Site Safety Supervisor Course to reduce construction accidents
In response to the government’s continuous effort to improve the standard of construction quality and efficiency, the Sabah Builders Association (SBA) initiated to jointly organize with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) a Site Safety Supervisor (Treple S) course from April 9 to 19 at its SBA premises here.
In his opening address, SBA President Ir Lou Chi Nam thanked NIOSH Sabah Regional Manager Wan Sarman bin Sakan for arranging two very experienced trainers from Kuala Lumpur for the course.
They are Abdul Razak bin Bachok who has more than 25 years working experience and more than 20 years as occupational, health and safety trainer and Dr Captain Samuri bin Mohd Mussin who has more than 30 years working experience.
Other SBA members present at the course are Deputy President Henry Tsen, Vice President cum organizing chairman Johnny Wong, adviser Datuk Gerald Goh, secretary (Chinese), Kung Pin Kung and committee members Ir. Chaw Zie Der, Chin Liang and Chui Swee Kong.
With the enforcement of the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Act 520, Factories and Machinery Act (FMA) 1967, Building Operations and Works of Engineering Construction (BOWEC Regulations 25 & 26) and Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994 Section 15 (Majikan) & Section 24 (Pekerja), Lou emphasized that the construction players in Sabah have to upgrade themselves to another level.
The construction industry is among one of the 3Ds (Dirty, Dangerous and Difficult) industries where the local workers are not interested. Hence it has to rely heavily on foreign workers and it has one of the fastest turnover rates on the skilled workers.
Many of the accidents at the construction site could have been avoided if the workers had the knowledge to take the appropriate precaution before hand.
The 10-day training course would help to equip the trainees with the appropriate occupational heath and safety knowledge. Upon passing the assessment examination at end of the training course, each participant will be qualified as a site safety supervisor.
Under the Acts and Regulations mentioned above, for projects valued RM20 million and below, there must be a fulltime site safety supervisor at the construction site. Contractors who failed to comply would face a fine by the relevant authorities. Hence the knowledge gained from this training course would enable the participants to help their employers and fellow construction workers to mitigate the fines and construction accidents.
During the discussion between SBA and NIOSH Executive Director Ayop Salleh on April 6, it was recognized that promoting awareness to the construction players is a very important factor to reduce construction accidents. It was mutually agreed to build on the success of this Treple S course for SBA and NIOSH to collaborate on the other forthcoming occupational health and safety seminars and training courses with the ultimate target of enhancing the knowledge of the construction workers.