The MOM compliance checklist every Singapore SME should have pinned to the wall.

Every week, MOM inspectors visit workplaces across Singapore. Most small business owners don't know they're coming until they're already at the door. And most of the businesses that get hit with notices — or worse, stop-work orders — weren't doing anything malicious. They just didn't know what they were supposed to have in place.

This checklist is built for Singapore SMEs with under 50 staff. It covers the core obligations under the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Act and its subsidiary regulations. Think of it as the minimum you need to have in order — not the maximum, and not a full legal opinion.

You don't have to be perfect to be compliant. You do have to be deliberate.

1. Your WSH Policy

Under the WSH Act, every employer must establish a safety and health management system appropriate to the size and nature of their business. For most SMEs, this starts with a written WSH Policy — a short document (one or two pages is fine) that states your commitment to workplace safety, who's responsible for what, and how you'll manage safety on an ongoing basis.

This document should be signed by the business owner or managing director, dated, and visible in the workplace. It doesn't need to be fancy. It needs to be genuine and it needs to be there.

Commonly missed: Many SMEs have a policy from when they first registered, and it hasn't been reviewed in years. MOM expects it to reflect your current operations — a policy that names a department that no longer exists, or refers to a location you've moved from, signals neglect.

2. Risk Assessments (RA)

This is the document MOM officers look for first. A Risk Assessment identifies the hazards in your workplace, rates how likely they are to cause harm and how serious that harm would be, and documents the controls you have in place to reduce the risk.

RAs must be:

• Conducted by a competent person (someone trained in risk assessment)
• Reviewed at least once every three years, or whenever there's a significant change to the work
• Signed off by a responsible person in the organisation
• Communicated to the workers doing those tasks
• Kept on record and available for inspection

Commonly missed: The RA covers the work on paper, but staff haven't been briefed on it. You need to be able to show that your workers know what the hazards are and what the controls are — not just that the document exists.

3. Safe Work Procedures (SWP)

Safe Work Procedures are the step-by-step instructions that put your Risk Assessment into practice. For each high-risk task identified in your RA, there should be an SWP that tells workers exactly how to do it safely — including what PPE to use, what to check before starting, and what to do if something goes wrong.

SWPs should be posted at the point of use (next to the equipment, on the wall of the kitchen, in the workshop bay) — not filed in a folder that nobody looks at.

Commonly missed: SWPs that exist only in English in a multilingual workplace. If 70% of your kitchen staff read Mandarin more comfortably, an English-only SWP isn't functioning as a safety control.

4. Incident Reporting and Record-Keeping

Under the WSH (Incident Reporting) Regulations, you are legally required to report certain workplace incidents to MOM within specific timeframes:

• A fatality must be reported within 10 days
• An accident causing hospitalisation must be reported within 10 days
• An accident causing more than 3 consecutive days of medical leave must be reported within 10 days
• Dangerous occurrences (near-misses with serious potential) must also be reported

Separately from reporting, you should maintain an internal register of all incidents and near-misses — even minor ones. This record demonstrates that you take safety seriously and helps you spot patterns before they become serious injuries.

Commonly missed: Near-misses go unrecorded because nobody got hurt. From a compliance and culture perspective, near-miss reporting is one of the most powerful safety practices available — and one of the first things a good WSH Inspector asks about.

5. Worker Safety Training

You must ensure that every worker is trained in the safety aspects of their job before they start doing it. This isn't just an induction — it's documented, specific to the task, and verified.

For certain higher-risk activities (working at heights, confined space entry, use of powered industrial trucks, etc.), specific MOM-mandated training and certification is required. Not optional.

For general SMEs, the minimum expectation is a documented safety induction for new staff and regular toolbox talks — brief, task-specific safety reminders — at appropriate intervals.

Commonly missed: Training happens but isn't recorded. If MOM asks whether a worker was trained, "yes, we told them on the first day" is not a satisfying answer without a sign-off sheet to back it up.

6. First Aid and Emergency Preparedness

Every workplace must have adequate first aid provisions. The specific requirements depend on the number of employees and the nature of the work, but at a minimum:

• A first aid kit, properly stocked and checked regularly
• At least one person with a valid First Aid certificate (Singapore Red Cross or equivalent)
• An emergency response plan — what to do in the event of a fire, injury, or chemical spill
• Emergency contact numbers posted visibly in the workplace

Commonly missed: The first aid certificate has expired. This is extremely common — people get certified, the two-year validity lapses, and nobody notices until there's an inspection.

The three things most SMEs miss

After all the specifics, here are the three that come up again and again in the businesses we work with:

1. Documents exist but aren't communicated. The RA is in a folder. The SWP is in a binder. Nobody has read either since they were written. Compliance is about the practice, not just the paperwork.
2. Nothing has been reviewed since it was first set up. The WSH Policy is from 2019. The RA covers equipment you replaced in 2022. Documentation must be kept current to be meaningful.
3. There's nobody responsible. "Everyone is responsible for safety" is another way of saying "nobody is responsible for safety." You need at least one named person whose job it is to maintain your WSH system — even part-time, even outsourced.