KUCHING: Occupational Safety and Healthy (OSH) is essential and warrants serious attention by the government, employers and employees.
Occupational accidents and disasters particularly those that caused fatality pose adverse impacts to the affected parties. For employers, fatal accidents result in loss of talents and skills which affect productivity and tarnish reputation. For employees, fatal accidents cause loss of loved ones and sources of income.
Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) revealed that last year, there were 129 OSH cases in the wood-based sector in Sarawak with nine fatalities, nine permanent disabilities and 111 non-permanent disabilities.
This year, there have been 13 OSH cases with one fatality, one permanent disability and 11 non-permanent disabilities.
Recognising the importance of OSH, STIDC in collaboration with DOSH and Sarawak Timber Association (STA) is organising the second phase of OSH Campaign on 19 and 20 April 2017 to cater for wood-based companies in Kapit Division.
This is a continuation of last year’s campaigns which were carried out across the state. It aims to implement OSH at workplaces with emphasis on ground inspection to assess safety practices in the forestry sector, including risks associated with driving along logging roads and engineering activities as well as biological and psychological hazards.
The campaign will also discuss topics on Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (OSHA); Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control (HIRARC); Occupational Safety and Health Committee at Workplaces; Notification of Accident, Dangerous Occurrence, Occupational Poisoning and Occupational Disease Regulation 2004 (NADOPOD) and Use and Standard of Exposure of Chemicals Hazardous to Health (USECHH Regulation).
Through this initiative, it is hoped that there will be local wood-based companies nominated in the future and won the OSH Excellence Awards for greater customers’ confidence and acceptance as well as to create benchmark for wood-based sector in Sarawak.
“Forest certification is crucial in the forestry sector. Under this initiative, safety and health of employees is a prerequisite to get forest concessions certified. It is therefore, vital to view certification and OSH seriously in order to comply with the global market requirements,” said STIDC General Manager Datu Sarudu Haji Hoklai.
To prevent occupational accidents, he emphasised that organisations must be aware of the hazards at workplaces and manage employees’ safety and health effectively.
Apart from employers, employees are equally responsible for OSH by making it a culture.
“Tripartite cooperation among the government, employers and employees on OSH should be intensified. All policies, strategies and programmes related to OSH warrant undivided support from the three parties in order to achieve the desired results,” he added.
