Year to commit to occupational safety

AT the start of a new year, NIOSH wishes to reiterate its commitment to contribute towards the achievement of an occupational safety and health (OSH) culture at all workplaces in both the public and private sector.

This will be done through discharging its responsibilities as an institute to provide training, consultancy services, research and development as well as information dissemination.

Through its advocacy of “Bridging the OSH Gap through a Prevention Culture”, NIOSH calls on managements responsible for the safety and health at the workplace to change the attitude and perception of their employees on safety and health through OSH awareness programmes, effective OSH management, OSH competency and, most important, accident prevention culture.

It is no longer adequate to merely provide job instructions to workers without supplementing them with the appropriate skills and competency needed through education and training. They must understand the rationale of minimising risks to their safety and health as well as meeting the industrial and OSHMS requirements.

Increasingly, the promotion of safer conditions in the workplace is based on promoting a culture of risk and accident prevention that can improve the health of workers and the productivity of the enterprise.

The overall responsibility for providing a safe and healthy working environment rests with the employers who should demonstrate their commitment to OSH. This can be done by building and maintaining a preventive safety and health culture that addresses the principles of prevention, hazard identification, risk assessment and control, information and training.

Workers, on the other hand, have a duty to cooperate with their employers in implementing OSH programmes. They should observe and adhere to the procedures and other instructions designed to protect them and others present at the workplace from exposure to occupational hazards.

All work-related accidents and ill health can be prevented if there is adequate foresight, planning, organisation and commitment to identify where the hazards are, assess the risks and take action before an accident happens or an illness is contracted.

Preserving human health is the key objective of social security. Promoting and creating a safety and health culture can save lives and reduce costs to society.

It is high time for employers and employees to be fully committed to workplace safety. The Government, employers and employees must be committed to achieving a work culture that ensures safety and health. It must be emphasised that there should be no compromise on safety and health at the workplace.

The culture of an organisation dictates employee behaviour. Thus, the culture determines whether or not any safety programme will be effective.

However, culture is not established by written policies but through effective leadership, dayto-day actions and decisions as well as the system in place that will ensure OSH is practised by managers, supervisors and work teams.

Leading effectively means knowing how to inspire people to channel their energies towards adopting OSH best practices. The quality of leadership shown by the management is vital in developing high standards of health and safety practices. Ultimately, when OSH is integrated into the organisational culture and becomes a core value, involvement and commitment from top management down to the rank-and-file employees can be further reinforced. TAN SRI LEE LAM THYE Chairman NIOSH Malaysia