New guideline on safety in construction sector
Published on: Friday, July 13, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: The fatality rate in the construction industry has been increasing despite the efforts and initiative by relevant departments and authorities to reduce it by as much as 50 per cent by 2020.It was reported that in 2014, it was 7.26 per 100,000 workers, but went up to 10.94 in 2015, 12.78 in 2016 and 14.95 per 100,000 workers in 2017.To reduce and overcome this growing problem, the Master Builders Association Malaysia (MBAM) will collaborate with the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Dosh) and other related agencies by implementing a new guideline.
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MBAM President Foo Chek Lee said the association is committed to reduce fatal accidents in the construction industry and plans to implement the Construction Design Management (CDM) or Occupational Safety and Health in Construction (Management) or OSHIM which involves all parties."OSHIM ensures safety and health risks are anticipated and managed at every stage of the construction process."Previously, in the event of an accident, the contractors would always be blamed. So, with this new guideline, the safety issues will be tackled at the conceptual stage where everyone is responsible," he said at the MBAM's two-day seminar on Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Workshop on Heavy Lifting Plan, here, Thursday.Also present were Dosh Malaysia Deputy Director Nor Zamzuri Md Nor, Sabah Dosh Director Zulkifli Yahya, CIDB Malaysia General Manager Ir M Ramuresen and Sabah Socso Deputy Director Salwati Abdul Karim.
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In 2017, a total of 711 fatalities were reported in all industries in the country, with 187 of the total coming from the construction sector, making it having the highest rate compared to other sectors, said Foo.He said several factors contributed to the deaths at work for the sector, with working at a height labelled as the "main culprit".
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"Accidents involving working at a height could have resulted from workers working without proper safety protection equipment, hit by falling objects, using mobile phones or tower cranes."There are cases as well that involve scaffolding failures and other elevated working platform failures," he added.For the construction sites, Foo said every contractor or construction management will usually conduct a daily safety briefing known as toolbox briefing, but this will not be efficient if the manpower at the site are constantly changing and supervisors or higher levels are not well versed with the safety and health precautions in the related field."Other factors that contribute to the death rate increase in the industry are the work scope that has become more complex and shorter project completion period," he added.In order to tackle this by phases, he said the introduction of the guideline by the association involving the management will also include methods to be implemented comprising design as well as proper procedures of operating an equipment."MBAM has produced a lot of guidelines relating to scaffolding and how it is used in the proper and safe way. We have also produced a video on this."We have also produced guidebooks on hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control (HIRARC) where the workers will learn and take steps accordingly at a construction site."We have also produced a book on the proper method to operate cranes and crane safety inspection. This year we have also launched a guidebook on the mobile elevated working platform that includes boom lifts, sky lifts, scissor lifts and other related platforms," he added.Foo said the association will continue to work closely with Dosh, CIDB, National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) and Social Security Organisation (Socso) in the efforts to reduce accidents in the construction sector as well as fatalities.Meanwhile, Zulkifli said in 2017, Dosh issued compounds worth RM991,500 in the construction sector and recorded court fines totalling RM1,900,300.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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