Sabah ranks low in work place mishaps
Published on: Friday, August 21, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah is ranked among states with the lowest accident rate in the work place, said Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Dosh) Johor Director Kormain Mohd Noor. "For Sabah, most accidents usually occur at construction, manufacturing and plantation sites at the rate of four per 1, 000 workers and our aim is to reduce the number," he said during a press conference after the launching of the State-level Occupational Safety and Health Week at Polytechnic Kota Kinabalu here, Thursday. In Malaysia, he said the number had shown a downward trend from 2013 to 2014 with a decrease of 5.5 per cent."However, we are still not satisfied with the number. We want to be at par with other well-developed countries, for example, Scandinavia only stated an accident rate of two per 1, 000. We are still at 3.1 per 1, 000 and it is considered quite high," he said, adding that Johor Baru accounted for the highest accident rate, especially in the construction sector.
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"Accident rates in Selangor and Johor are almost the same and the number is high due to the high number of employees and industries," he added. The sector which recorded the highest accident rate is the manufacturing sector with most death cases reported to have occurred at construction and industrial sites, he said.Therefore, he said they have decided to formulate a five-year action plan (2016-2020) and hopefully the number will reduce to 1.68 per 1, 000. "We have achieved a lot through the action plan from 2010 to 2015 with a total drop of 20 per cent. We hope to reduce another 20 per cent in our upcoming plan," he added.
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Meanwhile, DOSH Director-General Mohtar Musri in his speech delivered by Kormain said the department throughout Malaysia has taken punitive action to Small and Medium Industries with 2, 168 order letters, 229 notices under the Factories and Machinery Act 1967, 279 notices under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994, six compounds worth RM12, 500 as well as seven investigation papers. "I hope that the accident rate in Malaysia will continue to decrease in the future giving positive impact to others that working in Malaysia is safe and healthy," he said, adding that this would definitely attract foreign investors to Malaysia.
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According to Dosh Sabah Director Mohd Zahari Hitam, the accidents usually ranged from light injuries to permanent disabilities and deaths. "There are about 40 cases reported from January to July this year with 11 death cases and most of the death cases are reported to have occurred at the plantation sites. Often, the cases are related to workers who are involved in tractor accidents," he said.The department would proceed with investigations whenever accidents at workplace were reported and found most of them were due to improper work procedures as well as poorly maintained machineries."We will bring up cases like this in court and employers can be charged with negligence under Section 15 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act," he said, adding that most employers are aware and abide by the legislation.Kormain went on explaining the importance of cooperation by employers and employees."Our current approach is to do continuous inspections in stages. We will visit accident prone sites every three months," he said. The programme which was attended by a total of 700 people was aimed to promote occupational safety and health awareness among the students and staff.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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