The objective of this research is to analyze and evaluate the hand arm vibration exposure of hand held grass
cutter machines during their normal operation time. On-site field measurement for five different types of hand held
grass cutter machines. In this research, the hand arm vibration exposure levels of different machines were measured
at practical cutting condition in accordance to guidelines on occupational vibration which are presented in the
occupational safety and health standard manual. The hand arm vibration level on the worker’s both right and left
handles of the grass cutter machine were measured and analyzed, respectively. The vibration frequency weighting
acceleration was calculated by using h-weighting. The hand arm vibration acceleration value was expressed in the
root-mean-square (rms) combination of all three major axis (ahwx, ahwy & ahwz). The estimated daily vibration exposure,
A(8) were differ between 2.1 to 20.7 ms-2 for right hand while 2.7 to 29.1 ms -2 for left hand. In short, worker will
induce fingers blanching in 10% of the exposed person after less than 3.7 years exposed to hand arm vibration.
Peningkatan masalah muskulosketal di kalangan pemandu bas henti-henti akibat beban kerja fizikal semakin
menjadi perhatian. Oleh itu, tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk mengenalpasti jenis beban kerja fizikal yang dihadapi oleh
pemandu bas henti-henti di Kuala Lumpur dan kesannya terhadap prestasi fizikal mereka. Dalam kajian ini, kaedah
rakaman video digunakan untuk melihat dan merakamkan setiap beban kerja fizikal yang dihadapi oleh mereka
semasa memandu dan satu simulasi dibuat untuk melihat kesan beban kerja tersebut terhadap prestasi kerja mereka.
Keseluruhan hasil kajian menunjukkan beberapa jenis beban kerja fizikal yang telah dikenalpasti iaitu seperti menekan
butang suis pada panel kawalan, memberi tiket kepada penumpang, memandang cermin sisi sambil memasukkan
wang ke dalam tabung, menoleh untuk menjawab pertanyaan penumpang dan membelok sambil menarik tombol
isyarat. Demi kesinambungan kajian ini, satu kajian terhadap beban kerja mental perlu dibuat untuk mengetahui secara
menyeluruh beban kerja yang dihadapi oleh pemandu bas.
This invention is more on ergonomics scope. This ergonomics rostrum fulfills the ergonomics criteria especially
when used while standing. The important parts in this invention are rostrum head and platform. The rostrum head is
adjustable so the users can set the height of rostrum head for their suitability and comfort. Another important part in
this invention is platform. The purpose of the platform is to help users reach the rostrum head. The platform can flip
into the rostrum body. This invention can be used by anyone especially for Malaysian people because its designed was
based on the Malaysian height.
The trends of safety incident process have been put in the statistical research and development in order to prevent
and mitigate the phenomenon. One of the incidents is known as dust explosion. It represents a constant hazard to
industries which includes any manufacturing using and handling combustible dust materials. Lack of sharing and
know-how on best practices in managing the workplace must be avoided throughout the industries. The severity and
the consequences of not taking the safety precautions at workplace have not been foreseen by the process team. This
present paper discusses the best practices in managing the hazards from the catastrophes to happen again. In addition,
the mitigation response has also been explored thoroughly through database of best practices.
Brake pad apparatus is designed for help student and instructor in teaching and learning application. The objective
of this research is to differentiate the pressure effect and braking temperature condition of different pad. This apparatus
also aimed for learning the safety car and motorcycle braking system. This apparatus can to compare with theoretical
calculation in order to approve that this apparatus is useful. The main concept in this apparatus is thermocouple use
to detect the temperature gain while braking process. Speed motor controller used for set the angular velocity of the
motor in braking process. Pressure applied at brake pedal detected by pressure gauge and data logger function as a
connector. This apparatus also designed based on valid data for average of teenager in Malaysia which made on a
sample university student. Result show that the apparatus can function effectively by defines the different temperature
when applied the different pressure and different pad. Pad C shows the 880C for thermocouple 1 and 790C for
thermocouple 2 at the 20 psi and infrared thermometer show 1130C for pad C. Graph from calculation shows that the
pad A have 216.480C at 1000 rpm which have low temperature than pad B, C and D. high efficiency of friction and
pressure applied will cause more heat generate than low coefficient of friction and pressure applied.
