Arson suspect went back to scene and asked one of the tahfiz students, “What happened?”
Safety in schools just as important as in workplaces, says Zahid
THE National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has been tasked to check safety standards at all schools, including tahfiz and state-run religious schools.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who issued the directive yesterday, said NIOSH would also sit in a special taskforce, which would look into school safety standards.
“The Education Ministry needs all the support it can get.
“It should not be shouldering the responsibility alone in ensuring high safety standards in schools,” he said at the launch of 2017 Conference on Occupational Safety and Health (COSH).
Present were Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr Richard Riot Jaem and NIOSH chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye.
Zahid said similar to workplaces, schools, too, needed to acquire world standard safety and health aspects.
“COSH 2017 is very timely.
“We want prevention... because prevention is better than cure.”
Zahid said he had been empowered to look into the safety aspects in schools. The government, he said, wanted safety standards to be fully adopted in schools.
Safety issues in schools took centre stage following a fire that killed 23 people at the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah religious school in Kampung Datuk Keramat, Kuala Lumpur, last week.
Zahid urged workplaces to uphold safety standards based on the Occupational Safety and Health Master Plan 2020.
“It has identified goals to be met, including reducing fatality to 4.36 for every 100,000 workers and cutting down the accidents rate to 2.53 for every 1,000 workers.
“This can be done with the cooperation, commitment and dedication of all quarters.”