Introductions: Call center has been defined as a working environment in which uses telephone and computer for the purpose of marketing and manage communication with prospect clients or existing clients (Rocha, Glina, Morinho and Nakasato, 2005; Sprigg, Smith and Jackson, 2003).
Methodology: The study was conducted via observation of working condition and face to face interview with call center operators. Measurement of anthropometrics was also conducted.
Results: Ergonomics issues found at call center were inappropriate work condition and workstation which lead to awkward sitting posture (sitting with forward leaning posture, raised shoulder, feet not supported on floor). Besides that organizational policy which required high job demand and subsequently lead to prolonged sitting and static posture (very minimal posture changes). Combination all these factors lead to musculoskeletal symptoms and the operators reported of having neck, shoulder, upper back and lower back pain compared to other body parts.
Conclusion: The management should embark on organization wide ergonomics management program and should review the current policy and create safe and healthy working environment by providing suitable workstation for the operators in order to prevent musculoskeletal.
Local exhaust ventilation (LEV) is used in industries to capture contaminants such as gases, dusts, mists, vapours or fumes out of workstations to protect occupants’ exposure to contaminants. LEV is allocated and installed by employers, however it doesn’t work accordingly. LEV design is often overlooked and underappreciated. Effectiveness of LEV system can be achieved if more attention is focused to proper design of LEV system. To solve this issue, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can be performed. CFD is a software tool to predict and simulate fluid dynamic phenomena. CFD is used to forecast or reconstruct the behaviour of an engineering product under assumed or measure boundary conditions. However, CFD is just a prediction tool, which can lead to inaccuracy of predicting airflow due to problems with pre-processing, solver and post-processing with parameter from actual experimental results. Therefore, validation is needed to help minimizing percentage error of CFD methods. In this research, measurements of airflow parameter of LEV system at National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Bangi, Selangor were conducted. Control Speed panel found at NIOSH Bangi, which is used to increase or decrease speed of fan, was performed using Control Speed of 20%, 40% 60% and 80%. Upon validation, average absolute error obtained from four different control speeds ranges from 3.372% to 4.862%. Validity of CFD modelling is acceptable, which is less than 5% and good agreement is achieved between actual experimental results and CFD simulation results. Therefore, it can be concluded that CFD software tool can be performed to simulate air velocity in LEV system. CFD methods can save labour costs and time consumption when it is used during earliest stage of LEV design, before actual construction is implemented. The outcome of this paper can be used as a baseline for factories equipped with LEV system to protect occupants’ exposure to contaminants.
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.
In September 2011 at the 19th World Congress on Safety and Health at Work in Istanbul, I met a Turkish prominent scholar and we exchanged our ideas on the topic of work safety. Turkey, as you well know, is one of the Muslim majority countries and Muslims comprise 99% of the whole population. And I have heard that in Turkey, a fatalism based on its faith is so pervasive among people that Turkey has a lot of cases on injuries and deaths at the workplace. In such a fatalism, an accident would be accepted as a fate which their God has already decided, because of God being in control of everything.
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.
The paper focused on the examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation (LEV) systems at one of Electrical Company to check the transport velocity whether it meet the recommended American Governmental Industrial Hygienist (ACGIH) Standard. The industrial hygiene approaches, AREC (Anticipating, Recognize, Evaluate and Control) were adopted in this study. This is to ensure that the LEV system installed has the optimum efficiency to extract out the contaminants from the workstation. Objective of this study is to make comparison with previous and current monitoring data. The efficiency and the other parameter measured will be the main source to analyze for the particular applications. The differential of data was discussed and several recommendations are proposed to make sure the LEV system performance is excellent.
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.
This study has been conducted in a new constructed building of NIOSH Malaysia located at Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor. The goal of the case study is focusing on the level of Indoor Air Contaminants (IAC) including chemical contaminants within three consequent stages which are before furniture install, after furniture install and during one month occupancy. This study was divided the sampling area into two main facilities which are training and office setting. The contaminants has been measured consist of sixparameters such as Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC), Formaldehyde, Respirable Particulates (PM10) and Ozone. The result of Carbon Monoxide (CO), Total Volatile Organic Compound (TVOC), Respirable Particulates (PM10) and Ozone show an increasing trend across the three sampling stages. The Formaldehyde show an increasing trend in the first and second stages but were reduced significantly the last stage of sampling. These finding indicates that furniture and fittings installed might be a potential sources of indoor air contaminants. The management should be aware to their indoor air status to protect the occupant from the risk of unwanted exposure especially during the early stage of building occupancy.
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 paper discuss thermal comfort studies of an under air conditioning in hot and humid climate which at one of the higher institution in East Coast of Malaysia. Indoor thermal environment is important as it affects the health and productivity of building occupants. The paper reports on an experimental investigation of indoor thermal comfort characteristics under the control of air conditioning. Firstly, the well known Fanger’s thermal comfort model was simplified for the current experimental investigation. This is followed by reporting the experimental results of indoor thermal comfort characteristics under the control of temperature, with eight different of temperatures which are 22oC to 29oC. Finally, indoor thermal comfort was merely affected by the increment ventilation and outdoor climate. PMV value was higher when near from the window because of the effects of the wall radiations and the metabolic heat.