Occupational safety and health (OSH) in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have not received the proper
attention not only in Malaysia, but in most of the countries globally, in terms of research or support for implementation.
This research focuses on the implementation of the occupational safety and health in small and medium industries in
the southern region of peninsular of Malaysia. The objective of this research is to determine the level of awareness of
SME owners and also their employers towards the importance of implementing OSH in their daily tasks. This study
will be based on conducting a survey to 200 SMEs owners and workers throughout the southern region of Malaysia.
The results from this research can be use as a benchmark for other researchers to further enhance the research in this
area.
MeSH terms: Attention; Awareness; Industry; Malaysia; Surveys and Questionnaires; Research; Research Personnel; Occupational Health; Benchmarking
Flood warning is designed to protect community from loss of life and their important goods. The objective of
this research is to design the flood warning system using mobile application that able to give warning and sign to
the mapping. With mobile application concept we can deliver warning faster which is to community smart phone
that nowadays majority of them used it. Department of Irrigation and Drainage have built the system that able to
detect the rising of water and have delivered the data to the department. The mobile application will get the data
directly from server Department of Irrigation and Drainage and distribute to all community. Not just give warning
but also able to give sign to the mapping such as GPS and Waze. Red color is danger, Yellow color will consider as
warning and green will consider as alert. It is expected that better warning process to community in Malaysia’s in
order to promote protection through legislation. The development of mobile application will fulfill the needs of the
public, representative of employee, or governmental official to protect community during flooding. Moreover, with
this mobile application that cheaper cost and easy to use to the community, it will help government to reduce the cost
while flooding. With the ability able to give early warning, give information and educated people, it will make people
more alert and get enough information of flooding.
The simulation of the catalytic converter system is quite needed in order to characterize the catalyst and also
optimizing the monolithic design for the gas emission in the catalytic converter and other related mechanism. The
objective of this study is to obtain quantitative description of the gas emission in the catalytic converter system of
natural powered automobile exhaust gas using ANSYS Software. This work will present a finite element calculation
to predict and evaluate the mass transfer, energy balance and velocity of gas emission in the catalytic converter. The
expected result for this research is to evaluate data of the gas emission obtained from the software to be compared with
the manual experiment in order to verify the effectiveness of modified catalytic converter.
MeSH terms: Vehicle Emissions; Catalysis; Molecular Weight; Research; Software; Finite Element Analysis; Natural Gas
Automobile exhaust emission control is one of the trending issues in automobile research field. It caused by high
pollution such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and hydrocarbons (HC) distributed by automobile
especially form diesel engine. These pollutants give a harmful effect to the environment and human health. Therefore,
this paper proposed in reviewing methods on fabrication of modified catalytic converter. FeCrAl is used as substrate
which treated using ultrasonic bath technique which could improve the exhaust emission control. This metallic catalytic converter used as the replacement of precious metal that have high production cost.
BASF has a long and comprehensive experience in exposure assessment of hazardous chemicals, and of health
surveillance, including human biomonitoring (HBM). This article provides a summary on exposure analysis by HBM
and health surveillance for mercury at the BASF Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany: the company’s occupational
health resources, related legal requirements, code of practice and directives, sources of potential mercury exposure,
and how health surveillance is conducted. It shares BASF’s experience in analyzing and controlling exposure to
mercury. The paper discusses the similarities and differences of the BASF Ludwigshafen approach with respect to
health surveillance practice for mercury in Malaysia.
In the development of current vehicle capabilities required an effective braking system, has a little wear, and
safety riding. The objective of the research is to determine wear and braking distance because of braking load and
speed motorcycle Honda supra X125 cc. This research used the speed of 50 km/h, 60 km/h, and 70 km/h. Braking load
used to be 4 kg, 5 kg, and 6 kg. The test was done by dynamic method and the research was done in two stages; testing
in the field and measuring brake wear in the lab using a profile projector. Testing the hardness of brake was done to
know hardness brake before and after testing due to the effect of wear, braking time, and braking distance.From testing
it was found that increasing of braking load, resulted in increasing wear. The smallest wear was 6 x 10-5 mm/sea at a
speed of 50 km/h, braking load of 4 kg, and braking time of 15.94 seconds. Increasing the speed resulted in increasing
braking distances with the smallest of braking distance was 55 meters at the breaking load of 6 kg, the speed of 50
km/h and braking time 9.93 seconds. The hardness of brake lining, increased after the brake lining wear testing. The
hardness before the test was 95.8 HRN and after the test was 100.4 HRN.
