A cross sectional study was conducted among tea plantation workers in Cameron Highlands from July to December 2006 to study the prevalence of low back pain and factors associated with it. One hundred and six tea plantation field workers participated in the study. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaire. Time motion studies were also conducted for 3 different job categories. The prevalence of back pain experienced throughout their work in the plantation was 81.1% and the prevalence of low
back pain experienced in the past 12 months was 64.2%. Feeling the need to work as fast as possible was a significant predictor of low back pain and increased the risk by 3.5 times, therefore it is suggested that both the management and workers give serious attention to this particular aspect to reduce the incidence of low back pain.
The research is focus generally to identify and investigate the issue of accessible design for wheelchair users on selected Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTM) commuter stations in the city of Kuala Lumpur. The objectives are to ensure that the design of accessibility is comply with the law, regulations, standard requirements and guidelines; to understand the recent condition and their needs in commuter stations and to allow their secure equal rights and opportunities as others. The research began by gaining reliable information through literature study and a checklist for building audit was prepared to evaluate the accessibility. A building access survey was carried out on selected stations which enclosed three main stages to show the pattern of passengers’ path. Stage 1: From the road to the ticket counter. Stage 2: From the ticket counter to the platform. Stage 3: From the platform to the train. A series of structured questionnaire was also constructed to study and get a feedback from selected target of users. Result of findings in this study had been analyzed to assist the management and the station concerned in upgrading their station facilities to a comfortable, accessible, friendly and safe environment in order to encourage more users, including disabled persons to benefit from it.
Fishing industry in Malaysia is dominated by small scale fishing, scattered along the coast of the country. The risk associated with fishing industry is well known but few studies have been done among those in the small scale fishing community. Fishermen not only have to cope with the uncertainty of nature but also the physical demands of the occupation. The objective of the study was to determine the injuries and its associated factors related to the small scale fishing industry. The study was conducted in a fishing village in northern Malaysia, which was hit by tsunami. Most of the boats and fishing gear were donated by many relief agencies. A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted using a standardized questionnaire. 50 (83.3%) of the 60 fishermen had consented for the study. All the fishermen were Malays males. 46% (n=23) of the fishermen reported to having sustained injuries. Most of the injuries occurred offshore (p
This study focused on noise exposure in quarrying industry. Quarry is one of the industries that have an exposure
of noise in particular processes. The quarries machinery noise is produced when the machines are running, but the
noise generated by the machines in the production environment includes both process-generated and machinerygenerated
noise. Survey method was used by distributing questionnaires comprising five parts which are, demography,
safety and health awareness, safety and health knowledge, safety and health compliances and compliances toward
noise exposure. However, the study emphasized only on the compliances toward noise exposure in quarrying
industry. Cronbach alpha (α) was used for the reliability of questionnaires. The study found that the mean value for
the perception of workers to noise control method compliances is 3.09 which indicates moderate compliances. It was
shown that, the total number of NIHL cases reported is related to the compliances of noise exposure control measures.
Compliance is one of the main factors to reduce NIHL among workers. For further development of methods for
controlling noise exposure, other studies can be done to find other information or methods on how to ensure that the
related organizations in quarrying industry give their commitment in compliance to noise control methods.
Radon exists naturally in the air. It can accumulate inside the buildings which may affect the indoor air quality. Radon is a radioactive gas that produces alpha particles during decay time. The alpha particles might cause harm to the human lungs and stomach. Inhalation of radon is one of the causes of lung cancer disease. Samples of inhaled radon in different rooms at the workplace were taken hourly through a passive diffusion chamber. The detection method was done using Alpha Spectrometry. The short term measurement was applied in the study to monitor the average weekly radon reading in different rooms in the Medical Imaging Laboratory of the University of Selangor (UNISEL). All tested rooms showed the existence of radon gas with different concentrations. Some of them showed the maximum reading of radon concentration which was higher than the radon action level of 148Bq/m3 or 4pCi/l. Their weekly average of radon concentration is contributing almost 50% of the accumulated radon concentration in the laboratory. It is highly recommended that monitoring the concentration of radon in indoor air is performed to ensure it is at a safe and healthy level.
Exposure to organic solvent during work activities has been known to be associated with significant clinical conditions such as peripheral neuropathy and neurobehavioral changes. Three reported cases of peripheral neuropathy most likely due to exposure to chronic organic solvent were reported recently in Bentong Malaysia. These cases showed a compatible clinical history, occupational history, examination and neurological study that link with peripheral neuropathy due to organic solvent poisoning. Proper education and training with review of engineering control measures are among preventive and corrective measures recommended. More comprehensive study in order to establish significant causal-effect relationship as documented evidence is recommended.
