ISCA-SAC Advisory on Safe Management Measures for Accounting Practices

Removal of Safe Management Measures

Effective from 13 February 2023

On 9 February 2023, the Multi-Ministry Taskforce announced that Singapore will move towards Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) Green as Singapore establishes a new endemic norm. Safe Management Measures (SMMs) for the workplace will be fully lifted from 13 February 2023.  

1.     The following changes took effect will take effect from 13 February 2023: 

• As we transit towards living with COVID-19, wearing of masks when indoors is optional in most workplaces. The Ministry of Health will retain the practice of mask-wearing for visitors, staff and patients in healthcare and residential care settings, where there is interaction with patients and in indoor patient-facing areas. 

• Employers may maintain their own company policies such as requiring employees and visitors to wear masks at the workplace, for workplace health and safety or business continuity reasons.  

• Individuals who feel unwell should be encouraged to wear a mask as part of exercising personal social responsibility and protecting their own health. 

• Accounting Practices are no longer required to appoint a Safe Management Officer (SMO) for your workplace.  

• There will no longer be a legal requirement for employees who are diagnosed with COVID-19 to notify their employers. However, employers may maintain their own company policies, such as requiring the employee to inform the company of their COVID-19 infection, for workplace health and safety or business continuity reasons.  

• There will no longer be a legal requirement for employers to implement SMM or have a monitoring plan for SMMs for the workplace. However, employers may wish to maintain their own company policies, such as mask-wearing, safe distancing, contract tracing, ART testing, for workplace health and safety or business continuity reasons. Employers are encouraged to communicate and explain these measures to employees. 

2.     We thank all employers and individuals for playing a part in keeping themselves and others safe, and exercising social responsibility to prevent COVID-19 infections. We encourage employers and individuals to continue these good practices to keep the workplace resilient against the risk of new variants or future outbreaks.  

For more information, accounting practices may refer to the frequently asked questions on Safe Management Measures at the workplace.