he practice of 5S has been adopted by many organizations as a method to organize the workplace towards reducing waste and improving productivity. Moreover, the practice also promotes a safe and efficient environment in organisations. As safety performance of the workplace is among the key issues in most industries including universities to become world class organizations, this study seeks to address empirically the impact of 5S practice on safety management performance. In this context, a survey questionnaire is employed and distributed to 60 employees of the selected university to examine the employees’ perception on the adoption of 5S practice as well as the impact of 5S practice towards safety management performance. The questionnaires were validated by a pilot test with an acceptable value of Cronbach's alpha. Overall findings highlight there was positive perceptions toward 5S practice among the respondents. The results also revealed that 5S Audit has a very strong positive correlation with safety management performance. Furthermore, 5S Training and Top Management Commitment were (2) factors that strongly correlated to safety management performance. These factors are highly important in contributing toward the success of safety management performance. Additionally, since most of the employees were not exposed with Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), this study reveals moderate negative correlation between compliance to OSH Requirements and safety management performance.
To investigate the safety climate and knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) on occupational safety and health (OSH)in the manufacturing industry, also to determine the association between safety climate factors and KAP of safety among manufacturing worker. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 59 respondents from two manufacturing plants located in Gebeng, Kuantan, Pahang. Most of the respondents were Malay (91.5%) and male (96.6%). Participants were administered a set of questionnaires (Cronbach alpha=0.674) that measured the safety climate as perceived by the workers towards their supervisor and KAP of the workers regarding safety-related matters at the workplace. Self-administered questionnaires consisted of 5 points Likert scale used to measure each of the items of safety climate and KAP. The scales for safety climate and KAP were probed using 16 items and 17 items in the questionnaires, respectively. The results were analysed using a non-parametric test, which is Spearman’s rho correlations and descriptive statistics. Bivariate analysis was performed. There was a moderate positive correlation between safety climate and KAP domains (Spearman’s rho: 0.581, p
Licensed person is a third party who was awarded a license to perform statutory inspection for certificated
machinery under the provision of section 40 (1A), Factories and Machinery Act (Amendment) (FMA) 2006. The
objectives of the study is to identify issues related to statutory inspection in Malaysia and to make comparisons with
respect to the statutory inspection by Licensed Person adopted by other countries. The enforcement of Licensed
Person in Malaysia is still in not yet implemented although Section 40 (1A) in FMA (Revision) 2006 regulating on
Licensed Person had been introduced on 2006 and compared with other countries especially our neighboring country
Singapore. Based on the DOSH inspection data analysis, the main issues relating to statutory inspection in Malaysia
is the increment in backlog cases due to lack of number officers compare to the number of registered certificated
machineries in Malaysia. As a conclusion, the implementation of Licensed Person is crucial in Malaysia to reduce the
work and financial burden of Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) officer in enforcing FMA 1967
and also to improve the quality of statutory inspection for the safety in workplace.
Heat stress is considered to be the sum of heat generated in the body (metabolic heat) plus the heat gained from the environment (environmental heat) minus the heat lost from the body to the environment. The consequences of heat stress can caused heat disorder such as heat stroke, heat syncope, heat exhaustion, heat cramps and other heat related diseases. The objective of this study was to compare the pattern of heat stress in each section. A crosssectional study was carried out in two sections (Paintshop A and Bodyshop B) in a selected automotive assembly plant in Selangor to monitor the environmental heat stress. The environmental heat monitoring was done on 89 March 2005. Heat stress monitor (Model: QUESTemp o 34 Thermal Environment Monitor, Quest Technologies, USA) was used to record the pattern of heat exposure in the workplace over a period of eight hours. Heat parameters such as dry temperature, wet temperature, globe temperature and relative humidity were measured. Wet Bulb Globe Temperature index (WBGT) and workload evaluation were used to compare both sections. Heat parameters such as timeweighted average wet bulb globe temperature for indoor setting (TWAWBGT indoor ), dry temperature (DB), natural wet bulb temperature (WB), globe temperature (GB) in Paintshop A were higher than those in Bodyshop B. The relative humidity in Paintshop A was hotdry compared to Bodyshop B which is hotwarm. Paintshop A was considered a hot area compared to Bodyshop B which is normal. Workers in both sections were not faced with heat stress problems because they were worked under acceptable condition according to American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists standard. Both sections in the automotive assembly plant exhibited acceptable working condition for workers in a tropical environment.
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.
