In welcoming the move by Malaysia to ratify the convention, Balasubramaniam said DOSH should not hesitate to prosecute employers who did not comply with the safety procedures and existing Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 to promote a safe and healthy working environment.
"With this move, I hope the government enforces the requirement of law upon employers and in ensuring workplaces are safe, harmless and accident-free at all times.
"It has been a worrying trend now whereby there is an increasing number of cases on occupational diseases and permanent disabilities from workplace injuries," he told Bernama here during an exclusive interview.
Malaysia had on June 8, ratified the ILO Convention on Occupational Safety and Health, joining the ranks of developed nations to place importance on occupational safety and health measures at work place.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam was reported to have said that with the ratification, Malaysia also agreed to be under ILO's scrutiny on matters related to safety and health measures at work places and adhere to its high standards.
Subramaniam said Malaysia already had a well-established safety policy to ensure safety measures were implemented and adhere to it at all work places and it was only consistent that it ratified the convention.
Commenting further, Balasubramaniam said the construction sector must take the lead in ensuring a safe workplace as it was categorised as a high-risk area for workplace accidents.
"Malaysia's work-related accidents are considered high, taking into account the number of workers we have," he added.
Balasubramaniam had said that workplace-related accidents in Malaysia have continued to rise, with 57,639 cases reported in 2010 compared with 55,186 in 2009.
He said the figure was derived from statistics compiled by the Social Security Organisation (Socso). -- BERNAMA
Source : New Straits Times
0 Safety Practitioner:
Post a Comment