Evacuation profile systems in high rise building are important to determine the safety level during any fire
emergency. In relation to this, the study was conducted with its objective to develop the evacuation profile for
NIOSH Tower. Evacnet-4 software was used to develop models for building evacuations using the building network
descriptions and the initial content of the occupant at the beginning of the evacuation. The results show that it
requires 390 seconds to evacuate NIOSH tower, with the highest number of bottlenecks recorded for the Third Floor.
Identification of bottleneck is important to determine the evacuation periods. The information gained from the model
may be used for the emergency response planning and for support material. The model should be tested in real time
to have its reliability verified.
This invention is more on ergonomics scope. This ergonomics rostrum fulfills the ergonomics criteria especially
when used while standing. The important parts in this invention are rostrum head and platform. The rostrum head is
adjustable so the users can set the height of rostrum head for their suitability and comfort. Another important part in
this invention is platform. The purpose of the platform is to help users reach the rostrum head. The platform can flip
into the rostrum body. This invention can be used by anyone especially for Malaysian people because its designed was
based on the Malaysian height.
Working for a minimum of 8 hours, 6 days a week might have exposed the workers of public transportation to
high noise risks. However, occupational exposures in their workplace have not been adequately characterized and
identified. Assessment of occupational noise exposure among workers at five public transportation stations was made
using Sound Level Meter and through questionnaire survey. The data obtained was combined to estimate the work
shift exposure level and health impacts to the workers by using statistical analysis. The respondents participated in the
survey to identify the symptoms of noise-induced hearing loss and other health-related problems. Results of the study
indicated that occupational noise exposure among workers for Mean Continuous Equivalent Level, Leq= 76.17 dB(A)
presents small risks of developing a hearing disability. Some of the workers show symptoms of noise-induced hearing
loss and are annoyed by the sources of noise present at the public transportation.
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
Air pollution in steel making operations effect to respiratory health. This study aimed to measure the dust exposure and evaluate the respiratory health among steel workers. A cross sectional study was conducted among 402 male workers. Respiratory symptoms using British Medical Research Council (BMRC) Questionnaire while lung function was measured The airborne dust [PM2.5, PM10, and Total Particulate Matter (TPM)] were monitored by Handheld 3016 Counter. All the parameters studied exceeded the limit of Malaysian guideline standard. Prevalence of chronic phlegm, chest of tightness, and shortness of breath were 35.8 %, 32.8 %, 23.4 %, and 22.4 %, respectively. significant differences between shortness of breath and work section (2=9.236, p=0.026) and %FEV1/FVC with work section [F (3, 3.98=3.194), p=0.025]. Smoking was associated with chronic cough (Adj OR =1.07, 95% CI: phlegm (Adj OR =1.05, 95% CI: 1.03 - 1.08), and shortness of breath (Adj OR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.00 past respiratory illnesses was associated with chest tightness (Adj OR = 2.24, 95% CI: 1.04 - 4.84) and (Adj OR = 4.16, 95% CI: 1.92 - 9.92). Duration of employment was associated with FEV1 (β=-0.025, 0.020) while past respiratory illnesses was associated with %FEV1/FVC (β =-1.784, 95% CI: -3.017 workers are at risk of developing respiratory symptoms and lung function impairment.
The objectives of this study is to evaluate subjective symptoms and neurobehavioral performances among workers exposed to lead and its relation with blood lead levels. The methodology of this study was restricted to 141 Malaysian battery manufacturing factories male workers with mean (SD) age of 35.2 (9.6) years, years of employment 9.1 (7.1), current blood lead concentration 40.5 (16.8) μg/dl were given WHO neurobehavioral core test battery. Results showed that highly exposed group blood lead level (high ≥ 40 μg/dl) performed less well in 4 of 13 responses reported higher subjective symptoms of weakness of lower limbs and anorexia. Significant correlation was found between blood lead and Digit Symbol, Digit Forward, Digit Backward, Aiming Pursuit Test and Trail B. Regression analysis showed reduction in cognitive, memory and concentration functions at ≤ 30 μg/dl blood lead levels with maximum lead effect at Digit symbol’s score at 40 μg/dl. In conclusion, this study is consistent with the larger body of neurobehavioral tests in lead exposure and has proven the ability of these tests in detecting low level of lead toxicity.