Stress is on one of the important hazards faced by nursing staff. Although various intervention methods to reduce stress have been developed, its effectiveness among Malaysian nurses has yet to be established. This study involved 185 health nursing staff working at health districts Kemaman and Dungun in Terengganu. Health nursing staff from Kemaman (n=94) was selected as intervention group whereas those from Dungun (n=91) were chosen as controls. Members of the intervention group were given stress awareness education. They were taught how to reduce stress by relaxation methods. Teaching was conducted through lectures, practical training and providing a stress guidebook. A stress reliever card and letter reminding respondents to practice stress reduction methods were sent every two weeks. The total intervention period was 6 weeks. The control did not receive any education on stress reduction or encouragement to practice any stress reduction techniques throughout this period. The effectiveness of the intervention programme was measured by comparing changes in stress symptoms scores. Stress symptoms were measured using a modified Personal Stress Inventory questionnaire. The study found significant reduction of stress symptoms (42.66 ± 20.36 to 35.51 ± 22.60) in the intervention group after intervention compared to before intervention. However there was no significant difference in change of mean score of stress symptoms between both groups. Further studies need to be conducted to establish an intervention programme, which is suitable and effective in reducing stress among health nursing staff.
Disaster can strike at any time on a small or large scale, but if an institution is prepared, the damage may be reduced or avoided. A disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a society, causing widespread human, material, or environmental losses which exceed the ability of affected society to cope using only its own resources. Disasters are often classified according to their speed of onset (sudden or ‘slow burning’), or according to their cause (natural or man-made). There is no single and specific method in handling a disaster. The application and method of disaster management do not only depend on types, location and levels of disaster, but also depend on the effectiveness and good system of management as well as the total commitment of first responders and disaster managers involved in handling a disaster. National Security Council Directive No. 20 is both a proactive and reactive generic plan to manage disasters in Malaysia. It is an integrated disaster management plan in mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.
Maritime transportation is very important for coastal state country like Malaysia. However, as having the busiest straits in the world, Malaysia is continuously exposed to the risk of marine spill. The nation had experienced around 30 marine spill incidents since 1976 to the present. The main contributor of marine spill is ship’s accident and in term of category of accident, collision had contributed the most. In term of type of substance that mostly spilled by ships is highly persistence crude oil. The management of marine spill response of Malaysia is applying the three tiers system which is base on the area and scale of the spill. The basis of establishing the marine response service is in accordance with OPRC, which incorporated into the national environmental law. With the three tiers of response system, Malaysia is equipped with arsenal of marine spill response and control equipments. However, with the present magnitude of threat, the current capacities of equipments are insufficient. Nevertheless, the possibility of full magnitude of marine spill is unlikely due to the safety features incorporated into the design of the ships and FSO/FPSO. In term of claim and compensation for marine spill incident, Malaysia is applying the two layers of compensation under the CLC 1992 Protocol and FUND 1992 Protocol. Therefore, Malaysia is ready in various aspects of marine spill response and control.
Kerosakan lif penumpang yang sering berlaku di rumah pangsa kos rendah merupakan salah satu isu utama di JKKP Wilayah Persekutuan. Statistik menunjukkan bilangan rumah pangsa paling tinggi terletak di Wilayah Persekutuan. Ini bermakna bilangan lif di rumah pangsa kos rendah adalah tertinggi di Wilayah Persekutuan berbanding negeri – negeri lain. Satu kajian ‘Field Labarotary’ telah dijalankan diperingkat JKKP Wilayah Persekutuan bagi mencari punca permasalahan ini dan seterusnya mencadangkan penambahbaikan berdasarkan kepada permasalahan yang telah dikenalpasti. Kajian ini merangkumi beberapa tindakan seperti mengadakan dialog dengan wakil penghuni rumah pangsa kos rendah di sekitar Wilayah Persekutuan bagi mengenalpasti masalah-masalah yang dihadapi oleh penghuni runmah pangsa kos rendah, penyediaan senarai semak pemeriksaan lif bagi mengenalpasti masalah – masalah teknikal, mengadakan perjumpaan dengan wakil syarikat – syarikat lif bagi mendapatkan data – data yang diperlukan daripada firma – firma kompetan lif dan pengurusan lif di rumah pangsa kos rendah dan menjalankan operasi khas pemeriksaan lif di 409 unit lif yang beroperasi di rumah pangsa kos rendah bagi mengenalpasti kelemahan – kelemahan pada lif yang sedang beroperasi. Kajian telah mengenalpasti beberapa faktor penyumbang kepada isu keselamatan lif di rumah pangsa kos rendah di antaranya bilangan orang kompetan yang diiktiraf oleh Jabatan Keselamatan dan Kesihatan Pekerjaan di dapati tidak mencukupi untuk menjalankan pemeriksaan yang diperlukan ke atas kesemua lif secara komprehensif, kegagalan syarikat lif menunaikan tanggungjawab menjalankan pemeriksaan yang diwajibkan ke atas lif yang berkait rapat dengan isu bilangan orang kompetan yang ada pada setiap firma kompetan, kegagalan pemilik atau badan pengurusan bersama memastikan lif di periksa pada jangkamasa yang ditetapkan serta memastikan lif sentiasa mempunyai sijil kelayakan yang sah, kegagalan JKKP sendiri mengambil tindakan yang diperuntukan oleh Akta dan Peraturan ke atas perlanggaran peruntukan oleh firma kompetan atau pemilik bangunan, ketiadaan kerjasama di antara agensi – agensi kerajaan yang terlibat di dalam rekabentuk dan penyenggaraan lif di rumah pangsa kos rendah dan paling utama ialah isu vandalime yang berkaitan dengan sikap penduduk dan pengguna lif di rumah pangsa kos rendah yang tidak bertanggungjawab merosakan lif.
