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.
A cross sectional study to determine the exposure of heat and its biological effects on the workers in a plastic factory located in the Shah Alam Industrial Estate, Selangor, Malaysia. Forty five respondents from the polymer section in the factory were selected as the respondents. Variables measured were the environmental temperature (WBGTin), air velocity, relative humidity, body temperature, average heart and recovery heart rate. QUESTEMP°34 Area Heat Stress Monitor was used to measure the environmental temperature in °C (WBGTin) and relative humidity (%). Velocicheck Model TSI 8830 was used to measure the air velocity in meter per second (m/s) while the OMRON Blood Pressure Monitor Model T3, was used to measure average heart rate and recovery heart rate. Body temperature (°C) was measured by the Instant Ear Thermometer-OMRON Gentle Temperature Model MC509. Interviews using questionnaires were used to determine respondents’ socioeconomic background, previous risk factors on heat exposure and other information related to heat stress. Results showed that the mean environmental temperature for the exposed group was 28.75°C, the mean air velocity was 0.15 m/s and the mean relative humidity was 58.1%. These production workers were exposed occasionally to heat when loading plastic powder into the molds as well as demolding the finished plastic products from the molds. The average time of monitoring was 2 hours for intermittent exposure and 8 hours duration for overall exposure. Maximum demand for work load was measured 1 minute after work activities were stopped at the demolding section. There was a significant difference between body temperature and average heart rate before work, after 2 hours of work and after 8 hours of work ( p < 0.001). The mean recovery heart rate after 1 min was 88.0 ± 12.0 beat per min. (bpm), indicating that there is no excessive physiological demand. Body temperature (36.8 ± 0.40°C) and average heart rate after 8 hours (78 ± 12 bpm) indicated a good body control of heat exposure. Five out of six workplaces monitored had temperatures of greater than 28°C (ACGIH TLV). The workers were exposed to moderate heat stress during the study period, however, body temperature and average heart rate measurement did not reach unacceptable level of physiologic strain.
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.
Ergonomics management is a process that will have a significant, positive effect on a company’s profits through cost reduction, quality improvement, performance improvement and productivity enhancement. Also known as human factors of human engineering, it basically describes the interaction between an employee and his/her job functions, with the emphasis being on reducing unnecessary physical stress in the workplace. The goal of ergonomics is to enable workers to be more effective by matching the requirements and demands of the job to the abilities and limitations of the workers rather than trying to force the workers to fit the job. This paper theoretically describes the benefits of understanding the ergonomics to the workplace. The components and activities required to implement ergonomics management also have been discussed. Besides that, the practical approach of ergonomics has been described by giving practical workplace improvement suggested by scholars. By approaching work practices (stretching, reaching, and sitting) from an ergonomically correct point of view, a worker actually becomes stronger, healthier and more productive.
Psychology has been well-accepted for application in virtually all aspects of human activities, including making a living. Thus, the objective of this paper is to introduce the application of psychology at workplaces. Specifically this paper addresses the importance of the profession of Industrial and Organizational Psychologist in the increasingly advanced and industrious society of Malaysia. It highlights the areas that the professional cares for, as well as its roles and positions in the view of the nation’s needs. Besides that, this paper also stresses the essential issues that Industrial and Organizational Psychologist practicing in Malaysia should consider. In short, this paper advocates the need of having professionals to look into the well-being of individuals contributing towards making Malaysia a developed nation.
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 study aimed to validate the Malay Version of Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire for Malaysian use and application for assessing psychosocial work environment factors. Validity and Reliability were studied in 50 staff nurses of Hospital Selayang. The validity of the questionnaire was evaluated by calculating the percentage of sensitivity and specificity at the different score level. Both percentage of sensitivity against specificity were plotted to produce a ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristics) curve, and score 52 has the highest both sensitivity and specificity was used as an overall index that expresses the probability that measure the psychosocial problems. For reliability purposes, a descriptive of Test-Retest Mean Scores and Paired Sample T-Test and the coefficient-correlation test were calculated. The Test-Retest Mean Scores and Paired Sample T-Test for all 26 scales were calculated and showed statistically not significant. The reliability of the questionnaire and its 26 scales was assessed by using Pearson (r) (overall questionnaire r within a range of 0.00 to 1.00). The COPSOQ appears to be a reliable and responsive measure of workers for Malaysian use and can be applied for assessing psychosocial work environment factors.
Health promotion, a discipline fast growing, deals with the prevention of illness and injury at the workplace. This article review defines health promotion and suggests the means for planning an effective, organized and well-structured program. A properly executed program will benefit both employer and employee in managing workplace absenteeism, reducing staff turnover, improving morale and productivity and keeping health care costs at an acceptable level.
Recent development in industrialization and global economy has contributed to the increased number of workplace
injuries and accidents. Safety culture has been seen as a central medium to curb the worrying trend of workplace
accidents. The term of safety culture has emerged from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 and the concept has
been widely used until today. However, the conceptualization of safety culture suffers from several major drawbacks
such as no definite understanding of how safety culture is being defined and measured. This paper hypothesized that
higher levels of safety culture in the workplace will display lower numbers of accidents. Due to this concern, this
paper seeks to provide a clear conceptualization of safety culture, dimensions used to measure it and common research
methodology used in the previous safety research.
