Statute Details
- Title: Employment of Foreign Manpower (Security Measures for Work Place) Notification
- Act Code: EFMA1990-N3
- Type: Subsidiary legislation (SL)
- Current status: Current version as at 27 Mar 2026
- Authorising Act: Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (Cap. 91A), section 6A(5)
- Key provisions: Section 2 (definitions); Section 3 (security measures for work place)
- Legislative history (high level): Revised Editions 1997, 1998, 2002, 2009; amended by S 344/2007
- Citation: Employment of Foreign Manpower (Security Measures for Work Place) Notification
What Is This Legislation About?
The Employment of Foreign Manpower (Security Measures for Work Place) Notification is a regulatory instrument made under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act. In plain terms, it sets out mandatory security and access-control measures that an “occupier” of certain workplaces must implement when foreign manpower is employed at that workplace.
The Notification is not a general workplace safety statute. Instead, it focuses on preventing unauthorised access to work sites and ensuring that foreign workers and visitors can be identified, tracked, and verified through a system of identification passes, entry permissions, and record-keeping. It also provides for inspection by employment inspectors.
Practically, the Notification operates as a compliance checklist. If the occupier falls within the scope of section 6A of the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, the occupier must implement the measures in section 3. Failure to do so can expose the occupier to enforcement action under the parent Act and related regulatory regimes.
What Are the Key Provisions?
Section 2: Definitions clarifies how certain terms are to be understood. The Notification incorporates meanings from the Immigration Act (Cap. 133) for “entry permit”, “pass”, and “permit”. This is important because the Notification requires the occupier to ensure that non-Singapore workers and visitors hold the correct immigration documents. By cross-referencing the Immigration Act, the Notification avoids ambiguity about what constitutes a valid “entry permit” or “pass”.
Section 3: Security measures for work place is the core provision. It requires the occupier of a workplace referred to in section 6A of the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act to take a suite of measures “in respect of the work place”. These measures are designed to work together: physical perimeter control, controlled entry through identification passes, documentary verification for non-citizens, and robust record-keeping.
(a) Perimeter fencing/walling requires the occupier to erect, along the entire perimeter of the work place, a fence, wall or combination thereof of not less than 2 metres in height from ground to the top. The purpose is to prevent access by unauthorised persons. The requirement includes limited exceptions: openings required for authorised entry/exit or for moving materials, and any part of the perimeter where it is not reasonably practicable to erect the barrier.
(b) No gaps where fence and wall are combined addresses a common security weakness: if both a fence and a wall are used, the occupier must ensure there is no gap between them. This is a targeted requirement aimed at preventing circumvention of the perimeter barrier.
(c) Maintenance in good condition obliges the occupier to keep the fence/wall (or combination) in good condition and repair at all times. This turns the barrier requirement into an ongoing duty, not a one-time construction obligation.
(d) Serially numbered identification passes requires the occupier to issue a serially numbered identification pass to every worker employed to carry out work at the work place and to every visitor. This is the administrative backbone of the Notification: without passes, the occupier cannot reliably control access or maintain the required registers.
(e) Distinguishing workers from visitors; physical specifications requires that worker passes be of a different colour from visitor passes. It also specifies minimum size (at least 10 centimetres in length and 6 centimetres in breadth) and requires the passes to be waterproof. These requirements are practical: they support quick visual identification and durability in field conditions.
(f) Documentary verification for non-citizen workers is a key compliance point. The occupier must ensure that every worker who is not a citizen of Singapore and who is issued with an identification pass is in possession of a valid entry permit or work pass lawfully issued to him throughout his period of employment at the work place. This is not merely a “check at onboarding” duty; the wording requires validity throughout the period of employment.
(g) Documentary verification for non-citizen visitors similarly requires that every visitor who is not a citizen of Singapore and who is issued with an identification pass is in possession of a valid pass, permit or work pass lawfully issued to him.
(h) Access control: only pass-holders may enter; security guards at entrances/exits requires the occupier to take reasonable measures to ensure that only persons issued with identification passes are allowed entry. It also mandates deployment of one or more security guards at each of the entrances and exits of the work place at all times. This is a strong operational requirement and will typically require staffing arrangements and clear procedures.
(i) Prominent wearing of passes requires persons issued with identification passes to wear them prominently at all times when they are at the work place. This supports enforcement by security guards and reduces the risk of “pass swapping” or unverified entry.
