KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 2 — The contractors’ lackadaisical attitude towards the safety measures on construction sites is the main cause of the frequent accidents in the area.
Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) director-general Datuk Mohtar Musri said despite the inspections conducted, contractors failed to comply with prescribed safety procedures.
“The enforcement is already there, but employers’ implementation is not effective. For example, during inspections we found that construction safety helmets weren’t used and torn safety net was not replaced.
“It also involved the design issue, material does not meet specifications and installation that does not fit,” he said when contacted by Bernama here, today.
On Aug 25, a woman was killed when the car she was driving in was crushed by a falling crane hanger at Jalan Raya Chulan, Bukit Bintang here.
Then on Oct 17, a National News Agency Malaysia (Bernama) official narrowly escaped death when a steel rod from the construction of an adjacent condominium building crashed on his car while he was leaving Wisma Bernama, off Jalan Tun Razak here.
On Nov 5, a couple were killed when the car they were traveling in was crushed by a fallen piling rig near the construction site in Bandar Baru Bukit Raja, Klang, Selangor.
As recent as Wednesday, an under construction pedestrian overpass near Abdullah Hukum apartment in Jalan Bangsar collapsed, killing one and injuring five others.
Mohtar said the contractors should take more stringent and decisive steps because they have employed safety supervisors and engineers to perform safety supervision and promote the safety conduct at construction sites.
“In the country there are 16,800 construction sites and that number is high compared with the number of DOSH enforcement officers. However, inspections would be carried out from time to time.
“Thus, any contractor who employed security supervisor should conduct safety inspection work regularly to check whether security measures are sufficient or vice versa,” he said.
Mohtar said in terms of enforcement, apart from DOSH, there were other agencies involved, namely Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and local authority.
The role of DOSH was to monitor the safety aspects of those working on construction sites while the design and the materials aspects would be checked by CIDB and the local authority involved in projects’ approval, he said.
Mohtar said compounds totalling RM600,000 were issued last year involving more than 20 various offences, including workers placed on high and open platform with no guard rails, heavy machinery that were not maintained and workers not provided with adequate safety equipment. — Bernama
