No Induction Course Attendance, No Construction Workers Developers, Contractors Have Until July 1 To Comply
By Brenda Lim
09 April 2001
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Construction workers without passes indicating attendance at a one-day induction course on work safety will not be allowed at sites from July 1.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr Fong Chan Onn said they would not be allowed to work unless they produced the pass.
July 1 is the deadline for developers and contractors to comply with the ministry's directive on increasing awareness of risks at the workplace and safety measures for workers, he said.
He said only 15,000 of the 90,000 construction workers nationwide have undergone the courses till the end of last month.
"Developers, contractors and sub-contractors will be penalised in that their workers will not be able to go in to sites or work as construction workers," he told reporters after the launch of a nationwide operation to inspect construction sites.
The ninth operation by the Ministry's Department of Occupational Safety and Health Malaysia since 1997, the four-day surprise check will be conducted at 372 construction sites nationwide.
DOSH director-general Abu Bakar Che Man said of that number, 135 sites were in the Klang Valley where most construction works were concentrated.
This is slightly more than half of the 200-odd construction projects in progress in the city.
Operations conducted since 1997 have found that low-rise construction sites (15m and below in height) to build, among others, terrace houses and shoplots, made up 62 per cent of construction sites found to be "unsatisfactory" in safety matters, Abu Bakar said.
From the eight operations, the DOSH had issued 829 stop work orders and 950 notice of improvement, besides sealing 153 machinery, including passenger cranes, tower cranes , mobile cranes and skip hoists.
He said three common safety problems at construction sites were the lack of railings at the edges of buildings, failure to use safety harness when working at heights and failure to cover holes in the building.
Besides ensuring compliance to safety laws, the operation is to evaluate the level of safety at construction sites and the risks of danger to the public near the site, he added.
Fong, in his speech, said the construction sector had the highest rate of fatalities, from 116 deaths in 1996 to 155 deaths in 1999.
In that period, deaths caused by accidents in the construction sector ranged from 2.1 per cent to 8.4 per cent, in comparison with manufacturing sectors (0.6 per cent) and agriculture, forestry and fishery (1.3 per cent).
He said the DOSH was preparing guidelines which may be incorporated into the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 to ensure that resources are allocated towards meeting safety requirements in projects.
Source: The New Straitstimes, Malaysia. 
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