The light train (LRT) is one of the important public transportation modes in the congested city of Kuala Lumpur. Train drivers drive the trains within their shift time on similar routes every day. This job activity may lead to stress. Physical fatigue is one of the health problems commonly experienced by the train drivers. There were three methods applied in this study, namely, Nordic Questionnaire, NASA-TLX and observations. There were a total of 52 respondents, consisting of the train drivers from Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary company of Prasarana Malaysia Berhad. The questionnaires were analyzed using Statistical Software for the Social Science (SPSS) with a suitable statistical analysis. It was found that, the train drivers experienced pain on their necks, shoulders and lower backs. The main causes of physical fatigue that affect the performance of a train driver are sleep disorder and uncomfortable seating. Moreover, other effects of physical fatigue also prevent the drivers from carrying out activities at home. The industry has improved the drivers’ workstations such as their seats to reduce the rate of physical fatigue. However, more improvements are expected to be done.
MeSH terms: Adult; Cross-Sectional Studies; Fatigue*; Humans; Malaysia
Recent development in industrialization and global economy has contributed to the increased number of workplace
injuries and accidents. Safety culture has been seen as a central medium to curb the worrying trend of workplace
accidents. The term of safety culture has emerged from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 and the concept has
been widely used until today. However, the conceptualization of safety culture suffers from several major drawbacks
such as no definite understanding of how safety culture is being defined and measured. This paper hypothesized that
higher levels of safety culture in the workplace will display lower numbers of accidents. Due to this concern, this
paper seeks to provide a clear conceptualization of safety culture, dimensions used to measure it and common research
methodology used in the previous safety research.
Purpose - The aims of this concept paper are to critically review and identify gaps in current literature on personality
and safety performance, provide a definition of personality and safety performance, explore the role of personality on
safety performance, come out with recommendation for future research. Design/methodology/approach - Review and
synthesis of literature. Findings - All dimensions of Big Five Personality (Openness to Experiences, Conscientiousness,
Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) have contributed to the safety performance. Research limitations/
implications - Personality for this concept paper refers to the Model of Big Five. Future studies should explore other
personality types such as Myers Briggs Personality and Holland Personality. Practical implications - The authors
recommended that organizations need to design test of personality specially for safety and health and use it during the
interview session in order to select the right candidate to serve them for enhancing safety performance. Originality/
value - This concept paper offers a set of interesting lessons for organizations by providing the positive personality
that must be apply by employees based on Big Five Personality model that will assist to improve safety performance.
MeSH terms: Extraversion (Psychology); Netherlands; Personality; Personality Disorders; Publications; Type A Personality
In general, the industrial accident rate in Malaysia is decreasing. However, statistically it is still relatively high
if compared with that of other developing nations. One of the reasons why accidents keep on happening is poor
learning from accidents. This paper discusses the level of accident learning, based on accident reports submitted to the
Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) Malaysia and the Society Security Organization (SOCSO)
Malaysia involving a total of 1,291 accident cases. Based on the quality and completeness of accident reports, the
levels of learning were classified into five accident causation levels which are no, limited, fair, good and excellent
learning.
Indoor pollution increasingly becomes a public concern. These concerns are related to energy efficiency in a
building. There are various ways in which it can ensure energy conservation can be achieved, including superinsulation
and reduced fresh air exchange. As a result, indoor air becomes stagnant and odours, thereafter contaminants of air will
accumulate and will certainly disrupt human health. It is quite difficult to make people comfortable in a building with
consumption of energy-saving and human health guaranteed. Indoor plants are one of the alternative solutions that
have been studied since the last three decades. This paper intends to review the abilities of indoor plants to purify air,
and the ways used by previous researchers to prove that indoor plants can treat the air. In general, it can be stated that
indoor plants are able to absorb various types of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). An advantage of indoor plants
to cure air from carcinogen gas is greatly needed for human health. Therefore, studies on indoor plants to neutralize
the air are gaining attention. Enclosed space or chamber is often used by researchers to test the ability of indoor plants
absorb gaseous toxins in their study; because it is easy to handle and can quickly determine the absorption rate. In the
other hand, environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and light are important to be taken into consideration
during the study. As a conclusion, it can be stated that the existence of indoor plants in a building is very reasonable,
because it can give positive impacts on human health and the total energy consumption.
