Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye
BINTULU: The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) has urged the federal government to reduce or abolish the import duty on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Its chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said the government should look at it positively to encourage employers to invest in PPE, thus improving the occupational safety and health (OSH) practices at their workplaces.
“This is one of the reasons employers tend to use low quality PPE for their workers and I hope the government will consider our request,” he told reporters after officiating at a two-day seminar on Managing OSH Challenge in Malaysia at Adtec Bintulu yesterday.
PPE is a very important investment that should not be taken for granted by employers as it could protect their workers against health or safety risk at the workplace.
“I urge employers to equip their workers with quality PPE as it is good for their business and far too important to be compromised or be ignored,” said Lee.
From his observations especially at construction sites throughout the country, the level of self-compliance on the use of PPE was very low among the workers.
“Unlike in Western countries like Australia, their workers refuse to work unless they are provided with sufficient PPE by their employers.
“This is the level of awareness of safety and health Niosh is trying to promote in our industries which require high commitment and constructive changes in attitude,” he added.
PPE, he said, should be used not because of the law but most importantly for the safety and health of workers.
Niosh acts as a consultative body for the industries in the aspect of OSH and not in enforcement, thus various seminars and courses held were for industry players.
According to Social Security Organisation (Socso), the number of accidents at the workplace in Sarawak was 1,811 as of January to September this year while 650 commuting accidents were recorded during the same period.
Niosh was looking into setting an office in Serian by next year to bring their services closer to the people.
“In the last two years, more than 1,000 site safety supervisors had been trained under Niosh Sarawak to work at construction sites of Pan Borneo Highway and another 2,000 workers for other relevant training,” said Lee.