Manyin (fifth left) declares open the forum while state JKR director Zuraimi Sabki (fourth left), Junaidi (right) and others look on. — Photo by Jeffrey Mostapa
KUCHING: All worksite accidents should be reported and lessons learned to avoid reoccurrence
Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communications Dato Sri Michael Manyin said this at the Public Works Department’s (JKR) dinner held in conjunction with its Safety Forum and the launch of the Sarawak Public Works Director Award 2016 (Anugerah Pengarah Kerja Raya Sarawak 2016) on Wednesday.
“All legislative requirements as stipulated in the Act should be implemented. All accidents should be reported, investigated and analysed, not merely for penalty to those accountable but with detailed root-cause-analysis (RCA) of the accidents and lessons learned to avoid reoccurrence.
“All documentations and records should be maintained as evidence of compliance. Many organisations did not report the cases to avoid criticisms and penalty. But, they should look at their weaknesses and overcome them. They should not take site safety lightly,” said Manyin.
He said the Department of Occupational Safety and Healthy (DOSH) Sarawak and Construction Industry Board Development (CIDB) Sarawak should work diligently close with other sectors, public or private,
to ensure that good Health Safety and Environment (HSE) initiatives were promoted and that people were more aware of worksite safety.
“Being an HSE enforcement agency, DOSH Sarawak should see that worksites are inspected more frequently and interactions built up with other agencies to handle HSE early, with effective preventive measures to avoid accidents,” he said.
He added that to all other agencies, public and private, HSE should not be taken lightly. Regular worksite audits and inspections should be conducted to overturn as much potential safety hazards as possible, if not total elimination.
According to him, HSE was of utmost importance as it was of concern to daily safety, health and pledge to leave a greener earth for future generations.
He also said the forum themed ‘Safety in Construction Industry, Where Are We?’ humbly hinted good self-examining approach in hoping to see what were lacking in the current doings and what needed to be implemented for a safer workplace.
“Under any circumstances, safety should always be the top priority and shall not be compromised. Safety at all workplaces has always been stressed for the need of strict compliances on all applicable regulatory requirements or any special safety guidelines or procedures,” Manyin said.
He added that accidents of all types, either minor cases or major fatalities had all happened with causes and reasons. Some were due to human errors while others might be due to machinery fault.
“Unsafe act from workers creating unsafe environments is vital contributor to most of the reported worksite accident cases. Under the Occupational Safety And Health Act (OSHA 1994), these people are deemed accountable and responsible for the hassles they have created, causing safety hazards to others working at the same site or people nearby the worksite,” he said.
He said it was reported nationwide from Jan to July 2015, there had been 116 reported workers deaths at workplaces and 2.41 fatalities for every 100,000 workers in 2014.
“This fatality rate is higher than the Frank E Bird’s Triangle where it is stated that there is one fatality for every 30,000 Unsafe Acts and Unsafe Condition.”
Meanwhile, the ministere said with the vision to be a developed nation by 2020, workplace accidents of all categories should be minimised and prevented at all costs, not only to save lives and costs but were also good reflections of the attitude and mindset of the workforce in the country.
“Development projects are evolving to meet the rapid development of our nation. Being a premier project implementing agency for the state, JKR Sarawak should lead by spearheading stringent project management control with particular regards to project quality and safety,” he said.
The dinner rganising chairman Junaidi Sahadan said: “While enthusiastically pushing for the timely implementation and quality delivery of infrastructures, we should also be wary of the growing human needs also known as quality of life in the industry.
“Therefore, in order to alleviate escalation of cost, timely and quality products and above all safety aspects in construction, hence we who believe in ‘Safety by Choice, Not by Chance’ and ‘Safety is a mission not an intermission’ come together in this forum to look at ‘Safety in Construction, Where Are We?”