The study objective is to examine the effects of the identified attributes (i.e. employee characteristics and ergonomics) that influences the chronic back pain disabilities acquired and benefits awarded via the recognition of workplace relatedness. As these factors are considered in work- related chronic back pain, we hypothesized that the ascertainment of work relatedness would depend on employees’ workplace conditions (poor ergonomic practices) and innate personal conditions (excellent pre-existing medical health). Two set of data was collected from a registry owned by a social security organization in 2012. Factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data. As predicted, workplace conditions and employees’ pre- existing medical health status mediated occupational back pain to develop disability and monetary benefit relationships. In conclusion, the results support the importance of obtaining workplace evidence and employees’ pre- existing medical health status that produces stronger relationship in terms of the amount of benefits to be given compared to the lesser effects on disability. Both models with different samples showed consistent SEM results. The proposed model would be applicable in the heterogenous Asian setting and that occupational back pain consensus is the key element in providing effective social security protection.
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.
Peningkatan masalah muskulosketal di kalangan pemandu bas henti-henti akibat beban kerja fizikal semakin
menjadi perhatian. Oleh itu, tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk mengenalpasti jenis beban kerja fizikal yang dihadapi oleh
pemandu bas henti-henti di Kuala Lumpur dan kesannya terhadap prestasi fizikal mereka. Dalam kajian ini, kaedah
rakaman video digunakan untuk melihat dan merakamkan setiap beban kerja fizikal yang dihadapi oleh mereka
semasa memandu dan satu simulasi dibuat untuk melihat kesan beban kerja tersebut terhadap prestasi kerja mereka.
Keseluruhan hasil kajian menunjukkan beberapa jenis beban kerja fizikal yang telah dikenalpasti iaitu seperti menekan
butang suis pada panel kawalan, memberi tiket kepada penumpang, memandang cermin sisi sambil memasukkan
wang ke dalam tabung, menoleh untuk menjawab pertanyaan penumpang dan membelok sambil menarik tombol
isyarat. Demi kesinambungan kajian ini, satu kajian terhadap beban kerja mental perlu dibuat untuk mengetahui secara
menyeluruh beban kerja yang dihadapi oleh pemandu bas.
There is a high prevalence of chronic diseases in the community. Promoting health at the workplace is an effective measure to manage such diseases. This study shares the findings of country-wide company health screening program. The prevalence of high cholesterol among participants was 29 %, high blood pressure was 8% and high blood sugar was 3%. The prevalence of high cholesterol from workplace screening was higher than the community prevalence but the prevalence of high blood pressure and high blood sugar was lower than the community prevalence. The various factors influencing these findings are discussed.
This is a cross-sectional study with the objective to determine the association between complaints Musculoskeletal Disorders
(MSDs) and mismatch of the seats in lecture hall of Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), Universiti Putra Malaysia
(UPM). A total of 132 respondents whom were undergraduate students were involved in this study consist of 47 male and 85 female.
Eight anthropometric measurement (height, weight, popliteal height, buttock-popliteal height, shoulder height, subscapular height,
elbow height and hip width while sitting) as well as five (5) furniture parameter dimensions (seat height, seat depth, seat width,
upper edge backrest height and desk height) were taken. Instruments used were questionnaire modified from Nordic Musculoskeletal
Questionnaire, Martyn anthropometer set, measuring tape, height scale and weighing scale. Findings showed 51.5% mismatch of
seat height, 5.3% mismatch of seat depth, 94.7% mismatch of desk height and 18.2% mismatch of upper edge of back rest. For the
prevalence MSDs in the past seven (7) days, 61.4% reported low back pain followed by neck pain (50%) and upper back pain (43.9%).
There was significant difference between genders in anthropometric body measurement. Significant association were found between
MSDs and mismatch χ2 = 5.406, p < 0.05. In conclusion, there was an association between MSDs and ergonomics furniture of lecture
halls in FMHS, UPM. Based on the findings, it is recommended that in the event of long lecture hour, intermittent break should be
allowed for students to stretch, move or better yet assume different posture such as standing or walk.
Concerns toward Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in office building tend to risen since most people spend their working hours
indoors compare to outdoors. Exposure to indoor pollutants is a considerable problem. Therefore, there is a need to monitor IAQ in
order to deter further air quality deterioration in the workplace. The objective of this study is to determine the level of IAQ parameter
in selected academic office. The important IAQ parameters considered in this study were the air temperature, air velocity, relative
humidity, CO2, CO, TVOC, formaldehyde and respirable particulate matter. Measurements were conducted using commercial IAQ
instruments. From the study it was found that the levels of TVOC and respirable particulate matter were higher than the recommended
limit during photocopying activities. The formaldehyde, CO2 and CO level were observed to be acceptable for an office based on
Industry code of practice on indoor air quality (ICOP-IAQ 2010). Results shows that the temperature and air velocity are located at
acceptable value of 22-25 ºC and 0.1-0.1 m/s. Findings also show high relative humidity that exceeded the requirement level of 40%-
70%. Detail investigations are needed in order to provide certain guidance in improvement of IAQ conditions in office environment.