Indoor air pollution is rapidly becoming a major health issue worldwide. The quality of indoor air inside building
is important not only for occupants’ comfort but also for their health. Although researches are still under way to
better define the nature and extent of the health implications for the general population, recent studies have shown
significant amounts of harmful pollutants in the indoor environment. Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) has been tied to
symptoms like headaches, fatigue, trouble concentrating and irritation of the eyes, nose, throat and lungs. In this study,
occupants’ comfort satisfaction on IAQ of a museum building environment in a tropical climate will be studied. IAQ
aspects which will be considered as parameters are chemical contaminants, gaseous pollutant and comfort factors
(temperature, humidity and air movement). Museum, archives, library, heritage building and gallery are the types of
buildings that can be considered as heritage building environment. At the initial stage, a pilot study will be conducted
to identify the current IAQ conditions inside those selected buildings.
Indoor air quality has been a major public concern recently. Several health effects are related to this problem.
Findings from several studies have shown MVAC system as the main contributor for IAQ problem. Good practice of
maintenance and servicing is important to maintain MVAC system, especially the filter. Good air filtration for MVAC
system is needed to make sure adequate air is received by the occupants. This paper illustrated a recent study of air
filtration for MVAC system especially for several industries that used MVAC system in their premises. This paper also
proposed an air filtration study for a better air quality. Several Acts and Regulations related to Safety and Health were
identified to create the framework for the proposed study. Air filtration technique was used in this preliminary study
to set up guidelines to create safe and clean indoor spaces for workers and occupants.
Indoor pollution increasingly becomes a public concern. These concerns are related to energy efficiency in a
building. There are various ways in which it can ensure energy conservation can be achieved, including superinsulation
and reduced fresh air exchange. As a result, indoor air becomes stagnant and odours, thereafter contaminants of air will
accumulate and will certainly disrupt human health. It is quite difficult to make people comfortable in a building with
consumption of energy-saving and human health guaranteed. Indoor plants are one of the alternative solutions that
have been studied since the last three decades. This paper intends to review the abilities of indoor plants to purify air,
and the ways used by previous researchers to prove that indoor plants can treat the air. In general, it can be stated that
indoor plants are able to absorb various types of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). An advantage of indoor plants
to cure air from carcinogen gas is greatly needed for human health. Therefore, studies on indoor plants to neutralize
the air are gaining attention. Enclosed space or chamber is often used by researchers to test the ability of indoor plants
absorb gaseous toxins in their study; because it is easy to handle and can quickly determine the absorption rate. In the
other hand, environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and light are important to be taken into consideration
during the study. As a conclusion, it can be stated that the existence of indoor plants in a building is very reasonable,
because it can give positive impacts on human health and the total energy consumption.
The question about which is the best approach to facilitate the effective safety evaluation, training processes
involved have become and on-going debate. This article reviews current approaches to evaluation of safety training. It
was focusing theoretical framework suggested and used in the previous literature. Furthermore, possible summary of
several methodologies of safety training evaluation presented.
In order to have an effective preventive measures to reduce accidents
at the workplace, organisations need to take a robust step to increase safety
participation in Occupational Safety and Health Management System (OSHMS).
Accidents will affect employees' morale for work and employers will bear the
consequence of the direct and indirect recovery cost. Specifically, accidents will
cost big company’s good reputation. This study intends to examine the
relationship of organizational safety factors (management safety commitment,
safety training, extrinsic reward, intrinsic reward, employee involvement, safety
communication and safety advice) towards safety participation in OSHMS using
the resource-based view (RBV) and knowledge-based view (KBV) theories. A
total of 100 responses were analysed from the Malaysian manufacturing firms
with OHSAS 18001 or MS 1722 certifications. Data were analysed using
the Smart Partial Least Square (SmartPLS). It is found that safety training and
employee involvement have direct relationship towards safety participation in
OSHMS. Specifically, the safety advice showed a significant moderating effect on
the relationship between management safety commitment and safety
participation in OSHMS. The findings of this study are useful to both OSH
practitioners and organisation who wish to understand and apply safety capital
towards safety participation in OSHMS with specific reference to the role of
safety advice played by safety professionals.
Recent statistics from the Social Security Organization (SOCSO) of Malaysia shows Commuting Accident (CA)
increased consistently by 1500 cases per year from 2008 to 2012. This has resulted in the rising of fatality rate,
extensive claims of compensation payment and not to mention loss of valuable talents. However, little is known
about the contributing factors to the occurrences of CA in Malaysia because CA is never considered to be work
related before. This study aims to explore work related factors with occurrence of CA using 5-year statistical data
from SOCSO, Malaysia. Moreover, we also reviewed studies published between 1990s and 2014 to support the
statistical findings. Motorbike is found as the most common vehicle used which involved in CA. Individual factors
concerning workers behaviour is a main risk factor of CA. Family related factors (parenting responsibility), work
burden, workplace support as well as environmental factors such as bad weather and bad road conditions are also
significant contributions of CA. It is very important to develop behavioural intervention strategies and provide proper
training. Hence, more attention should be directed to young individual workers in balancing them with capabilities and
organization performance demand. This may lead to the elimination of the other causes of CA. In conclusion, solutions
to this problem involve not only a particular party to ensure the wellbeing of workers in Malaysia, but all authorities
should play roles in enhancing safety and health matter of workers especially on the occurrence of accident.
