‘Rise in worker accidents highlights importance of OSH’

SIBU: The Social Security Organisation’s ( Socso) interim report showed a six per cent increase in the number of accidents involving workers last year, with 66,618 cases reported compared to 62,837 cases in 2015.

National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health ( Niosh) chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said the report shows that employers must recognise Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Management as an integral part of business management and regard workers as the most important asset in their organisations.

“This is important since Socso’s interim report showed a six per cent increase in the number of accidents involving workers in 2016. The number of accidents reported to Socso was 59,897 cases in 2011; 61,552 cases in 2012; 63,557 cases in 2013 and 63,331 cases in 2014,” he said in a statement on Sunday.

Based on Socso’s statistics, Lee said 35,304 of the total cases reported last year were industrial accidents, while the remaining 31,314 cases were commuting accidents.

Compared with 2015, he observed the number of industrial accidents and commuting accidents last year had also increased three per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

Adding on, Lee said the industrial accident rate per 1,000 workers had slightly increased to 2.88 last year compared with 2.81 in 2015. In 2006, the rate was 4.77 accidents per 1,000 workers.

He said as the most important asset, employees should be protected in terms of health and safety, and nurtured to ensure that they continue to be productive.

“Management must now step back and take a hard look at their asset and actively show how much they value their employees with a responsible OSH policy to help prevent accidents,” he stressed.

Lee further pointed out that many people were not aware of the importance of OSH until an accident, injury or fatality occurred.

“There are industries which do not want to invest in safety and health at the workplace because of the cost factor. They do not seem to realise that if accidents or fatalities occur, the costs they have to bear will be higher,” he said.

Hence, he said industries, particularly small and medium industries, must adopt a worksafety culture and do more to prevent or minimise industrial accidents through good OSH practices.

“OSH training for employees must be seen as an investment and not an expense. In the global economy, OSH issues are among the key determinants to a company’s competitiveness through productivity enhancement and efficiency,” he added.

Touching on the Borneo Occupational Safety Health (BOSH) 2017 Conference, he said it would be held at Hilton Hotel Kota Kinabalu on Nov 13 and 14 this year with the theme ‘Enhancing OSH for Business Competitiveness’.

He said theme is in line with the nation’s aspiration to nurture a preventive OSH culture through changes in both behaviour and attitude of all parties, especially employers and workers.

First organised in Kota Kinabalu in 2009, BOSH had fast become a household name within the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines East Asean Growth Area, or BIMP-EAGA.