(j) Up-to-date register for workers requires the occupier to maintain at all times an up-to-date register containing specified particulars in the English language of every identification pass issued under sub-paragraph (d). For each worker, the register must include: (A) name; (B) time and date of issue and serial number of the pass; (C) identity card number, work pass number or entry permit number; and (D) employer’s name.
(j) Up-to-date register for visitors similarly requires particulars for each visitor: (A) name; (B) time, date and purpose of visit; (C) time and date of issue and serial number of the pass; and (D) identity card number, pass number, permit number or work pass number.
(k) Up-to-date register for contractors extends record-keeping beyond workers and visitors. The occupier must maintain at all times a register containing the name and address in the English language of every contractor engaged by the occupier or otherwise to carry out work at the work place. This is significant for multi-contractor worksites (e.g., construction or industrial projects), where compliance often fails at the interface between the main occupier and subcontractors.
(l) Return of passes on cessation of purpose requires that identification passes be returned to the occupier upon cessation of the purpose for which they are issued. The occupier must record, against the relevant entry in the worker/visitor register, the time and date of return. This creates an audit trail and helps prevent retention of passes after a person no longer has a legitimate presence at the site.
(m) Production to employment inspector provides an enforcement mechanism. Upon request by an employment inspector, the occupier must immediately produce the worker/visitor register (under sub-paragraph (j)) or the contractor register (under sub-paragraph (k)) for inspection. “Immediately” indicates that delays may be treated as non-compliance, so occupiers should ensure registers are readily accessible (whether in physical or controlled electronic form, consistent with the requirement for English-language particulars).
How Is This Legislation Structured?
The Notification is concise and structured around three provisions. It begins with a citation provision (section 1), followed by a definitions section (section 2) that imports key immigration terminology from the Immigration Act. The substantive obligations are contained in section 3, which sets out the security measures for the work place. There are no separate “parts” or complex schedules in the extract provided; instead, section 3 lists operational requirements in sub-paragraphs (a) through (m), covering perimeter security, pass issuance and design, documentary verification, access control, record-keeping, pass return, and inspection readiness.
Who Does This Legislation Apply To?
The Notification applies to the occupier of a work place referred to in section 6A of the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act. While the extract does not reproduce section 6A, the structure indicates that the scope is triggered by the parent Act’s definition of relevant workplaces and circumstances where foreign manpower is employed. In practice, this often captures worksites where foreign workers are present and where the regulatory framework requires heightened security and identification controls.
Accordingly, the occupier’s duties extend to workers employed to carry out work at the workplace, visitors entering the workplace, and contractors engaged by the occupier or otherwise to carry out work. The occupier must also ensure that non-citizens (workers and visitors) hold valid immigration documents throughout their relevant presence at the work place.
Why Is This Legislation Important?
This Notification is important because it operationalises immigration and foreign manpower compliance into site-level security controls. It does not merely require that foreign workers have valid work passes; it requires the occupier to build a system that can demonstrate compliance on demand—through identification passes, documentary verification, and registers that can be produced immediately to an employment inspector.
From a practitioner’s perspective, the most common compliance risks are (1) inadequate perimeter control or poor maintenance of barriers; (2) failure to distinguish worker and visitor passes and to ensure passes meet the specified physical requirements; (3) lapses in verifying that non-citizen workers and visitors hold valid entry/work passes throughout their presence; (4) incomplete or out-of-date registers; and (5) failure to return passes and record the return time/date. The requirement for security guards at each entrance and exit “at all times” is also a frequent operational bottleneck, especially where worksites have multiple access points or changing site layouts.
For enforcement, the immediate production requirement underscores that documentation must be audit-ready. Occupiers should therefore implement internal compliance procedures—such as pass issuance controls, pass return workflows, and periodic internal checks of register completeness and pass validity—so that the occupier can respond quickly to inspection requests.
Related Legislation
- Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (Cap. 91A), in particular section 6A(5)
- Immigration Act (Cap. 133), for definitions of “entry permit”, “pass”, and “permit”
- Foreign Manpower Act (as referenced in the legislative interface for the Notification’s citation context)
Source Documents
This article provides an overview of the Employment of Foreign Manpower (Security Measures for Work Place) Notification for legal research and educational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult the official text for authoritative provisions.