnel who do not comply in order to safeguard the COVID-19 risks at their premises.
COVID-Safe Accommodation and Transport
1. Do I have to segregate my workers at their accommodation according to their projects and teams?
Yes. Companies must work with dormitory operators to segregate workers according to their worksites and teams so as to avoid inter-mixing. For workers residing in FEDA-licensed dormitories, employers and dormitory operators are to work together to cohort these workers in compliance with BCA/EDB’s requirements here.
Staggered Rest Day
1. Which companies will be affected by this requirement and will this be imposed on all employees within the company?
Only companies who employ foreign workers in the Marine Shipyard sector will be affected. Staggered rest days will apply to all Work Permit and S Pass holders hired under the Marine Shipyard account. Companies can check the category of their foreign workers via Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM’s) Work Permit Online or Employment Pass Online. Companies are required to adopt and implement the staggered rest day arrangement for these employees.
2. My Marine Shipyard account foreign workers are working in the office and not on the production site, are they required to follow the staggered rest day arrangement?
Yes, all Marine Shipyard account Work Permit and S Pass holders are included regardless of their assigned worksite and role. This will help to reduce crowding when they are out on personal activities on their rest days.
3. My Marine account Work Permit and S Pass holders are currently having Sunday as their rest day. What am I required to do in order to comply with the staggered rest days requirement?
Under the staggered rest day requirement, employers are to assign their Marine account Work Permit and S Pass holders a rest day between Monday to Saturday according to the company’s allocated rest day arrangement.
If Sunday is not their rest day, these employees can work on Sunday without overtime pay that is needed for working on their rest day.
4. Are my Marine Shipyard account foreign workers allowed to work on their allocated rest day?
Yes, the worker can work on their rest day as stipulated under the Employment Act, but conditions of pay and other matters must not contravene those stipulated in the Act.
5. If I have no critical production needs and do not want to operate on Sunday, do my Marine Shipyard account workers still need to report to work as it is not their assigned rest day?
No, if the company is not operating on Sunday, these workers need not report to the worksite, but they will not be able to leave their dormitory for leisure or personal errands that day. The workers can leave the dormitories for leisure or personal reasons only on their assigned rest day each week.
6. If my Marine Shipyard account foreign workers usually have two rest days per week, can they be given two rest days?
Yes, companies can allow workers to have more than one rest day. Nonetheless, companies need to update only one of the rest days in the Safe@Work system. This will be the day where the workers will be able to leave their dormitory for leisure and personal reasons. On other rest days, the worker need not work, but will need to rest in their dormitory during this stage of the pandemic.
7. Will this staggered rest day arrangement apply to my Marine Shipyard account foreign workers who are not living in dormitories?
Yes, companies are required to implement the staggered rest day arrangement for their Marine Shipyard account workers regardless of their place of residence. Staggered rest day is needed to prevent the risk of large numbers of people congregating on their rest days, which will heighten the risk of COVID-19 transmission. This arrangement will reduce the pool of people interacting with others outside of work on any given day, and mitigate the public health risk to themselves, and others. However, workers not living in dormitories will not be required to apply for Exit Pass to leave their residence.
8. Is there an end date for this staggered rest day arrangement?
The arrangement is needed to minimise the risk of large numbers of people congregating, and thereby reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Staggered rest days will be reviewed when the COVID-19 pandemic has abated.
9. Will there be enforcement? What will be the penalties for employers and employees who do not comply with the staggered rest day arrangement?
Employers will be responsible to implement and communicate the staggered rest day arrangement to their employees. Thereafter, employees are responsible to adhere to their arrangements. MOM will take action against employers that do not comply.
10. My Marine account workers are residing in non-dormitory residences. Are they allowed to go out every day after work and even on Sunday? E.g. for dinner in the evening after work, to the supermarket, take annual leave, visit friends and relatives.
Yes. The Exit Pass requirement applies only to dormitory (e.g. PBD, FCD, CTQ, TOLQ, TLQ or government-arranged housing) residents.