Environmental factors such as temperature, lighting and noise have very significant impact to workers’ health, safety, comfort, performance and productivity. In an ergonomically design industrial work environment, these factors need to be control at their optimum levels. The main objective of this study is to find the effect of temperature, illuminance and sound pressure level on workers’ productivity in automotive industry. To perform this study a workstation in an automotive component manufacturing was selected as the location of the study. Results of data analysis showed there were relationships between temperature, illuminance and noise on workers’ productivity. Later, the authors’ developed multiple linear equation models to represent the relationships between temperature, illuminance and noise on the workers’ productivity. These multiple linear equation models could be used to predict the production rate for the workstation by referring to the value of temperature, illuminance and noise level.
The main purpose of this study was to establish the comfort zone for bus drivers in a seated position. In addition, this study is to investigate the seated pressure distribution among Malaysian bus drivers. The study consists of 10 bus drivers randomly selected to be a part of this study. The FSA pressure mat was utilized in order to investigate the force distribution of buttock to the seat pan of the drivers’ seat. This device is placed on the driver seat and backrest. Later, the subject would sit on for several minute. The finding reveals that most of the bus drivers feel discomfort by having low back pain and musculoskeletal disorder. The seat pressure distribution of Malaysian busses indicated that the seat not able to absorb high pressure generated from buttock that later may cause the discomfort and restricted the performance of drivers.
This study intended to investigate the level on airborne microbe in indoor air for new constructed building. It was divided by three different phase of building commissioning in Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor. The first phase of the sampling was carried out after the building fully handed over from the main contractor to the building owner. Second phase of the sampling take place after the building is equipped with furniture. Phase three sampling is conducted after one month of building occupancy. Airborne microbes’ concentrations were determined by using a single stage impactor (Biosampler) as per requirement of National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) method, NIOSH Manual Analytical Method MAM 0800. The total concentration of airborne bacteria and fungi were average to 641 and 38 CFU/m³ in the first phase, 133 and 117 CFU/m³ in the second phase, and 389 and 52 CFU/m³ in the third phase. These findings indicate that although a new constructed building should be having a significant background level of airborne microbe (total bacteria and total fungi). The building owner should be aware to their indoor air status to protect the occupant from the safety and health problem (risk) especially for ventilated building.
This study was done to investigate the background level on microbiological indoor air pollutants in new constructed 8 stories buildings (2 level of Hostel facilities, 3 level of Training Room level, 2 level of Offices and 1 Exhibition Halls and Rooms) in Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor. The offices and exhibition hall are carpeted furnished. All these spaces were using centralized air conditioning system. Airborne microbes’ concentrations were determined by using a single stage impactor (Biosampler) as per requirement of National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health NIOSH method NIOSH Manual Analytical Method MAM 0800. Mean concentration of total bacteria detected is 1351 CFU/m3 and it was found significantly higher compared to maximum exposure limit 500 CFU/m3 in office room. The mean concentration of total fungi in the office rooms is 479 CFU/m3 and it was found slightly lower compared to maximum exposure limit 500 CFU/m3. The airborne microbe levels were found slightly lower in the accommodation, training and exhibition rooms compared to office room. These findings indicate that although a new constructed building should be having a significant background level of airborne microbe (total bacteria and total fungi).
