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why must the public suffer from the incompetence and abysmal performance of DOSH? why should taxpayers fund the salaries of DOSH when it has failed its objectives of looking after the public? |
It's not only the construction company which must be investigated BUT also the entire DOSH, especially its inspectors, and the officer in the Ministry of Human Resources who oversights DOSH.
DOSH claims it is responsible for ensuring the safety, health and welfare of people at work as well as protecting other people from the safety and health hazards arising from the activities sectors which include:
- Manufacturing
- Mining and Quarrying
- Construction
- Hotels and Restaurant
- Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
- Transport, Storage and Communication
- Public Services and Statutory Authorities
- Utilities - Gas, Electricity, Water and Sanitary Services
- Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Business Services
- Wholesale and Retail Trades
But when accidents after accidents occurred under DOSH watch, then its inspectors as well as the Director of DOSH and the officer in the Ministry of Human Resources who oversights DOSH must ALL collectively answer for such consistently abysmal performance (or lack of) in the department's responsibilities.
The Malaysian public had and have suffered from such irresponsible oversight. We don't wish to pay the salaries of incompetent public servants.
Now, the most important action by the government must be the immediate sacking of DOSH Director-general Datuk Ir. Mohtar Musri, to show that the government is SERIOUS about performance of its public servants.
Otherwise, posting the Director and possibly promoting him sideways in typical Malaysia-Boleh sickening evasion-from-responsible-stern-action is not unlike the transfer of an abusive teacher from one school to another.
DOSH has been too complacent and too lackadaisical in its attitude to public and people safety.
ReplyDeleteAll the major fatal accidents it is involved in investigating have been hushed up.
In addition to the cases KTEMOC cited, here are a few more
1. The collapse of the Penang Jetty umpteen years ago - not a mention or even the lessons learned.
2. A Mr Chua has been wiped off from existence when the signboard on top of Penang UNMO building fell on top of him, not a trace of his body parts or the car he was in were found.
3. Numerous fatal accidents in the construction of the whatchamacallit 2nd unpronounceable name Penang bridge including the entire scaffolding that drop on top of the car underneath, killing the driver.....etc
Is this not the case of one death is one too many not to mention one accident is one too many? Where are the lessons learned? The accident pyramid that we are used to is not a pyramid anymore, it is an upside down pyramid with the cone resting on the floor.
One cannot expect DOSH to be able to totally ensure the safety, health and welfare of people at work as its staff cannot cover every factory and construction site all the time. What about the company's owners? Do they chase after profits only?
ReplyDeleteDOSH makes periodical inspection on certain prescribed equipment periodically and on general equipment on a random basis, besides their other tasks such as licensing, investigations, etc.
The owners/directors of the companies are principally responsible for ensuring safety in their organisations as they have the power to allocate resources within it, as stated in Section 15, 17 & 18 of the OSH Act 1994.
The fine under this Act is a puny RM50,000 max. However it empowers the court to imprison the guilty party for 2 years, but this have never been carried out, and maybe it is time they start doing so.
It is common in many companies for the top management to relegate HSE to a low priority department. And in practice, many contractors sub-contract the work a few stages down until you find that the people supervising the work are foreigners, and all the safety policies and control are then lost. This is a recipe for disaster.
However, there are also companies where the CEO makes safety a personal commitment and this propagates the safety culture throughout its organisation.
DOSH also like to legislate this or that, legislate the hell out of Health and Safety, nice to read but no enforcement, whereas in Singapore, it is the opposite, one act suffice and enforce the hell out of it.
ReplyDeleteThey also like to say Safety and Health is the responsibility of the people who created the risk, etc etc, in other words it is everybody's business until it becomes nobody's business.
KT - in your host country a couple of weeks back, a group of six went into the theme park for a fun outing, four had to come out in body bags , what is the aftermath, where does the buck stop, what will the authorities do about it?
ReplyDeletestill under police and forensic investigations
Deletethats the problem when one support a murderer, thief n robber to lead the country.
ReplyDeleteThe rot started with Mahathir, and continues to accelerate under Najib.
ReplyDeleteBut Ktemoc can only rant about Mahathir