Various types of Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems (OSH-MS) exist in the market. Basically, these systems have similar basic principles and even elements. However, the importance of these elements in terms of successful management of OSH differs according to the end-user. OSH Practitioners with different roles and responsibilities have different views on which element or elements contribute significantly to the overall success of OSH management. There are no standardization in terms quantifying the elements that qualifies an OSH-MS. A study was carried out to quantify the implementation of an OSH-MS through the determination of weighing factors for the different elements in an OSH-MS. Respondents for this study comprised of top safety and health management, safety and health officers (SHO) / radiation protection officers (RPO), DOSH officers, auditors and consultants who are very familiar with OSH-MS. Sample of this study was based on purposive sampling due to strict criteria and prerequisites to be met. Questionnaires were distributed to the identified organizations and personnel. Results from this study established that, auditor has the highest level of understanding of OSH-MS compared with top safety and health management, SHO / RPO, DOSH officers and OSH consultants. Among all the elements in the OSH-MS studied for their levels of importance in terms of the overall success of implementing an OSH-MS, OSH policy is the most critical element, followed by hazard identification, risk assessment and control, employee participation, responsibility and accountability and competence and training. The weighing factor for these top 5 elements are OSH policy (0.36); hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control (0.25); employee participation (0.15); responsibility and accountability (0.14); and competence and training (0.10). Application of the weighing factors of these elements allows the quantification of audit status (Audit Score) based on the equation: audit score = 0.36 [OSH Policy] + 0.25 [Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control] + 0.15 [Employee Participation] + 0.14 [Responsibility and Accountability] + 0.10 [Competence and Training]. Minimum tolerable target for each element of an OSH-MS was also determined. The minimum tolerable frequency of OSH policy is reviewed by top management is yearly; the minimum tolerable frequency of risk management is reviewed is yearly; the minimum tolerable percentage of employees who should be made known on relevant legal and other requirements is ≥90%; the minimum tolerable percentage of OSH objectives and programme(s) achieved / implemented is between 80 – 89%; the minimum tolerable percentage of money budgeted for OSH in a year compared to organization revenue is between 1 – 5%; the minimum tolerable number of hours for each employee needed to be trained on OSH per year is between 30 – 39 hours; the minimum tolerable percentage of employees who should be communicated on matters related to OSH is ≥90%; the minimum tolerable percentage of employees participation and involvement in hazard identification, risk assessment and determining controls is ≥90%; the minimum tolerable percentage of employees who should be involved in establishing OSH documents is
Safety Intervention Need Analysis System (SINAS) is a web-based safety management program that aspires the identification for the need of construction safety intervention. It can be accessed through the website www.sinas.org. This first phase of SINAS project development only focus on safe design intervention. SINAS was created to provide assistance for safety practitioners in identifying the need of safe design intervention. This was put forward through the investigations of construction accidents that relate to design. The SINAS process of need analysis are carved up to six steps i.e. user information, accident details, accident evaluation, result of the need analysis, construction design intervention and safety intervention need analysis report. At the end of the process, Safety Intervention Need Analysis Report will be generated. This report is an essential document to proof the need of safe design intervention. Additionally, SINAS also offers recommendations for construction designers and professionals on suitable safe design intervention to prevent construction accidents and minimises construction risks.
The objective of this study is to identify the type of occupational related musculoskeletal disorder among Malaysian Shipping Industry workers and to determine the relationship between workers sosio demographic factors with occupational related musculoskeletal disorder and injuries. This is a cross sectional, retrospective study using secondary data that is available at the physiotherapy centre of Malaysia Shipping in Selangor. The study population is the shipping port workers received physiotherapy treatment from 2011 and 2012. A total of 90 samples comprise of 85 male workers and the remaining is female. The mean age is 34.1 (±7.36). Crane operator is the largest number of workers seeks for physiotherapy treatment (68), office (15) and 7 from maintenance. The mean of employment duration is 8.02 (±4.47) years with the maintenance group of workers have longest working duration of 9 years. Muscle and ligament sprain strain known to be the commonest condition (80%) refer for physiotherapy rehabilitation, tendinitis (14%) and fracture (6%). Young age group of workers were significantly 9 times higher (95% CI 1.83 – 40.35) of getting back injuries. The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorder based on work categories vary with office type workers has 4.5 times higher (95% CI 1.06 – 19.7) on hand injuries. This study has revealed that workers age, different type of work categories, working experience, and body mass composition were associates with the occupational related injuries. The training programme emphasise on preventive measures should be tailored to empower the employee on safety measures at work.
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.