Sound is one of the source of energy generated by vibration and is carried through the air in a form of pressure waves (Frederick, 1975). This pressure waves consist of pulsation or vibration of molecules of an elastic medium such as gas, liquid and even solid (Gerber, 1974). Due to its nature, sound can be irritating when it is excessive. The excessive amount of sound is called noise. Exposure to noise is common to the workers working at the industry. This can lead to hearing loss. Hearing loss is one of the most common health problems in the industrialized world. Working activities have been related to noise exposure due to increase use of machine that generates sounds. Many workers throughout the world experience hazardous noise exposure which is ≥ 85 decibels (dB) (Seter, 1998). Based on the previous study in the European region, most of the employers had difficulties to compensate workers diagnosed with hearing loss or hearing impairment cause by the working nature. (Rachiotis et al., 2006). According to European Survey on Working Conditions, about 7% of the workers considered that their work affects their health in the form of hearing disorders. Occupational risk factors for hearing loss include occupational noise, whole body vibration, work-related diseases and exposure to chemical. In this report, we specified in the noise exposure level of the workers.
Exposure to traffic air pollutant have shown a significant health effect on respiratory systems and decreased in lung function among traffic policemen. The main objective of this study was to determine the relationships between personal exposure levels to PM2.5 and respiratory health among traffic policemen working at Traffic Police Station in Kuala Lumpur and general duty policemen attached to Police Headquarters, Bukit Aman. A cross sectional comparative study was conducted among 50 traffic policemen from Traffic Police Station Kuala Lumpur and 50 general duty policemen from Police Headquarters Bukit Aman as comparative group. A purposive sampling method was used to select the respondents based on inclusive criteria such as age between 25 to 60 years, no history of respiratory disease and working not less than 3 years as traffic policemen. Questionnaire based on ATS (1978) was used to collect information on socio-demographic and respiratory symptoms. Spirometer (Spirolab II Model) was used to perform lung function tests. Personal Air Sampling Pump (Aircheck 52) was used to measure personal exposure level to PM2.5. The mean exposure level of PM2.5 among the traffic policemen was 22.33 ± 8.54μg/m³ compared to only 5.60 ± 4.29μg/m³ for comparative group. There was a significant difference in all lung function parameters between the exposed group and comparative group.From the finding, it shows that there was significant relationship between working duration (years) and lung function parameters among both exposed and comparative group. The result from this research shows that traffic policemen were determined as having lower lung function parameters due to their nature of work and the environment. Also, there was a significant association between exposure to fine particle (PM2.5) and lung function among the exposed group. Finding from this study indicated that exposure to elevated concentration level to traffic related air pollutant was the risk factors in the development of respiratory diseases as shown by the higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms and the reduction in lung function among traffic policemen.
This study develops a Road Safety Index (RSI) for commercial bus with the aim of determining whether the
proposed index can be beneficial to the stakeholders for the purpose of mitigating road accident and promoting road
safety. Five risk factors which include drivers, Vehicle, Task, Hazard/Risk and Road, where three critical factors out of
these factors, were identified as high contributing factors (Drivers, Vehicle and Road) were selected for the construction
of RSI. Drivers risk perceptions data were collected using survey instrument with sample size (n= 465) to test the
model and the data fits the model perfectly. The main benefits of this approach and the subsequent development of
RSI are: (1) Enable organisations to justify the investment on road safety by providing a measurement and evaluation
mechanism. (2) The index provides a balanced view of the impact of the three critical (DVR) risk factors that the
management can improve upon.
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.
Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) nowadays is an established risk assessment method used worldwide for the evaluation of risks on onshore plant and offshore facilities which associated with the major hazard installations. However, there are still many issues on QRA used. These include lack of consistency, complexity of the overall model structure, incorporation of new data, methodology and model analysis. Common problem observed for the onshore QRA methodology is conservatism of fire and explosion consequence results using DNV PhastRisk 6.7 software which is mainly contributed from the high release rate due to loss of containment. This paper presents an alternative way to predict the actual release rate for fire and explosion modelling which called limiting flowrate technique. This method has been applied for calculating risk in Onshore Gas Terminal (OGT) Plant. Adopting the limiting flowrate technique has provide more precise model towards real scenarios. Challenges facing during this research such as using the unmodified United Kingdom (UK) HSE hydrocarbon release database without integrate with the actual failure frequencies from the plant, the risk results tend to be much higher than actual experience. It should be noted that the development of improved onshore risk model has been used as an example for this research but many of the issues are equally applicable to offshore studies as well.
A poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is a crucial problem which produces by the improper maintenance of Mechanical Ventilation and Air Conditioning (MVAC) ducting. A budget constraint intimidates for the practise of monitoring of the MVAC ducting. Thus IAQ measurements were conducted at the room where the air supplied by centralized air conditioning. It has been performed at four different offices that supply by two different Air Handling Unit (AHU). Walkthrough survey was conducted and the area samplings were selected for data collection. This paper examines the result of comparison of air ducting and air quality at academic office building, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). The parameters involved were Temperature (°C), Relative Humidity (RH), Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Carbon Monoxide (CO). Pictures were also captured to demonstrate the real conditions inside the ducting by using Mechanical Robot. Thus, duct cleaning was recommended to be an exceptional platform for the IAQ improvement.