Huge increase in work-related fatalities involving foreign workers - The Star Online
The Star Online, 20 November 2014 - by Norbaiti Phaharoradzi
Gift of appreciation: Omar (right) receiving his souvenir from Foo after launching Occupational Safety And Health In Construction Industry And Shassic 2014 seminar.
JOHOR BARU: An average of five workers are killed each month due to worksite-related deaths state-wide.
Johor Occupational Safety and Health department (DOSH) director Omar Mat Piah said that from January to this month, a total of 56 fatalities were recorded in the state.
“This is a huge increase compared with 24 fatalities last year,” he said, adding that many of the deaths were due to accidental falling from buildings, hit by falling objects and also buried alive by the construction materials at the site.
“A total of 26 of the cases occurred at the construction site, following 15 cases in manufacturing sector and nine cases from the agricultural sector,” he told reporters after launching the Occupational Safety and Health in Construction Industry seminar at a hotel here recently.
Omar added that the latest death occurred on Nov 8 when a worker working inside an elevator shaft was killed due to a falling brick from upper floors.
He added that 80% of the deaths involved foreign workers.
He also added that his department had identified at least 600 active construction sites in the state mainly in Johor Baru alone.
“We checked at least 29 sites recently and found that 62% were rated C grade. This means that their safety procedures were still lax and not up to mark,” he said, adding that none of the sites scored A grade.
He added that the department had taken at least 46 cases to court and issued 107 compounds to main and sub contractors for not adhering to the safety standards.
Omar stressed that many Johor contractors were faced with issues including employing crane operator who were not properly trained, lack of Safety and Health Officers and Site Safety Supervisor (SSS) and no allocation for occupational safety and health.
Omar said that the department would have more safety programmes and campaigns to help minimise the fatal incidents in the state.
Meanwhile, Master Builders Association Malaysia (MBAM) deputy president Foo Chek Lee who was also present at the seminar, said the purpose of the seminar was to enhance the standard of safety and health at construction work sites.
“We will create awareness among the employers and construction personnel on the importance of practicing high standard of occupational safety management and to share best practices with industry practitioners.