Recent statistics from the Social Security Organization (SOCSO) of Malaysia shows Commuting Accident (CA)
increased consistently by 1500 cases per year from 2008 to 2012. This has resulted in the rising of fatality rate,
extensive claims of compensation payment and not to mention loss of valuable talents. However, little is known
about the contributing factors to the occurrences of CA in Malaysia because CA is never considered to be work
related before. This study aims to explore work related factors with occurrence of CA using 5-year statistical data
from SOCSO, Malaysia. Moreover, we also reviewed studies published between 1990s and 2014 to support the
statistical findings. Motorbike is found as the most common vehicle used which involved in CA. Individual factors
concerning workers behaviour is a main risk factor of CA. Family related factors (parenting responsibility), work
burden, workplace support as well as environmental factors such as bad weather and bad road conditions are also
significant contributions of CA. It is very important to develop behavioural intervention strategies and provide proper
training. Hence, more attention should be directed to young individual workers in balancing them with capabilities and
organization performance demand. This may lead to the elimination of the other causes of CA. In conclusion, solutions
to this problem involve not only a particular party to ensure the wellbeing of workers in Malaysia, but all authorities
should play roles in enhancing safety and health matter of workers especially on the occurrence of accident.
MeSH terms: Accidents; Attention; Behavior Therapy; Malaysia; Motorcycles; Risk Factors; Social Security; Weather; Off-Road Motor Vehicles; Parenting; Workplace
The occurrences of occupational accidents and incidents are increasing in parallel with the growth of industries
such as mining and quarrying. The main objective of this study was to analyze data on the perception of occupational
accidents in the mining and quarrying sector in Malaysia. The data was collected and examined based on the
questionnaires on the level of perception of accident investigation in mining and quarrying sector. Statistical data
reported by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) was also reviewed. The findings of this study
prove that the level of perception of workers towards occupational accident issues in mining and quarrying sector
is still in the moderate level with the mean value of 3.28. The findings show that 51.7% of the workers agree while
25.9% totally agree to the accident occurrence. Only 1.7% of the workers are not aware of accident occurrence at the
workplace. Employers and employees must carry out their responsibilities to prevent accidents by adhering to health
and safety practices at the workplace.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are known to be one of the major contributors to the national economy.
However, in terms of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) implementation and performance, these SMEs,
especially in the metalworking sector have yet to meet the necessary standard. This paper discusses the statistical
analysis of accidents in metalworking industry by using accident reports submitted to the Department of Safety and
Health (DOSH) which involved 740 accident cases. The main objective is to identify the real causes of accidents and
recommend an appropriate action plan for accidents prevention at the workplace.
Currently accident cost calculations involve lengthy process of data collection procedures. Accident cost
calculations can be categorized into direct and indirect costs. Many manufacturing industries are having difficulties
in identifying and quantifying the accident cost category. Besides, it involves manual data collection which is time
consuming and has high tendency to make errors throughout the process. The data collection process also involves
various parties. For example, getting direct cost data from human resource department while indirect cost data need
to be obtained from manufacturing and safety department. The objective of this study is to propose Web-Based
interactive Accident Cost Calculator (WBACC) for manufacturing industries. This WBACC has two options; option
1: calculations based on input data at the time of accident. Option 2: calculations based on historical data such as
previous accident records. Option 1 is much simpler because it only requires accident demographic data while option
2 is much more complex. However, option 2 is more accurate compared to option 1. This proposed WBACC can be
used by safety and health practitioners to convince their top management in making decisions especially on safety
budget allocation.
MeSH terms: Accidents; Budgets; Costs and Cost Analysis; Data Collection; Demography; Humans; Internet; Manufacturing Industry
The indoor air contaminations in the buildings are normally contributed by causes from humans, animals and air
borne fungi. These factors greatly cause the problem of sick building syndrome and indoor air pollutant. This study
was undertaken to discover the potential efficiency of biocide potassium sorbate to remediate the indoor air fungal
especially on wood material. Samples of fungal were collected according to NIOSH Method (NMAM 0800). The total
amount of fungi and bacteria were enumerated at 806 cfu/m3 and 280 cfu/m3, respectively in a lecturer’s room. The
study also revealed that the growth of fungi was at the minimum when incorporated with a biocide treatment according
to ASTM D559000 standard. This biocide has been proven to be effective and able to reduce the growth rate of indoor
fungi. Overall results showed that this type of biocide is effective to overcome the fungal problem on wood material
in the buildings.
