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
The cultivation of indoor plants in indoor environment has become a topic of interest among researchers worldwide for its
potential to improve indoor air quality (IAQ). However, the adaptations of environmental factor of each plant need to be investigated
to correspond with the native environment. The study investigate the capability of plants selected to live indoor. Before experiment was
conducted, all plants selected were assimilated with indoor environment for two months. Photosynthesis proses in this experiment will
be a guidance to determine the comparative for every plant. The portable photosynthesis system equipment (LI-COR 6400) was used to
determine the level of photosynthesis rate for each of plants. Accordingly, among of all plants tested, Spider Plant showed less effective
to be grown with indoor environment by the rate of photosynthesis value up to -0.15. Moreover, light compensation point (LCP) of
Spider Plant also indicated the light intensity consumption was 2960 lux which is extremely higher than 300 lux. As a conclusion, only
six plants in this study which are Anthurium, Dumb Cane, Golden Pothos, Kadaka Fern, Prayer Plant, and Syngonium are able to
survive with indoor environment. In the next stage of study, this six plants may give good results to enhance the IAQ.
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.
Occupational safety and health (OSH) in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have not received the proper
attention not only in Malaysia, but also in most countries all over the world, in terms of research or support for
implementation. In Malaysia, many agencies such as the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH),
Social Safety Organization (SOCSO), National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and many more
agencies related to OSH have been in collaborations to conduct and promote a safety working environment and to
protect human rights economically, morally and legally. This research mainly focuses on the implementation of the
occupational safety and health in small and medium industries in the southern region of peninsular of Malaysia. This
exploratory study will be based on conducting a survey to 500 SMEs owners and workers throughout the southern
region of Malaysia to get the in-depth knowledge on how the implementation of safety and health management system
in the SMEs will affect them both morally and economically. A site visit will also be conducted in order to enhance
and to get to know the real situation happening in the real working environment. The results of this study will be used
to make and initial evaluation of the implementations of OSH management system in SMEs and hopefully will help
for future interventions and researches.
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.
The aim of this paper is to share views on the Safety and Health Performance Indicators (SPIs) for the Small
Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to assist SMEs in improving their business performance, growth and resilience through
effective Safety and Health Performance Management framework. Traditionally, industries are relying on the “lagging”
indicators of safety and health performance. Lagging indicators are limited due to the reactive approach and to some
extent, they create complacency among the industries which do not have any accidents or to the SMEs which face
low risks at work. As a result to their limitation, there has been a move in using “leading” indicators in measuring
safety and health performance in the industries. SMEs are important to Malaysia. However their contribution to the
workplace accident statistics is equally substantial. They are the major contributors to 80% of the total accidents.
Hence, effective Safety and Health Performance Indicators is indeed crucial to assist SMEs in measuring their safety
performance to enable them to move forward in achieving safety culture which is good for their business to stay strong
and resilient in this new business millennium.
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.
Good reporting of medical drill is important to optimise learning and benefit from the activity. This article shares our opinion on what constitutes a good medical emergency drill report. A good medical emergency medical drill report should include medical drill background, observation, remarks on observation and details of observers and reporter.
Transport of fuel is essential to ensure supplies are delivered as per requested by the industrial sites or other demands. Numerous accidents have been reported and recorded in which loss of containment of hazardous chemicals occurred and led to disastrous outcomes. This paper presents the analysis of Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion (BLEVE) due to loss of containment for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) road tankers. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the potential consequences resulting from overpressure blast and thermal radiation of tankers carrying LPG to the people and the surrounding. The aim is also to compare the outcomes obtained from PHAST software simulator 8.11 with that of established mathematical model. Malaysia North-south Expressway (NSE) was selected as the location of the incident. The volume, weather parameters and properties of LPG were identified. It was found that the effect of BLEVE on people and structures was catastrophic. The results obtained from the mathematical model were similar with that modelled using PHAST software simulator.
This paper presents the use of factorial experiments and response surface methodology to determine the best workstation design configuration of an existing electronic industry. The aim is to find the value of physical dimensions that gives the best performance for the workstation. Four performance measures are selected; the cycle time, the metabolic energy expenditure, worker’s posture during the task and lifting limitations. The methodology used in this study consists of two parts. The first part is based on factorial experiments and handles discrete search over combinations of factor-levels for improving the initial solution. In the second part, the solution that was obtained earlier is further refined by changing the continuous factors by using response surface methodology. The result of this optimization study shows that the optimum value of physical dimensions gives a significant improvement for the performance measures of the workstation.
Work shift has been shown to correlate with accident rates. Understanding of such correlation is pertinent especially among emergency response personnel since the decisions that they make determines not only the outcome of their responses but also the risks of accidents to themselves. A questionnaire data derived study used together with a semi quantitative risk analysis method was adopted to estimate the levels of accident risks between firefighters working on two work shifts. Two hundred and forty eight Malaysia’s Fire and Rescue Department firemen from 24 fire stations working on shifts were selected as respondents. The accident rate among firefighters in year 2006 was 52.8 %. Results showed that the Accident Risk Index (ARI) among firefighters working the 24 hours shift was higher (ARI = 3.14) compared with those in the 12 hours shift (ARI = 2.98). However, there were no significant difference in overall severity of the accidents between the two shifts (p>0.05). The difference in risk levels was attributed to the difference in the likelihood of accident occurrence.
Introduction: This study explores the health status of injured workers in return to work (RTW) programs based on their ability and capacity. Injured workers were diagnosed with work-related musculoskeletal disorders. The findings will help not only the service provider plan a specific strategy but also allow stakeholders to review their role in the RTW program.