MeSH terms: Art Therapy; Attention; Carcinogens; Dance Therapy; Humans; Humidity; Plants; Temperature; Air Pollution, Indoor; Intention; Volatile Organic Compounds
Licensed person is a third party who was awarded a license to perform statutory inspection for certificated
machinery under the provision of section 40 (1A), Factories and Machinery Act (Amendment) (FMA) 2006. The
objectives of the study is to identify issues related to statutory inspection in Malaysia and to make comparisons with
respect to the statutory inspection by Licensed Person adopted by other countries. The enforcement of Licensed
Person in Malaysia is still in not yet implemented although Section 40 (1A) in FMA (Revision) 2006 regulating on
Licensed Person had been introduced on 2006 and compared with other countries especially our neighboring country
Singapore. Based on the DOSH inspection data analysis, the main issues relating to statutory inspection in Malaysia
is the increment in backlog cases due to lack of number officers compare to the number of registered certificated
machineries in Malaysia. As a conclusion, the implementation of Licensed Person is crucial in Malaysia to reduce the
work and financial burden of Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) officer in enforcing FMA 1967
and also to improve the quality of statutory inspection for the safety in workplace.
The question about which is the best approach to facilitate the effective safety evaluation, training processes
involved have become and on-going debate. This article reviews current approaches to evaluation of safety training. It
was focusing theoretical framework suggested and used in the previous literature. Furthermore, possible summary of
several methodologies of safety training evaluation presented.
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the upper limb (WRMSDs-UL) account for one of the largest types of occupational disorders worldwide. This broad term includes several disorders, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, tension neck syndrome and lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow) which are generally caused by poor postures, repetitive strain and psychosocial factors. Various workplace interventions have been investigated and employed to prevent the different WRMSDs-UL, but a common consensus to address the problem has yet to be achieved. This paper reviews and discusses the efficacies of some interventions which have been tested for the most prevalent type of WRMSDs-UL, carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). The focus will be on computer users who developed CTS out of the prolonged and repetitive use of keyboards and pointing devices. The interventions studied include engineering design, management strategies, personal development, medical treatment and multi-dimensional approaches. Outcome of the study reveals that the most effective approach would be one that is multi-dimensional in nature, with the inclusion of at least two or more intervention strategies at the same time.
In the new global economy, workplace safety has become a central issue among companies all over the world.
It is becoming difficult to ignore that this trend has also been happening in Malaysia especially the manufacturing
sector. The worrying trend can be seen from the increasing number of workplace accidents reported by Department
of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), Malaysia in manufacturing companies. In recent years, researchers have
shown an interest in studying the role of safety leadership to reduce workplace accidents. It is found that safety
leadership plays a significant role in ensuring a safe and sound workplace. Due to this concern, this paper attempts
to provide a conceptualization of safety leadership from the perspective of Malaysia’s manufacturing sector. It is
proposed that positive safety leadership lead to a reduction of workplace accidents. In response to this matter, it is
hypothesized that the higher level of safety leadership will positively affect the lower level of workplace accidents.
A questionnaire from Wu et al. (2008) will be adopted to explain the conceptualization of safety leadership, where it
is expected that the concept of safety leadership practised in Malaysia’s manufacturing sector has a similar meaning
from the perspective of western researchers.
The aims of this study were to compare the entrance surface dose (ESD) between anteroposterior (AP) supine with
posteroanterior (PA) prone projection of computed radiography (CR) abdominal examination and to determine the
relationship between body mass index (BMI) and ESD of a patient. AP supine and PA prone projections on the same
patients for CR abdominal examination of intravenous urography (IVU) were acquired on 50 patients at Hospital Raja
Permaisuri Bainun, Ipoh. All the radiographic examinations were carried out on a Siemens Multixtop general x-ray unit
and the images were processed with CR Carestream Direct view Max. Entrance surface dose (ESD) in miligray (mGy)
was measured using optical stimulated luminescence dosimeters (OSLD) calibrated by the Malaysian Nuclear Agency.
Data were analyzed using dependent t-test comparing the AP and PA projections on the same subject and Pearson
correlation was used to determine the relationship between BMI and percentage of reduction of ESD. Results showed a
significant different (p < 0.01) between AP supine (mean ESD = 6.42 ± 7.13 mGy) and PA prone (mean ESD = 3.92 ± 3.56
mGy) projection at all BMI. The BMI has a positive correlation with percentage of reduction of ESD (r = 0. 61) and was
statistically significant (p < 0.01). In conclusion, PA abdomen prone projection significantly reduces the radiation dose
and there is a positive correlation between BMI and percentage of reduction of ESD. The use of PA prone projection for
CR abdominal examination should be considered as the routine projection at all BMIs level. Awareness that as the BMI
increases the ESD also increases at a moderate positive linear relationship.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) commenced the National Cochlear Implant (CI) Program in 2008. As of November 2014,
the program has implanted 205 individuals with hearing losses, many of whom are pediatric recipients (71%) with
prelingual deafness. This study aimed to profile the prelingually deafened pediatric cochlear implant recipients under the
MoH CI program. The data reported here were from a total of 121 recipients (82.8%) from all the nine satellite hospitals
in the program. There were 58 males and the majority of the cases were Malay (66.9%). From the cases reviewed 39
(32.2%) were high risk for permanent hearing loss and the majority (46%) had multiple risk factors. In this cohort,
only 12 children (9.9%) were identified through the newborn hearing screening (NHS) program. The age of diagnosis of
hearing loss ranged from 1 to 46 months with a mean age of 24.3 ± 10.2 months. Hearing aids were fitted at the age of
4 to 46 months with a mean of 27.5 ± 9.9 months. The average age of implantation was 41.5 ± 10.3 months. The mean
overall waiting period from the first visit to the audiologist to the time when the cochlear implant was activated was 18.5
± 9.1 months. Descriptive findings indicate that the children received their implants at a relatively late age for speech
and language development. The existing national NHS program needs to be tighten and strengthen so that it can be the
main feeder for the pediatric CI program under the MoH. Subsequently, it is hoped that early identification of hearing
loss will lead to earlier age of implantation among the pediatric patients in the future.