A road safety audit is a formal examination of an existing or future road or traffic project, or any project that interacts with road users, in which independent, qualified examiners look at the projects crash potential and safety performance. The objectives of road safety audit are to identify potential safety risks for road users and to ensure that measures to eliminate or reduce the risks are fully considered. Road safety audit works in two ways to ensure that safety is improved, namely by removing preventable crash producing elements at the design stage and by mitigating the effects of any remaining risks by the inclusion of suitable crash-reducing elements. The present paper focuses on providing a preliminary or basic understanding of the Road safety Audit. Later the discussion is preceded further to the important elements and the various stages in the Road Safety Audit. Finally, the conclusion focuses briefly on the implementation of the Road Safety Audit, which can only be successful if the members of the Audit Team possess sufficient specialized professional knowledge and other virtues.
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.
The incident involving hydrogen release in industry has become a major concern since numerous incidents were observed to have occured over the years. This paper is designed to do the consequence modelling and analysis using PHAST Simulator for the release rate, potential fire and vulnerability to human by lethality versus probit simulated at 5 mm, 35 mm and 70 mm leak scenarios and three types of atmospheric stability at hydrogenation plant in Telok Panglima Garang. The simulation was carried out by inputting data of leak scenario, meteorological data, material data and process data related to the hydrogenation plant. The simulation results were analyzed and discussed on the discharge rate, dispersion concentration and effect of jet fire such as flame length, downwind distance and lethality for radiation intensity level of 4 kW/m2 , 12.5 kW/m2 and 37.5 kW/m2 . Based on the results, the discharge rate and radiation intensity are dependent on the leak sizes regardless of the different atmospheric conditions. However, the dispersion is dependent on both atmospheric stability and leak sizes. Lastly, the lethality and area of impact are simulated from the radiation intensity produced by the jet fire for each leak size. To conclude, adoption of PHAST software is vital for consequence modelling as this software is able to illustrate the outcomes of hazards due to loss of containment and with this will enable related personnel to respond effectively to any hazardous incidents. As a recommendation, hydrogen fixed gas detectors are proposed for installations at specific location after taking into account the smallest leak that may happen which is at 5 mm leak size.
Students’ knowledge, attitude and practice towards safety and health are one of the important aspects of their learning
process in school. Negligence of this aspect can increase the risk of accidents among students. This study was conducted to assess the
level of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of students toward safety and health aspects in school. This study was participated
by 410 Form Four students that were randomly selected. They are from SMK Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah 1 (SARS1), SMK Taman
Dato’ Harun (SMKTDH) and SMK Agama Sheikh Hj. Mohd Said (SHAMS). Questionnaire used consists of demographic components,
knowledge, attitude and practice items towards safety and health aspects. Majority of the respondents are female students (58.3%)
while the rest are male students (41.7%). Higher percentage of respondents are from SMKTDH (59.5%) followed by SHAMS (24.1%)
and SARS1 (16.3%). This study found that the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of students toward safety and health aspects
in school are high. The mean score of all knowledge, attitude and practice items in the questionnaire are 4.29±0.40, 4.07±0.46,
and 4.13±0.48, respectively. In addition, this study found that the school factors are significantly associated with student’s attitude
and practice, while the gender factor is only significantly associated with student’s attitude towards safety and health in school.
Meanwhile, correlation analysis showed a significant relationship between student’s knowledge, attitude and practice (p
This study illustrates about the most hazardous and risky activities associated with well drilling operation at on and offshore
oil and gas drilling sites by adopting exploratory research design (quantitative leading to qualitative). In this study researcher has
targeted three oil and gas industries each from Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan for the identification of associated hazards
and nature of hazardous activities faced by drilling crew during well drilling operation. Eighty (80) drilling crew members have
been randomly selected for answering the survey questionnaire. Likewise, nine (09) drilling health and safety officials have been
conveniently selected based on their safety expertise in oil and gas drilling field for semi structured in-depth interview. For analyzing
quantitative findings descriptive statistical methods has been used. While for qualitative section thematic analysis approach has
been utilized. Based on the findings, respondents from Malaysian oil and gas industries reported starting drilling activity as highly
hazardous at onshore well drilling, while handling drilling pipe has been considered more hazardous activity at offshore domain.
