KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 — The use of the Industrialised Building System (IBS) technology is seen as the best way to reduce the risk of Covid-19 outbreak in the construction sector, said Senior Minister (Infrastructure Cluster) Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.

He said the use of the IBS technology could also reduce manpower, especially that of less-skilled labour, as construction components were manufactured directly in factories.

“Now, we already have apps like MySejahtera and MyTrace, which were developed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) as well as the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry, and we encourage construction industry players, including the workers, to use these apps.

“So, for the duration of the MCO (movement control order), we encouraged the use of IBS to control the labour force at construction sites. Apart from that, it also increases the safety and health levels of the workers,” he said as a guest on the Ruang Bicara television programme produced by Bernama TV today.

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Fadillah, who is also the Works Minister, said the Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) had also expanded its training, evaluation and accreditation in resource countries like Indonesia and Bangladesh to ensure only skilled workers were employed in the country.

“That’s why I urge contractors and developers, if you want to take foreign workers, make sure they have sufficient training from CIDB-accredited centres so that they are actually skilled.

“This is because some hire illegal immigrants, who lack training and skills. This eventually increases the risk not only for the workers but the projects as well,” he said. 

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He also said that they would continue to ensure that all workers and employers complied with the standard operating procedure (SOP) set by the government, especially on conducting health screening tests, following the spread of Covid-19.

“Through CIDB, authorised by the MOH in the construction sector, we will monitor, especially after we received information that a Bangladeshi workers had tested positive.

“The area was closed and monitoring was tightened so that no entered or left the place. Even those who were close contacts were quarantined,” he explained. — Bernama