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IPOH, August 7 (Bernama) — Accident cases at the workplace in this country have been declining for the past few years, thus proving the level of awareness among employers and employees on work safety has improved.
Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) director-general Ir Mohtar Musri said today the decrease reported by the Social Security Organisation (Socso) was a positive sign regarding the safety level in workplaces to avoid untoward incidents.
“For the year 2014, the accident rate was 3.10 per 1,000 employees while in 2013 the rate was 3.28 per 1,000 employees. This shows a decrease of 5.49 per cent, approximately about 2,000 to 3,000 accident cases.
“The decrease in rate was a collaborative effort by employers, employees, government agencies and associations in reducing workplace accidents,” he said.
He said this at a press conference after launching the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Programme with the closing of Perak state level Occupational Safety and Health Week 2015 at the Casuarina Hotel Convention Centre, here.
Also present were Perak DOSH director Ir Mohamad Razak Ismail and Tenaga Nasional Berhad’s (TNB) Jana Manjung Sdn Bhd, managing director Shamsul Ahmad.
Mohtar said for the Southeast Asia level, workplace accident cases recorded by Malaysia ranked among the best and in line with Singapore.
“However, if compared with other developed countries such as Japan, Norway, Sweden, they have lower accident rates whereby in Sweden or Norway most probably about 2.0 to 2.5 cases for every 1,000 employees.
“So, this means there is still room for improvement and a need to work hard to decrease the rate of workplace accident cases to be comparable to other developed countries,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mohtar said DOSH often stressed to employers to avoid accidents especially in the construction sector.
Source: Bernama
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