The paper writes on the possible origin of off-limit cases found in a noise project conducted internally in a factory in Malaysia. Out of 691 sampled workers’ that attended audiometric test results (some repeated), it was found that the mode of hearing ability is between 20 to 30 dB depending on individual worker’s age ranging from 20 to 55 years. Out of the total results, approximately 100 workers are above a limit defined here in this paper as the off-limit condition. The chance of a worker originating from a good condition to an unhealthy condition is about 1 percent. The data are tabulated to show that a sway pattern could be an explanation of workers’ origin. Although the data is profound, there is no evidence of a trace due to a short test period. Possibilities are highlight here to outline the severity of a cross over to the unhealthy condition (here defined as the off-limit condition). Some advises are mentioned here with individual susceptibility on the matter though there is no data to substantiate. Further findings are required to show a trace. In conclusion, the severity is highlight. A chart, developed to know the limits of hearing ability, is illustrated ased the findings.
Malaysia’s palm oil industry is growing in complexity and successively to succeed on the global level by accounts for about 36% of the word production of palm oil [1]. But, Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) issues are still problematic areas that need to be addressed by all parties concerned in this industry. In the olden days, unlike construction or manufacturing industry, palm oil industry was green in OHS management system. However, due to stringent in the legislative enforcement in the past few years, it has lead some of the plantation companies to develop OHS management system, which are based on Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS), towards corporate sustainability. Sustainability is not about paying lip-service to the latest corporate buzzword; neither is it about superficially meeting minimum requirements for the sake of compliance. Rather, sustainability is a core value that lies at the heart of the companies’ business conduct. In practical terms, this means strive to operate with due consideration for the interest of all stakeholders by making the health and safety of all workers a priority. This paper describes the certification of OHSAS 18001 and MS 1722 in Genting Plantations Berhad (GENP) prove the commitment to sustainability by forming guiding principle on safety management. Further, this paper also demonstrates that the implementation of safety management can help to reduce the accident rate, especially fatal accident.
Engineering control is a method of controlling the risk of exposure to contaminants. Health effects to industrial workers are more severe whilst high exposure and time exposed to contaminants at workplace. Installation of industrial ventilation or local exhaust ventilation (LEV) system is the proposed method to reduce the risk. This paper discusses the past, present and future relating to LEV system in Malaysia. Current issues related to monitoring reported by Hygiene Technician in compliance with Occupational Safety and Health (Use of Standard Chemical Hazardous to Health Regulation 2000) carried out in several states in Malaysia as a sample. The nanotechnology is a new area at present and future. The involvement of government, employers and employees need to be justified due to the attention to prevent and control of any exposure. It is suggested that using the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulation, a new design of LEV system can be upgraded and predicted.
Fogging activity has become one of the important methods in tackling dengue outbreaks nowadays. Despite this, it is an occupation that has known hazards namely noise and pesticides which can affect the body organs. Based on this knowledge, a cross sectional study was conducted to determine the association between hearing impairment and serum cholinesterase level among foggers from five randomly selected Health District Offices in Selangor. A total of 200 workers comprising of 100 workers exposed to fogging activity and another 100 workers not exposed were randomly selected for this study. Data was obtained through self administered questionnaire, audiometric testing and serum cholinesterase level measurement. The overall prevalence of hearing impairment was 16% with foggers having significant higher prevalence (24%) compared to the non foggers (8%) (χ2=9.52, p=0.002). Measurement of serum cholinesterase showed that exposed workers had lower level compared to the non exposed group. Similarly, those who have hearing impairment had also lower serum cholinesterase level although it was not statistically different. Among all studied factors, age and duration of exposure to fogging activities were statistically different with hearing impairment (p
Comparative cross sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of hearing impairment among workers in one of the airport in Malaysia and the factors associated with it. A total of 248 subjects comprising 175 from the exposed group and the remaining control group were sampled. The main tools used in this study were validated questionnaire on hearing assessment and pure tone audiometric test. Response rate was 94%. Both area and personal exposure monitoring have exceeded action level for 8 Hrs TWA in the exposed group but within normal limit in the control group. The prevalence of hearing impairment was 88% among the noise exposed group and 11% in the control group with prevalence odds ratio (POR) 3.569 (95%CI 1.210-10.53, p
Occupational health hazards as a result to exposure to mineral dust containing silica has been established long time ago in occupational health history. Its effects on lung function and symptom was evaluated in a cross sectional studied among 49 small enterprise pottery workers in the county of Sayong clustered in 3 villages. Respiratory symptoms and lung function was evaluated using MRC respiratory questionnaire 86 and standard spirometry performed. The prevalence of chronic cough, phlegm and chest tightness was 24.5%, 16% and16% respectively. There was no significant decrement in lung function parameters from the predicted normal value with the mean predicted FVC; FEV1 and FEV1/FVC ratio was 85.32%, 83.87% and 99.22 respectively. The relationship between lung symptoms and lung function parameters was evaluated and the result was not significant.