The ongoing issue of safety

In time, we expect most things in our lives to get better.

For example, over the years, our food and nutrition quality has increased with better farming practices, our healthcare quality has increased with new discoveries and advances in medicine, our educational quality has increased with better materials and resources and our quality of living has increased as technology continues to make our lives more convenient.

Unfortunately, this trend isn’t seen in the safety in our construction industry as the fatality rate has seen a rather steep increase over the years.

According to the Construction Industry Development Board ( CIDB), the fatality rate in our construction industry has risen to 12.9 persons per 100,000 workers in 2017 from 6.9 per 100,000 workers five years ago in 2013.

CIDB’s recent commissioned study on ‘Securing Improvement intheHealth& SafetyPerformance of Malaysia’s Construction Industry’, identified that this alarming increase in fatality rates were caused by a lack of focus in safety procedures, unskilled workers, and a lack of accountability for all parties involved in a project.

Master Builders Association Malaysia ( MBAM) president Foo Chek Lee recently provided similar figures and opinions that conferred with the rising trend of construction related fatalities in the country.

“In 2014, the fatality rate was 7.26 per 100,000 workers. In 2015, it went up 10.74, in 2016 it went further up to 12.78 and in 2017 it shot up to 14.94 per 100,000 workers,” he said to members of the press during a press conference promoting the upcoming 44th IFAWPCA convention in Kuala Lumpur.

Foo highlighted that these figures indicated that the construction industry had the highest fatality rate compared to all other local industries and were mostly improper safety procedures for workers while they are working at height.

He advocated for industry players to buck up and take safety and health seriously during project implementation and stated that MBAM would be working alongside government agencies to implement stricter rules and guidelines for safety and quality of ongoing construction projects. Occupational Safety and Health Construction Industry Management (OSCHIM)

Following that train of thought, Datuk IR Ahmad ‘ Asri Abdul Hamid, chief executive officer (CEO) of CIDB shared that the most recent efforts in increasing our safety guidelines have been from the Department of Safety and Health (DOSH) who introduced the OSCHIM in 2017 which is based on the principle of ‘prevention through design’.

“This concept, also known as Construction Design Management ( CDM) makes all parties responsible in ensuring safety at construction site, from clients, consultants to contractors.

The idea behind OSCHIM and CDM is that managing occupational safety and health risks at the planning and design stage is often more effective, easier to sustain and cheaper to achieve, as compared to making changes later when the hazards become real risks in the site.”

“These guidelines provide practical guidance to the client, designer and contractor on the management of safety, health and welfare when carrying out construction projects,” detailed Dato’ IR Ahmad.

He emphasised that this was a particularly strong point to focus on as CIDB’s commissioned study had indicated that the discrepancy of responsibility and accountability of adhering to safety guidelines between, contractors, developers and other parties was extremely high.

“In current situation, only contractors are held liable for any untoward incidents on-site and consultants who are involved in structural design do not consider the risk that has to be manged by the contractor, when undertaking the construction work.

“But with CDM, all stakeholders in a project – from conception to completion – share the responsibility for ensuring the health and safety of the entire project life cycle.

“In fact, under CDM, the top entities in the value chain such as the client or project owner, are held ultimately responsible as the project originators,” Dato’ IR Ahmad shared.

Showcasing the effectiveness of CDM implementation, Dato’ IR Ahmad highlighted that the UK where the method originated from and Singapore where it was adopted in the late 90’s have seen tremendous improvements in their safety records and overall cost efficiencies in time.

“Both countries show decreasing rate of construction site accidents since mandating CDM,” he said.

DOSH is in the midst of making OSCHIM mandatory by amending the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994 to include it. This motion is expected to be tabled in parliament on October 2018.

In preparation for this, CIDB is currently carrying out nationwide road shows to educated and engage with the industry about OSHCIM before its actual introduction. Harsher punishments or better prevention?

While having better safety regulations and mandated better operation practices will definitely help make our construction zones a safer place, it will not necessarily mean that players will end up adhering to the new procedures and regulations as often times it is more cost and time effective not to.

And the incentives to follow rules seem to be low as CIDB’s commissioned study cited that many players do not see the severity of fatal accidents as the level of penalty upon conviction is low.

When asked if the industry might see harsher punishments to deter this, Baru said, “Harsher punishment is one of the mechanisms of enforcement. However, as the saying goes, prevention is better than cure, and CIDB is actively investing in awareness and educating construction players to adopt its safety and quality assessments.

“These are the Safety and Health Assessment System in Construction, and ( SHASSIC) Quality Assessment System in Construction (QLASSIC).”

According to Baru, the SHASSIC system will assess and evaluate the safety and health performance of a contractor in construction projects while the QLASSIC will measure and evaluate the quality of workmanship of a worker based on the relevant approved standard – Construction Industry Standard – CIS 7:2006.

Rather than punishing players for not adhering to rules, Baru explains that the two systems would work better in ensuring rules are met as they would become a quality rating which will be a prerequisite for permit issuance to stimulate demand for quality rated buildings.

“Hence, QLASSIC will improve the quality standards in the construction industry as this system assesses contractor workmanship and broader quality assurance for construction of buildings.

“Also, we reckon that QLASSIC assessments also should be expanded to cover Structural and Mechanical & Electrical (M&E) works as this will lead to improvements in the quality of contractors and the overall construction work,” he said.

Although it is a monumental task to address every single challenge, Baru Bian said the ministry has put in place a solid work plan to ensure our home ground construction industry is developed and sustainable.

The ministry through its three agencies -- namely Public Works Departments (PWD), Construction Industry Development Board ( CIDB), Malaysia Highway Authority ( MHA) and 3 Professional Boards ( Board of Architects, Board of Engineers, Board of Quantity Surveying) -- are commited in propelling the initiatives and mechanisms under the Construction Industry Transformation Programmes.