Workers in the health care industry and related occupations are at risk of occupational exposure to blood borne pathogens, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and other potentially infectious agents. The primary route of occupational exposure to blood borne pathogens is accidental percutaneous (through the skin) injury. Health care workers handle sharp devices and equipment such as hypodermic and suture needles, intravenous blood collection devices, phlebotomy devices, and scalpels. Health care workers with the most involvement in direct patient care e.g., nursing staff, sustain the highest proportion of reported NSIs (needle stick injuries).
Needle Stick Injury is injuries caused by suture needle and hollow bore needle and does not include injuries via scalpel blades, lancet and glass pieces or by other means for the purpose of this training program. This problem needs to be prevented or minimized by embarking on an effective training program. The applicability of this program will be determined by the response of the participants to the contents and teaching methods which will in future effect the long term out come and the success of the Needle Stick Injury prevention and Universal Precautions training program. This Health Education program was designed to be used for the induction training of new workers as well as those already in service and is applicable to all levels of Health Care Workers especially those directly dealing with or handling syringes and needles. This Needle Stick Injury and Universal Precautions Training Program was carried out in one of the health facility under the Ministry of Health in Sabah and the outcome evaluation and analysis using paired t-test has shown a significant difference in their effectiveness in increasing the knowledge of the Health Care Workers after being exposed to the program (p < 0.01). The process evaluation was able to show that this approach was instrumental in creating awareness among the Health Care Workers who had attended this program. From the study, 98% (49) had not attended any formal training since joining the service, followed by 90% who had given a good overall rating for the program. For the lecture and its relevance, 90% and 74% for the hands–on training. About 77% of the participant was satisfied with the discussion. The program can be developed further and with it a comprehensive training module can be produced. The long-term benefits of such a training program will need to be evaluated in a future study.
An awareness of possible risk factor in pesticides, by changing attitude towards the correct technique during spraying and
changing behavior can increase safety of workers safety as well as performance. However, there is a limited study and not highlighted
deeply in knowledge, attitude and practices of workers in palm oil plantation issue. Therefore , the objective of this paper is to identify
the relationship between knowledge, attitude and practices of pesticides among the plantation workers. The quantitative method were
used in this paper whereby 132 respondents as pesticide sprayer which represent 90% of the population of palm oil workers in Johor.
The result of spearman correlation indicates that there is significant relationship between knowledge and practices. It shows the
common pattern of high knowledge resulting high practices of the workers during spraying the pesticides at plantation. There is no
relationship between knowledge and attitude and between attitude and practice of the workers at the workplace. This paper shows that
knowledge need to be strengthen in agricultural communities of Johor in order to reduce health problem and sosial issue statistic and
prevent for any future accident. Human exposure to pesticides is an important health and sosial issue as it usually results in serious
health problems such as stroke, epilepsy, respiratory disorders and cancer. Death has been known to occur in some places as a result
of exposures to pesticides. Therefore, more impact knowledge-focused programs need to be arranged and implemented to inculcate
the better awareness of pesticides among palm oil workers, as without knowledge, people may become less careful and therefore are
exposed to pesticide poisoning and other long term exposure illness in the future.
In Malaysia, the number of Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD) cases is increasing . Rapid Upper Limb Assessment
(RULA) is carried out in a physical paper form which is cumbersome and based on the complex nature and it should
consider human error. This project aims to create the RULA application for mobile devices featuring the android system
for this move will cut down the process time by more than half, create a more structured system and eliminate human
error wholly. The application will be designed on the App Inventor website which features a lot of handy tutorials
and takes the initiative to create a RULA mobile app for Android phones. The RULA mobile app for Android phones
is intended to make it easier and much more efficient to conduct a RULA analysis. Additionally, the analyses can be
conducted by minimally trained users, eliminating the need for highly trained technicians. RULA test is performed to
achieve accurate results and the mathematical processes will be programmed into the app so that the user will have a
friendly interface and will only be asked to tick boxes.
In this research, the biodiesel from WCO is used in order to reduce the exhaust emission and to investigate the
community perception regarding to the human health. Biodiesel production is conducted using trans-esterification
process with holding time of 2 hours, temperature of 60 oC and conventional frequency of 20 kHz and then followed
by washing process with holding time of 1 hours, temperature of 50 oC and the frequency of 5 kHz. Biodiesel can
reduce exhaust emission of NOx up to 55%, NO gas up to 57%, increase CO gas up to 25% and increase CO2 gas up
to 43.18% as compared to diesel fuel. In addition, biodiesel is achieve good responds from 35 respondents about the
biodiesel importance.