Similarly, in the context of Saudi Arabia, respondents highlighted that the handling drilling pipes are cause of major injuries at onshore
well drilling site. Whereas drilling fluid preparation and coring process is considered harmful at offshore sites. In contrast, participant
from Pakistan indicated coring process as a highly hazardous activity at on and offshore well drilling operation. According to overall
results based on the participant response, oil and gas well drilling operation at onshore domain is considered more hazardous
at Pakistani oil and gas industry as compare to other targeted industries with mean range 3.42. While for offshore well drilling,
Malaysian industry is recorded highly hazardous as compare to others leading with mean value 3.39 and related with chemical and
safety hazards in well drilling activities.
Malaysia is blessed with oil and gas resources, which form raw materials for the petrochemical industry. The petrochemical industry creates added value to this resource and is an important contributor to the national economy. The petrochemical industry however also creates hazards of which fire or explosions and chemical release are of special concern. These hazards pose a risk not only to workers but also to the surrounding population and environment. To ensure industry is prepared to cope with emergencies, a comprehensive emergency response programme is necessary. This is inline with both the Malaysian Occupational Safety and Health (Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards) Regulations 1996 and the Responsible Care initiative of the chemical industry. This paper describes elements to be considered in an emergency response programme for industry such as the concept of emergency management, organisation, duties and responsibilities, emergency system, training and mutual aid plans and agreements. We shall provide related examples based on a multinational petrochemical company practice.
Regulation on occupational safety and health in Malaysia had evolved from the prescriptive Factory and Machinery Act (1967) to a self-regulated Occupational Safety and Health Act (1994). However, from the authors’ observation the high standards of occupational safety and health culture that surpass the legal requirement were not widely practiced by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The two main objectives of this study are: first, to identify and determine the level of conformity; and second, to investigate the reasons of nonconformity to Occupational Safety and Health Act (1994) regulation in SMEs involved the chemical industry sub-sectors. The survey questionnaire was distributed to 150 SMEs in chemical industry sub-sectors. Forty one of the survey questionnaires were completed and returned, giving a response rate of 27.3% for the survey. The survey results revealed that an overwhelming majority (92.7%) of the respondents from SMEs are likely not conforming to the basic requirement of Occupational Safety and Health Act (1994). In addition to this, the survey also found that only 3.1% of the management personnel can be considered competent in terms of knowledge, skill and ability in carrying out occupational safety and health regulation within their respective organization. While, 96.9% of the respondents that participated in the survey can be considered not competent. The authors hope the result of this survey could assist the relevant authorities in formulating a better policy and strategy for implementing occupational safety and health in SMEs involved in chemical industry sub-sectors.
This retrospective study was conducted at the audiology clinic of UKM in the year 2000. It was intended to detect the effect of walkman on the hearing system of its users and to investigate whether distortion product otoacoustic emission test can provide an early and reliable sign of cochlear damage or not. Distortion product otoacoustic emission test helps to determine the function of outer hair cell. Outer hair cells get damaged with exposure to loud sound, drugs and aging. Thirty subjects (20 in the study group and 10 in the control group), between the ages of 19-25 years, who fulfilled all the criteria of selection, were investigated. There were two sets of criteria (general and specific). Anyone, in the control or study group, failing in any of these criteria was excluded from the study. According to the general criteria, it was essential for all the subjects to have clean ear canals, normal hearing at all the frequencies (250Hz- 8000Hz), normal middle ear function (Type A tympanogram), no middle ear problem, not used/using any ototoxic medicine, no family history of hearing loss, no history of ear surgery, not exposed to any form of loud noise like disco, concert, F1 racing or gun shooting. According to the special criteria it was essential for the subjects in the control group to have never used a walkman and those in the study group must have been using a walkman for at least 6 months. Comparison of distortion product emission levels between control and study groups revealed that emissions were significantly lower in the study group, across all the frequencies, suggesting outer hair cell damage in the walkman users. These differences reached level of statistical significance (p<0.05) at 2, 4, 6 and 8kHz. Using walkman at an intensity unsafe for hearing and a duration longer than recommended is suspected for the outer hair cell damage in our study group. Those using walkman for longer duration and higher intensity manifested much lower emission levels. Our study supports the literature that distortion product emission test is a much sensitive test than pure-tone audiometry, as it can detect cochlear damage long before it appears in an audiogram. It is recommended that people who are exposed to loud noise regularly should be monitored with distortion product emission test. It is suggested that the use of walkman.
Study site: Audiology clinic, Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia