The Answer in 60 Seconds

After a work injury, arrange medical care, record the incident, report it through the WSH Incident Reporting eService and notify the designated insurer. MOM requires a report for every work injury involving any medical leave, light duty or hospitalisation within 10 days from the employer first receiving notice of the accident. For a fatal accident, notify MOM as soon as possible and submit the accident report within 10 days from the accident.

For policies starting from 1 January 2021, the designated insurer calculates compensation and issues a Notice of Computation. For earlier policies, MOM calculates compensation and issues a Notice of Assessment. A party has 14 days after service of either notice to object. If no one objects, compensation is payable within 21 days from service of the notice.

The Sourced Detail

The claim process has separate medical, reporting, insurance and payment duties. Treating an insurer notification as the MOM report leaves a compliance gap. Treating the report as the whole claim leaves the worker's wages, medical expenses and compensation process unmanaged.

Step 1: arrange care and preserve the facts

Get the injured employee medical attention. Record the date, time, location, work being performed, injury, witnesses and immediate response. Preserve photographs, relevant equipment records and the employer's first notice of the accident.

The first-notice date matters because it starts the reporting period for a non-fatal accident. Keep the original medical certificates, light-duty instructions and hospital documents. Continue updating the incident record when further medical leave or light duty is issued.

Step 2: report every qualifying work injury

MOM's current reporting rule covers every work injury where the employee receives any medical leave, light duty or hospitalisation. Submit the report within 10 days from the date the employer first had notice of the accident. The old threshold of more than three medical-leave days or at least 24 hours of hospitalisation no longer applies.

For a fatal accident, notify MOM as soon as possible and report it within 10 days. Do not wait for a death certificate, insurer response or completed internal investigation before making the required notification.

Use the WSH Incident Reporting eService, which replaced the earlier iReport online system; some MOM pages still call a report an iReport. Give the facts available and update the report when new medical leave, light duty or material information arrives.

Since 1 June 2024, a first failure-to-report offence carries a fine up to S$10,000. A repeat offence within 5 years carries a fine up to S$20,000, imprisonment for up to 6 months or both.

Step 3: notify the designated insurer

Tell the WIC designated insurer about the accident as soon as possible. Provide the incident report, medical documents, employment information, wage records and policy details requested for the claim.

MOM tells employers to continue paying medical leave wages and medical expenses while waiting for insurer reimbursement. The employer claim page states that medical leave wages are paid by the next payday after the employer receives the original medical certificates. Medical bills the employee has already paid are reimbursed within 14 days of the employer receiving the original bills.

Check that the policy is an approved policy issued by a designated insurer. The WICA section 25 offence guide explains the separate insurance-duty offence. The WICA complete guide sets out which employees must be insured. A claim still needs to be managed where coverage is missing or disputed.

Step 4: manage medical evidence and ongoing payments

When the designated insurer or MOM sends a medical report form, check that it names the hospital or clinic treating the employee. Send the form to that hospital or clinic and pay for it. Give a copy of the fee receipt to the designated insurer or MOM, as MOM's employer claim page asks. Monitor appointments so the medical assessment can proceed.

Medical leave wages cover working days supported by medical leave, hospitalisation leave or light duty from a Singapore-registered doctor or dentist. MOM's compensation page states full average monthly earnings for up to 14 days of outpatient medical leave or light duty and up to 60 days of hospitalisation leave. After the applicable full-rate period, two-thirds of average monthly earnings applies, up to one year from the accident.

Medical expenses for treatment of the work injury are capped at S$53,000 for accidents from 1 November 2025 and S$45,000 for accidents before that date, per MOM's compensation page. Payment stops at that cap or one year from the accident, whichever comes first.

Step 5: receive the NOC or NOA

For policies starting from 1 January 2021, the designated insurer calculates the compensation and issues a Notice of Computation to the employer and employee.

For policies starting before 1 January 2021, MOM calculates the compensation and issues a Notice of Assessment to the employer, insurer and employee. Read the notice carefully because it states the calculation and objection instructions.

The types of compensation are medical leave wages, medical expenses and lump-sum compensation for permanent incapacity, current incapacity or death.

Step 6: object or pay within the stated period

The employee, employer or insurer can dispute the claim within 14 days from service of the NOC or NOA. Submit the objection in the stated form with supporting documents. A permanent-incapacity objection and an objection about whether the injury is work-related follow different review paths.

If no one objects, the employer or designated insurer must pay within 21 days from service of the NOC or NOA. After a dispute is resolved, MOM issues a Certificate of Order and the parties have 21 days to pay.

Record the service date, objection deadline, payment deadline and person responsible. Do not calculate the period from an internal forwarding date.

Special situations

An extended medical certificate does not create the original reporting duty. Any medical leave, light duty or hospitalisation already triggers the rule. Update the existing incident report when further leave or light duty is issued.

Where several contractors are involved, identify the actual employer and give the insurer and MOM the contracts, payroll records and supervision facts. Do not delay the incident report while commercial responsibility is debated.

WIC insurance and foreign-worker medical insurance perform different functions. Keep both policy records where both regimes apply. For serious incidents, coordinate this process with the worker-fatality response guide and any separate workplace-safety investigation.

Common Mistakes

  1. Waiting for more than three medical-leave days. Any medical leave, light duty or hospitalisation triggers the current reporting rule.

  2. Looking for the old iReport system. Reports go through the WSH Incident Reporting eService, which replaced it.

  3. Reporting only to the insurer. The MOM incident report and insurer notification are separate steps.

  4. Saying MOM always issues the assessment. The policy start date determines whether the designated insurer issues an NOC or MOM issues an NOA.

  5. Starting the reporting clock at the accident date for every non-fatal case. The current non-fatal rule runs from the employer's first notice.

  6. Waiting for an extended medical certificate. The first qualifying medical leave or light duty already triggers reporting.

  7. Missing the service date. Objection and payment periods run from service of the notice.

  8. Stopping employee payments while waiting for the insurer. The employer continues the payments MOM requires and seeks reimbursement afterward.

What This Means for Your Business

Give one person ownership of the incident report and another ownership of the claim calendar. The file should show first notice, report submission, insurer notification, medical documents, payments, service of the NOC or NOA, objection status and final payment.

Train supervisors to escalate every work injury that produces medical leave, light duty or hospitalisation. They do not decide whether the injury is serious enough to report.

Keep the current eService access and designated-insurer contacts ready before an accident. A procedure that depends on finding credentials or policy details after an injury wastes the reporting period.

Questions to Ask Your Adviser

  1. Who receives our first notice of an accident and who submits the MOM report?
  2. What documents does our designated insurer require immediately after notification?
  3. Does the policy start date place the claim under the NOC or NOA process?
  4. Who tracks the objection and payment deadlines from the notice's service date?
  5. How do we reconcile medical leave wages and medical expenses before insurer reimbursement?
  6. What records are required where employment status or responsibility between contractors is disputed?

Related Information

WICA duties and claims:

Incident response and renewal:

Published 6 May 2026. Source verified 29 September 2026.