Methods: 102 participants were chosen from a national RTW program, and categorized into three groups based on different phases of the RTW program: off-work (n=30, 29.4%), work re-entry (n=44, 43.1%) and maintenance (n=28, 27.5%). Self-report questionnaires identified demographic data, health surveillance via SF-36 and perceived physical and psychological workload by 10-point numerical scales. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Kruskal-Wallis Test was employed to examine the differences in three phases of the RTW program. Paired t-test analyzed the differences of related samples of physical and psychological workload before and after injuries.
Results: The domains of health status are below the average compared to the norm-based population. Mental health component summary is better than physical health. At the domain level, there are significant differences among injured workers, specifically in the three RTW program phases. The SF-36 domains are: role-physical, vitality, bodily-pain, general health, and mental health (p ! 0.049). In contrast, non-significant differences were found in physical and social functioning, and role of emotion status. Moreover, their self-perceived physical and psychological work-load significantly worsened after injuries (p ! 0.020).
Conclusions: The case manager-coordinated RTW program provided further opportunities to improve injured workers’ health status when looking at their differences for different phases of RTW. Other health professionals like occupational therapists, ergonomists and psychologists should become involved in the RTW program. Specific guidelines and regulations have to be implemented to ensure full participation with all parties in the workplace.
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.
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.
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.
This is a conceptual paper to study the factors that affect the
safety practitioner’s perception towards safety and health risk assessment,
namely HIRARC at oil palm plantation. Retrospective safety and health data
were obtained and analysed. Factors identified were both confusions on
hazard description and interpretation of risk assessment matrix. This paper
will examine those factors and make recommendations for future research in
Malaysia.
The purpose of this study is to assess the preferred temperature
(Tpref) of human participants exposed to air-conditioned temperature variations in
climate chamber experiments. Findings were later compared with an earlier Tpref
experiment by de Dear et. al. (1991). Twenty nine healthy college-age participants
underwent thirty minutes of preconditioned session before casting their thermal
preference and thermal sensation votes every 10 minutes for the remaining 150
minutes of the experiment. These affective votes were correlated against average of
ambient air temperature and participant's body temperature taken 30 minutes
before the experiment ends. The mean Tpref was 25.1°C (± 1.2), mean skin
temperature of 33.7°C (± 0.6) and mean body temperature of 36.3°C (±0.3). It can
be concluded that Tpref gathered in the preferred temperature experiment shows
significant difference in participants’ temperature preference which was 0.6 °C
cooler than earlier experiment suggesting change in how indoor ambient
temperature is preferred. In addition, mean skin temperature and gender did not
influence participants’ Tpref.
The paper reports on a study conducted in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in NCER, Malaysia. Four safety management practices were studied in relation to safety behaviour of employees. Respondents consisted of employees working in SMEs in NCER. Companies were sampled randomly from directories provided by SMECorp and other SME-related body. Self-administered questionnaires were sent by mail to employees working in SMEs. Completed questionnaires were mailed back by respondents using pre-addressed and post-paid envelope included. Correlation analysis were conducted and found that all four safety management practices are highly correlated with safety behaviour. The result provides support to the use of safety management practices to improve safety behaviour of employees and overall safety of the workplace. Suggestions for management in SMEs are presented in the discussion section. Management in SMEs can consider the use of safety management practices as antecedents that trigger safety behaviour of their employees in order to reduce accident rate in workplace.
This objective of the study is to estimate occupational accident cost in manufacturing industries, especially in
wood based related industries. The study attempts to identify, define, and classify the cost components of occupational
accident related cost and to catalogue the various economic approaches used to estimate the entire costs of occupational
accident and to propose the risk prevention plan. The study uses local specific approach by reviewing company
historical records on occupational accident as reported in JKKP 6, JKKP 8, JKKP 9 and company internal investigation
reports. For each occupational accident, the site safety officer in charge, human resource and, account employee,
supervisor, victim, related co-workers and relatives were interviewed in order to estimate direct costs, indirect costs,
prevention costs and other personal cost related to the accident. Other related information such as personal data of the
victim, type of injuries, location of injuries and cause of injuries were recorded. A total of 24 occupational accidents
data for the past five years were analyzed in the cost of accident summary report to determine the overall ratio of direct
to indirect cost and ratio of total cost of accident to prevention cost. A further analysis was carried out to determine
the most significant cost of accident related to demographic profiles for Malaysian and Non Malaysian employees. In
conclusion, this study has determined the ratio of direct to indirect cost of occupational accident and has proposed the
risk prevention plan with additional information on cost of accident and cost of prevention.
The prevalence of Musculoskeletal Symptoms (MSS) rapidly increases and it is recognized as a significant health outcome in agricultural sector. Agricultural ergonomics risk factor is one of hazards constantly arising from all job task activities including awkward postures and heavy lifting. Job hazard analyses (JHA) were conducted to assess the exposure of ergonomics risk factors in Malaysia Pineapple Plantation. The analyses performed involved two steps. They were: 1) guidelines and manual book Malaysia Pineapple Plantation as references; and 2) conducting walkthrough observation based on checklist approaches at the plantation. The identified risk factors were prolonged exposure of standing, squatting, stooping and kneeling, highly repetitive motion on the lower limbs, deviation and twisting of wrist and lastly, heavy lifting. The analyses confirmed that the exposure to ergonomics risk factors in pineapple plantation is high. It would be desirable to reduce the risk factors by educating and training the pineapple workers to perform their task with strong consideration of occupational safety and health.