The expansion of ageing population has gained much public attention on the importance of healthy and successful ageing,
which is absence of major chronic diseases, preserved physiological and cognitive functioning and active engagement
with life. Previous studies have found there was a significant correlation between physical fitness with cognition. However,
the relationship between physical fitness with successful and unsuccessful cognitive ageing groups are very limited. This
study was aimed to identify the significant physical fitness components that contribute in reducing risk of cognitive decline
represented as different cognitive ageing groups. A total of 300 community-based elderly aged 60 and above from the
states of Selangor, Perak and Kelantan were recruited using multistage random sampling method in this cross-sectional
study. Cognitive function of subjects was categorized into three groups, namely Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) (n
= 100), Usual Ageing (UA) (n = 100) and Successful Ageing (SA) (n = 100) based on defined criteria. Senior Fitness
Tests included 2-minute step, handgrip strength, chair stand, chair sit-and-reach, 8 foot up-and-go and back scratch
were measured to determine the cardiorespiratory fitness; muscle strength; agility and flexibility of subjects. SA group
had significantly better performance than non-SA groups in all fitness components, except for chair sit-and-reach. After
controlling for age, gender, education years and smoking status, handgrip strength and chair stand tests were associated
with a reduced risk of MCI by 7% [OR: 0.93, 95% C.I: 0.88-0.99, p < 0.05] and 15% [OR: 0.85, 95% C.I: 0.75-0.95, p <
0.01], respectively. These findings suggest that older adults with higher upper and lower body muscular strength could
serve as protective factors for cognitive impairment. Further research is warranted to evaluate the mechanism of physical
and cognitive decline such as Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome (MCR) in more detailed for the purpose for promoting
healthy and successful ageing.
The aim of this study was to determine whether pattern-reversal Visual Evoked Potential (PRVEP) is affected in mild
cognitive impairment (MCI). Participants aged ≥ 60 years diagnosed as MCI were invited to participate in a study together
with a group of controls. PRVEP was measured using A RETI-port/Scan 21 and stimuli of large and small checks sizes,
1° (60 min of arc) and 0.25° (15 min) respectively were used to obtain responses. The amplitude and implicit times of
the MCI and control groups were then compared. A total of 18 MCI participants (age 65.7 ± 3.1 years) and 18 controls
(65.1 ± 3.8 years) consented to participate in the study. The amplitude and implicit times for the MCI group using the
target sizes of 60 min of arc were 9.80 ± 4.06 µV and 108.83 ± 7.63 ms and for 30 min of arc were 11.00 ± 7.44 µV
and 123.96 ± 6.18 ms respectively. Consecutively for the control groups the amplitudes and implicit times were 8.96 ±
3.52µV, 105.85 ± 3.60 ms and 11.97± 6.11 µV, 122.57 ± 8.28 ms. PRVEP results did not reveal significant differences in
P100-wave amplitude nor implicit time between the two groups under investigation. This study concluded that the visual
pathway of MCI participants may be unaffected in the early part of the disease process.
Mobile Guide technologies in public spaces, particularly museum are not new and have changed the way visitors’ access information during their visit. Smartphone applications (apps) are increasingly popular because it can be accessed before, during and after the museum visits. This has impacted the way exhibitions are designed and the resulting visitor experience. Therefore, it is important to measure what effect the use of smartphone technology has on visitor experience. An “in the wild” study was conducted to investigate visitor experience in Islamic Art museum, both with and without Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) Mobile Guide (smartphone apps). A total of 55 participants took part in the study. The Museum Experience Scale (MES) was used to measure visitor experience, whilst the Multimedia Guide Scale (MMGS) was used to measure visitors’ experiences with the IAMM Mobile Guide. Results showed that scores on all components of MES suggested a positive experience at the IAMM with the component of meaningful experience being the highest score, followed by the component of knowledge and learning. Scores on the MMGS also showed a positive experience in using the mobile guide with learnability and control scored the highest, followed by general usability.
