Lee: Crucial for local SMEs to invest in OSH
KUCHING: Awareness of occupational safety and health ( OSH) among local small and medium enterprise (SME) players is far lower than their counterparts in other sectors.
In commenting this, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health ( Niosh) chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said OSH training for SMEs remained crucial and as such, they should see it as an investment – not an expense.
“The OSH awareness in Sarawak is very low – there are SMEs that do not want to invest in it because of the cost factor.
“They do not seem to realise that should accidents or fatalities occur due to their disregard for OSH, the costs they have to bear thereafter would be much heavier (than the investment supposedly for OSH).
“For SMEs in Sarawak, we invite them to contact Niosh in Sarawak; we will because there is a grant allocated for it,” he told reporters at Niosh regional office here yesterday.
The grant referred by Lee is the one from SME Corp, which Niosh is working together with.
In this respect, Lee believed that for large companies – for example, those involved in the oil and gas industry – there should not be much problem as they would be able to cover the costs incurred in implementing OSH training for their employees.
“SMEs should play their role by cooperating with Niosh towards creating a safe and healthy workplace, which is conducive to their workers.”
Lee said in the global economy, OSH issues remained among the key determinants to any company’s competitiveness through productivity enhancement and efficiency.
“Observations and evidence have shown that any increase in productivity and also any improvement in the working environment are the results of good OSH practices,” he said, adding that Niosh was planning to implement several programmes including campaigns and courses aimed at raising awareness and importance of OSH among the target groups.
Lee was here yesterday to lead a Niosh delegation for a courtesy call on State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohamad Morshidi Abdul Ghani.
With Lee were Niosh consultation, research and development department general manager Fadzil Osman, its corporate service and support department senior manager Zahary Sudin and business development division manager Azmi Jamaludin.
Local SMEs can obtain more information by going to Niosh regional office on the ground floor of Bangunan Hamizan at Jalan Astana in Petra Jaya here. It also has an office in Bintulu.