Commuting mishaps worrying
The Borneo Post Online, 8 July 2013
SAFETY CREDENTIAL: Riot (second left) with the Safety Credential 2013 panel. Also seen are Selvarajah (left) and Johari. — Bernama photo
KUCHING: More than 40 per cent of work-related accidents in the country are due to commuting accidents.
Social Security Organisation (Socso) chief executive Datuk K Selvarajah said the worrying part was that work-related accidents, including commuting ones, had been on the increase annually.
In the first five months of this year, there were 26,238 work-related accidents, and out of this 11,415 were commuting accidents.
For the whole of last year, the figure was 61,552 and 26,256 respectively. In 2011, it was 58,897 and 24,809 respectively.
In Sarawak, Selvarajah said from January to May this year there were 333 commuting accidents out of 1,703 work-related accidents.
“Last year, 937 cases out of 4,487 cases of work-related accidents involved commuting accidents.
“In 2011, there were 853 cases of commuting accidents out of a total of 4,231 cases of accidents at work,” he said at the launching of the national-level Occupational Safety Week 2013 and National Safe Journey to the Workplace Campaign at Kuching Waterfront here yesterday.
The event was officiated at by Human Resources Minister Datuk Richard Riot Jaem.
However, Selvarajah said if the work-related accidents statistics were viewed in terms of number of accidents per 1,000 active employees, it yielded a different picture.
For instance, there were four cases for every 1000 active employees in 2011. It dropped to 3.9:1000 last year.
In view of these statistics, Selvarajah said Socso had allocated RM5.8 million this year to hold occupational safety activities.
Citing the National Safe Journey to the Workplace Campaign as an example, he said the 30-day campaign would be implemented nationwide, with special emphasis on areas prone to commuting accidents.
“The focus of this campaign will be on Socso contributors using motorcycles to their workplace, considering that this group of people is always exposed to danger as well as risk of accident while on their way to work.”
Selvarajah said due attention would also be given to employers with a highest number of commuting accidents
He added Socso would continue to work with the Road Safety Department, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and Department of Occupational safety and Health (DOSH).
“It is in line with the requirement of Section 40 of the Social Security Act 1969 to protect the interests and welfare of the employees.”
