DOSH: Fewer work related accidents this year

SIBU: The Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) recorded 388 workplace accidents across the state from January till Nov 1, 2016.

Its state director Mohd Hatta Zakaria, who disclosed this yesterday, however, observed that compared to the same period last year, work related accidents decrease from 414 cases to 388 cases.

“From January till November 1, this year, the total number of work related permanent injuries stood at 13 cases, while there were 327 cases for non-permanent injuries.

“Manufacturing, agriculture and forestry and construction sectors contribute to the highest number of work related accidents,” Mohd Hatta told The Borneo Post when asked on the number of workplace accidents in Sarawak for this year. He further revealed there were 30 work-related fatalities this year.

Askedonthecauseoffatalitiesat workplaces, he said they included struck by object, road accident during work, electrocution and falling from height. To further reduce workplace accidents, he said DOSH Sarawak had taken various pro- active actions in 2016.

According to Mohd Hatta, a total of 1,306 promotional programmes were conducted which included seminars for various industrial sectors, namely Systematic Occupational Health Enhancement Level Programme ( SOHELP) and Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Compliance Support Workshop. These were part of the continuous awareness programme for employers and employees.

Meanwhile, the Occupational Safety and Health Master Plan 2016 – 2020 or better known as OSHMP 2020 was launched by the Prime Minister during the National Labour Day celebration this year. This master plan is a continuation from the previous two five-year OSH strategic plans which started in 2006 with the aim of establishing a Safe and Healthy Work Culture among employers and employees.

“The main strategy of OSHMP 2020 is to instill prevention culture at the workplace. This master plan will further strengthen the implementation and inculcation of ownership principle and self-regulation which have been implemented under two previous strategic plans,” Mohd Hatta said.

He pointed out that OSHMP 2020 contains five main strategies based on the effort to increase awareness, responsibility and commitment of all stakeholders towards occupational safety and health.

The five strategies are government leadership, strengthening OSH management in the workplace, OSH sharing and networking, mainstreaming industrial hygiene and OSH strategic alliance at international level.