This research aimed to determine the correlation between level of depression, anxiety and stress among counselling students at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. This research adopted a correlational study with a quantitative approach in order to observe the correlation between the variables. Eighty six (86) respondents participated in this study. The study was conducted using Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) instrument. The result showed that there was a significant relationship between the level of depression, anxiety and stress among counselling students at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. This research also provides awareness towards the counselling students on their level of depression, anxiety and stress. For future research, it is suggested that personality test and scoring test be conducted for level of depression, anxiety and stress in order to see the correlations between variables.
MeSH terms: Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Counseling; Depression; Depressive Disorder; Malaysia; Personality Tests; Surveys and Questionnaires; Students
The article highlights on the previous literature on the attitudes of college or university students towards people with disabilities in the social context globally. The article also includes factors that influence the willingness of college or university students to build relationship with people with disabilities in the social context (such as friendship, dating, and marriage) and perceptions of students that add to the existing challenges encountered by people with disabilities. When perception is being measured in a more specific dimension, such as, in the social distance context, it provides a practical means to understand people’s awareness towards disability
This study aims to identify the use of external support systems by counsellors located at the Council within the Islamic Religious Department in Malaysia. Data for this research was collected using a case study. The case study included an interview of five (5) registered counsellors in Islamic Organization in Malaysia. This study was based on a qualitative approach and data were analyzed using N’Vivo 7.0. The data were developed into appropriate themes and sub-themes. The study revealed that the external support system (community support, peer counsellor, Islamic law and Islamic organization) should be applied to Muslim counsellors and Muslim converts. This research could be used as a guide for a counsellor to be more robust in providing guidance and counselling services to specific clients, such as, new Muslim converts.
This paper presents a case study of a 22-year-old female client who came for counselling sessions for the purpose of overcoming her pedaphobia. Symptoms, such as, dizziness, nausea, arousal, sweating palm and body shaking were noticed to be visible not only by the presence of a real child, but also by pictures, stories and imaginations of infants. Systematic desensitization technique, a form of Exposure Therapy, was applied to treat the client. It involved relaxation and breathing techniques, and supported by the application of live modelling guided participation. Along with the interventions, Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy techniques were also applied, such as, thought recording, irrational thoughts identification and disputation, Rational Emotive Imagery (REI), coping self-statement, and forceful self-statement. By the end of the therapy, the client reported to have experienced a decline in the occurrences of symptoms and demonstrated the ability to overcome her phobia.
Occupational stress is caused by various reasons, such as, workload and long working hours. This leads to occurrence of trend in using wellness activities to treat physical and psychological illness that is known as complementary therapy, which is Yoga, Aromatherapy, Qi gong, and Islamic Medical Practices (Ruqyah). Therefore, this research offered a perspective on the use of complementary therapies as a tool in improving and maintaining mental health condition of employees located in Penang, Malaysia. Qualitative method was used where 5 complementary therapy practitioners were interviewed to identify the perceptions towards the use of complementary therapy and to identify the type of therapy that can be practiced to reduce stress, as well as, discuss the benefits of complementary therapies. It was found that complementary therapy is very beneficial as it acts as a holistic treatment, natural way of healing and more empowering, as it helps to improve employee’s mental, emotional and physical health
Influx of women in the paid labor force had been identified as one of the important factors in raising awareness about work-family balance in organizations in developed countries in the west. The same phenomenon also occurs in Malaysia. Malaysia is considered as having traditional gender role ideology, whereby men and women have separate role in the workplace and in the family. Specifically, this study aims to identify whether there are differences in perception between men and women in public sector towards factors associated with work-life balance. Work-life balance factors examined in this study are work demands, supervisor support, organization’s family-friendly policies, family demands, work-family conflict (WFC) and family-work conflict (FWC). Sixty questionnaires were administered to employees in a government health training institution in Sarawak, Malaysia. Data were analyzed using SPPS version 17 and independent t-Test was employed in testing the hypotheses. The study found that men and women are significantly different in terms of supervisor support, work-family conflict and family demands. However, there was no significant difference between men and women employees with regard to work demands, family-work conflict and utilization of family-friendly policies. In line with previous Western findings, women experienced higher level of work to family conflict (WFC) than men employees. In addition, women also reported higher family demands than men. These findings strengthened the traditional gender role ideology ascribed by majority of Malaysians and lend support to the gender role theory. Therefore, the organization could provide relevant training, such as, time and stress management. Supervisors could be trained to be more aware of work-family balance issues faced by their employees and assist them accordingly.