A study has been conducted on trans,trans-muconic acid (t,t-MA) as the biomarker for benzene exposure among
oil and gas petrol tanker drivers. The objectives of this study are to determine the significant difference and the
correlation between Benzene personal exposure and urinary t,t-MA among exposed and non-exposed workers. A total
of 92 questionnaires were distributed to obtain demographic and descriptive data. Benzene personal exposure was
sampled using SKC passive samplers and the data was analyzed using GC-FID. Urinary t,t-MA was collected at end of
work shift and analyzed using HPLC-UV detector. A total of 30 non-exposed workers were also sampled. The averages
of urinary t,t-MA were 96.65 ug/g creatinine for exposed workers and 0.51 ug/g creatinine for non-exposed workers.
Meanwhile, the averages of Benzene personal exposure were 0.37 mg/m3 and 0.01 mg/m3 for exposed workers and
non-exposed workers respectively. No significant correlation was found between exposure to benzene with excreted
urinary t,t-MA of workers occupationally exposed (p-value > 0.05) as well as to workers non-exposed to benzene
(p-value > 0.05). In conclusion, there is no significant correlation found between Benzene personal exposure and
urinary t,t-MA among exposed and non-exposed workers. Applicability of using t,t-MA as the biomarker of benzene
exposure shall be further discussed with all the other confounding factors to be taken into account.
MeSH terms: Benzene; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Creatinine; Demography; Gasoline; Surveys and Questionnaires; Sorbic Acid; Biomarkers
Legionellosis is a respiratory infection caused by gram-negative bacteria known as Legionella. Although there are
many species of Legionella, the majority of all reported cases of legionellosis were caused by Legionella pneumophila.
Investigations of Legionella outbreaks comprised sampling building water systems for the presence of Legionella.
The aim of this study is to determine the isolation techniques with the most optimal yield for detection of Legionella
based on the Australian/New Zealand Standard Waters –Examination for Legionella (AS/NZS 3896:2008). This is an
experimental research, in which, Legionella species will be spiked in a bottle of water and various isolation techniques
will be conducted. As most cases of Legionellosis are caused by Legionella pneumophila group, this group of species
will be used.
There are several alternative sampling and analytical methods available for the determination of respirable
crystalline silica exposure among workers. The commonly used ones are, (1) NIOSH Manual Analytical Method
No.7500(NMAM 7500) which is Silica, crystalline, by X-ray difractometer via filter deposition(NIOSH 2003), and
(2) MDHS 101 (Methods for the Determination of Hazardous Substances (MDHS) Guidance No.101: Respirable
crystalline silica in respirable airborne dust). The aim of this study is to compare applicability of respirable crystalline
silica sampling and analysis between method MDHS 101 and NMAM 7500. Laboratory procedures will be performed
strictly based on MDHS 101 and NMAM 7500. Both methods apply X-ray diffraction as analytical technique with
many variations on sampling techniques and laboratory preparations. Quality assurance values such as detection
limits, accuracy and precision are derived from both data and will be compared to determine which of the method
establishes better quality assurance. The method which establishes better quality assurance will be recommend to be
used in Malaysian respirable crystalline silica monitoring programme. The strength of this research lies on its potential
to provide local capabilities in analysis of respirable crystalline silica in Malaysian setting.
MeSH terms: Dust; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (U.S.); Radiography; Research; Respiration; Silicon Dioxide; United States; X-Ray Diffraction; X-Rays; Hazardous Substances; Cell Respiration
This study is carried out to establish the prevalence of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) among
the Malaysian workforce population in order to propose some measures to benefit the people at large. Secondary data
from three studies among drivers, clerical workers using visual display terminals (VDT) and fabrication workers were
used to report the prevalence of MSDs and the associated risk factors. The study identified high prevalence of MSDs in
multiple body regions. The MSD occurrence was also significantly associated with psychosocial factors. There is need
for organisations to consider such factors in work design, which will reduce the high prevalence and high financial
implications associated with MSDs among workers.