The Department of Occupational Safety and Health Malaysia (DOSH) is the authority responsible to safeguard the occupational safety, health and welfare of workers in Malaysia. Occupational noise-related hearing disorders are the leading type of occupational diseases recorded by DOSH every year. Occupational Health Doctor (OHD) is a competency recognized by DOSH and their scope of duties in industries is currently confined to conduct medical surveillance for workers with hazardous chemical exposure and confined space medical fitness examination. The duties of OHD are good to be expanded by empowering more of their roles in industrial activities involving other legislations under DOSH. The noise exposure regulation under the Factories and Machinery Act (FMA) 1967 has been governing the worker’s exposure to hazardous industrial noise and preventing noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) since 1989. However, the provisions of the regulation need to be strengthened in some essential medical elements of the Hearing Conservation Programme (HCP) for a comprehensive prevention of NIHL at the workplace. Recently enacted Occupational Safety and Health (Noise Exposure) Regulations 2019 offer a wider coverage of workers in ten sectors of industries applicable under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994. The current regulatory requirements for management of workplace noise have many improvements compared to the existing law. Enhancement in the medical requirements of industrial audiometry is made prominent by involving OHDs to interpret audiograms and conduct medical examination for workers. The reporting of occupational noise-related hearing disorders to DOSH is outlined better in the new regulation. The occurrence of NIHL and other related hearing disorders are expected to reduce eventually after the introduction of Occupational Safety and Health (Noise Exposure) Regulations 2019. The OHDs will play a pivotal role in industrial audiometry and prevention of hearing disorders among the working population.
There is a need to develop an Occupational Safety and Health Management System (OSHMS) Critical Success Factors (CSF) Monitoring among gas contractor in Malaysia. Critical Success Factors (CSF) can be used for future implementation, adaptation and practice for gas contractor work for both by clients and contractors in Malaysia. The main purpose of CSF implementation is to reduce the number of accident related with Occupational Safety and Health (OSH). The need for CSF is due to the requirement by law and standard that require companies to establish an arrangement related to the identified OSH risks. The objective of this study is to assess the established of OSHMS among gas contractor in Peninsular Malaysia and to identify the CSF imposed by these industries. A cross sectional study for eighty gas contractor companies using established questionnaire has been done. All data consolidated in order to determine the OSHMS and it CSF among gas contractor in Peninsular Malaysia that has registered with Department of Occupational Safety and Health. Established questionnaire are based on OSHMS MS 1722:2011 elements requirement No 1: Policy, No 2: Organizing, No 3: Planning and Implementation, No 4: Evaluation and No 5: Action for Improvement as parameters to come out with organization means and Z-scores. Descriptive statistic showed that element mean (standard deviation) score for policy is 75(6.6), for Organizing is 63(5.2), for Planning and Implementation is 59(9.4), for Evaluation is 66(5.1) and Action for Improvement is 63(1.3). Percentage of company that complies with the main element for Policy is 15%, for Organizing is 8.8%, for Planning and Implementation is 11.3%, for evaluation is 11.3% and for Action for improvement is 13.8%. Percentage of companies that partially comply with Policy element is distributed between 61.0% to 85.0% which is 76.3 %, for Organizing score is mainly distributed between 46.0% to 60.0% which is 62.5%, for planning and Implementation score for 80 companies distributed mainly in group score between 46.0 to 60.0% which is 56.3 %, for Evaluation the partially comply score is distributed in group score between 61.0% to 85.5% which is 41 % and for Action for Improvement partially comply score, the distribution is mainly distribute in range of 61.0% to 85.0% which is 62.5 %. Z-score for element policy is five points from policy mean, for organizing Z-score is three points from Organizing mean, for Planning and Implementation the Z-score is three points from Planning and Implementation mean, for Evaluation the Z-score is three points from evaluation mean and for Action for improvement Z-score is two to three points from Action for Improvement mean. Percentage of compliance with OSHMS MS 1722:2011 elements by gas contractors in almost main element and sub element are still low and can be further improved by focusing on all company element score for continual improvement of OSH elements compliances.
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.
Construction industry is one of the major contributors towards Malaysian economy and socio-economy. It is an important
industry gearing Malaysia towards developed nation status. However, fatalities in this industry are a crucial problem. Number of
fatalities in this industry is the highest compare to other industries registered in Malaysia. The contributing factors can be separated
into immediate (human and worksite elements) and underlying (management and external). Occupational safety and health (OSH)
management is a challenge in the construction industry due to its hazardous nature. A framework of construction OSH management
consisting of policy, process, personnel and incentive elements were tested. 13 respondents from 13 residential projects comprising of
high-rise and low-rise in Pulau Pinang were interviewed. It was found that the immediate factors are being more recognized by the
respondents compare to the underlying factors. Human element is perceived as the most significant contributor, while the external
element is the least significant. In terms of construction OSH management, process and personnel elements are the most significant in
developing an effective OSH management programme.