11. What are the type of dormitories that are subjected to entry and exit regulations? What will I need to exit the dormitory for leisure during my staggered rest day?
If you stay in a dormitory (e.g. PBD, FCD, CTQ, TOLQ, TLQ or government-arranged housing), you must have an Exit Pass to go out for leisure. If you stay in other housing types (e.g HDB flat, Private Residential Property), you do not need an Exit Pass.
12. Do we need to submit essential errands request to MOM when workers run errands on their rest day?
Yes, workers whose dormitory is declared COVID-cleared and are not serving a Quarantine Order or Stay-Home Notice can leave the dormitory to run essential errands. For essential errands, workers’ employer or dormitory operator are required to notify MOM at www.mom.gov.sg/essential-errands-request, and they can then leave for their specified errand. This is regardless of AccessCode status, and no Exit Pass is needed. Essential errands include medical appointments, court appointments, MOM-approved training and Work Pass related errands.
13. When can workers holding work permits and S passes, and staying in dormitories, leave their dormitories for medical examinations, including Rostered Routine Testing (“RRT”)?
Workers staying in dormitories are required to undergo RRT every 14 days. They are allowed to leave their dormitories for RRT, regardless of their AccessCode status, for medical examinations as required by the Government (e.g. COVID-19 testing), which would include the RRT Scheme. The workers should show the dorm operator proof of their RRT appointment to exit the dorm.
14. If a Public Holiday falls on an employee’s new rest day on a weekday, is the employee entitled to another day off the following day, and if they are required to work, then do we need to pay overtime?
Yes, if the holiday falls on a rest day, the next working day is a paid holiday. If the employee is required to work, he/she shall be remunderated in accordance to the Employment Act for working on a Public Holiday.
15. My employee’s rest day is Sunday, and his employment contract stipulates a higher rate of pay for working on Sunday. If his new assigned rest day is a weekday, will I still have to pay the higher rate for him to work on Sunday?
Employers may re-negotiate employment contracts to adjust the rate of pay for working on Sunday, if it becomes a non-rest day.
16. I am experiencing issues with updating Rest Day in Safe@Work. What should I do?
Please refer to the answers for frequently asked questions here. If you are still experiencing issues, please contact MOM for assistance.
Assignment Of Staggered Rest Day
17. Why are Sponsoring Shipyards and their Resident Contractors grouped together for the staggered rest day arrangement?
Resident Contractors are supported by a specific Sponsoring Shipyard. As Sponsoring Shipyards work very closely with their Resident Contractors they are provided with the flexibility to coordinate the staggered rest day arrangements according to operational needs. Sponsoring Shipyards are to ensure that between the shipyard and Resident Contractors there is an even spread of Marine Shipyard account workers resting each day across Monday to Saturday.
For example: A Sponsoring Shipyard has 100 marine pass holders. Their Resident Contractor A and B has 30 and 50 Marine pass holders respectively. Together, they have a total of 180 marine workers. Sponsoring Shipyard will work together with Resident Contractor A and B, and coordinate such that 30 marine workers (180 ÷ 6 = 30) between them are resting each day from Monday to Saturday.
18. My company wishes to adopt the randomly assigned rest day option. Can we choose our preferred rest day between Monday to Saturday?
No. The rest day will be randomly assigned for all companies that have chosen this option. This is to ensure even distribution of workers resting across the 6 days.
19. If I am adopting the equal spread of Marine Shipyard account workers resting between Monday to Saturday, am I allowed to swap the workers’ rest days in the Safe@Work system while keeping to the numbers resting each day?
Yes, companies are allowed to change the workers’ rest day in the Safe@Work system while adhering to the numbers resting each day. However, employers are to ensure fair treatment to workers and timely communication to allow workers to make the necessary adjustment, and should not prevent their workers from applying for an Exit Pass, or force them to work on their rest day against their will.