Ergonomics can be viewed as an approach to reduce injury and illness rates to improve the overall working
conditions for employees by addressing risk factor exposure that may occur during manual tasks. The objective
of this research was to analyze ergonomics risk factors by associating the perception of employer and employees
towards their workplace condition in quarry and mining industry. A Questionnaire on Ergonomics Risk Assessment
was used to determine the comparison level awareness and perception analysis among quarry and mining industry in
Malaysia. The findings of this research prove that the exposure of ergonomics risk factors towards the workers is in
a moderate level with a mean of 3.59 for the overall respondent review about the ergonomics risk among workers at
their workplace. Besides, the most concern in ergonomics is about the awkward posture at work. Some 8.8% of them
agreed and 6.6% of them totally agreed that they were in awkward posture while doing their work. As a conclusion,
assessment of ergonomics in quarry and mining industry will be a platform to provide a safe and healthy working
environment.
Lack of safety awareness among quarry workers caused a number of accidents in quarry industries. The objective
of this study is to gauge the awareness level towards safety among quarry workers. A questionnaire was distributed
randomly among quarry workers in Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan. The questionnaire consists of 6 questions
regarding safety at workplace. Results revealed that 56.9% of the respondents agreed and totally agreed for the health
and safety suggestions made to be given consideration and used. As many as 79.3% respondents admitted that they
obeyed all the safety rules stated at the workplace and 86.3% respondents said that they always focused and gave
full attention while completing their task. A high percentage of 88% of the respondents agreed for all accidents
to be reported to responsible persons while 77.6% respondents agreed for all personal protective equipment to be
used suitable with the task given and 86.2% respondents answered that they performed their task following the safe
operation procedures provided by the company.
Unsafe behaviour is the key factor which contributes to the high number of incidents. Applying Behavior-Based
Safety (BBS) into safety risk controls has been adopted in major industry toward improving safety performance.
This approach to prevent incident has a number of advantages. The objective of this study is to identify the BBS
factors which can contribute to reduce incidents at the workplace. Human factors, behaviour and environment have
been identified as BBS factors. Human factors are influenced by knowledge and understanding of the workers while
behaviour factors are influenced by culture and practices in a daily life. In addition, environmental factor involves
equipment and work area. For an effective BBS approach, level of knowledge, understanding and practices by the
workers become the main concerns in the implementation of BBS. The findings can become the reference model for
future implementation in other organizations and as a guidance for better safety management.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Geographically, Malaysia is situated in the equatorial region, thus having a climate of hot and humid throughout the
year. Effect of heat stress and physical work load at construction industry need to be investigated because of the high number of
accidents. Thus, perception of physical workload and heat stress by the construction workers in Malaysia needed to be investigated
and documented. The aim of this paper is to establish a set of questionnaires containing the item generation regarding on physical
workload and the heat stress perception of construction workers. Physical workload factors such as fatigue, risks, concentration,
work rhythm, responsibility, satisfaction, and autonomy are inserted as the items in assessing the physical workload. While heat
stress are assessed using heat risk factors such as temperature, humidity, heat radiation, air movement, workload, clothing and
acclimatisation. A questionnaire has been developed resulted from various reviewing of literatures on physical workload and heat
stress and better suited to the Malaysia working environment.
The construction industry is one of the largest sectors in Malaysia. This industry has become one of the main contributors
for national economic development and consistently contributes 3% to 5% to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This
sector has also opened up job opportunities for various levels of employment. High demands and rapid urbanization offer huge
opportunities for registered contractors. Despite contributing in enhancing national economics, this sector has been regarded as one
of the most dangerous and hazardous workplaces due to the type of nature and the job activities at construction sites. According to
the International Labour Organization (ILO), 2.3 million fatalities related to occupational accidents and illnesses are estimated to
occur each year. Furthermore, 4 percent of world GDP is estimated to be lost due to occupational accidents and illnesses. The number
of fatality accidents in the construction industry was the highest with 652 cases of non-permanent disability (NPD) and permanent
disability (PD) accidents in the period 2007 to 2015, equivalent to 72.44 cases per year and representing 48.77% of the construction
industry. The huge gap between the number of accidents reported to SOCSO and DOSH becomes a major concern due to a rising
number of underreported cases of fatalities and injury in the construction sector, especially those involving foreign labour. The margin
between accidents reported to SOCSO and DOSH is 97.49%. Regards to rapid developments, safety measures to improve performance
management of OSH should be emphasized to reduce losses of life, property and productivity.
Workplace accident is still prevalent in the Malaysian industry sector. Although statistics indicates that the number of
accidents in the workplace is showing signs of decrease over the last five years, there is still room for improvements. According to
report, a majority of the workplace accidents in Malaysia happened in Small and Medium Enterprise (SME). This shows that SME is
still lagging behind in ensuring the safety of their workplace. This can disrupt their business activities as workplace accidents bring
several negative effects. Therefore, this study explores the use of safety training to foster safety behaviour among employees. Surveys
were distributed to employees working in SME, Northern Corridor of Economic Region (NCER). The data was analysed and results
were presented. Suggestions to management in SME are made at the end of the paper.
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the upper limb (WRMSDs-UL) account for one of the largest types of occupational disorders worldwide. This broad term includes several disorders, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, tension neck syndrome and lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow) which are generally caused by poor postures, repetitive strain and psychosocial factors. Various workplace interventions have been investigated and employed to prevent the different WRMSDs-UL, but a common consensus to address the problem has yet to be achieved. This paper reviews and discusses the efficacies of some interventions which have been tested for the most prevalent type of WRMSDs-UL, carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). The focus will be on computer users who developed CTS out of the prolonged and repetitive use of keyboards and pointing devices. The interventions studied include engineering design, management strategies, personal development, medical treatment and multi-dimensional approaches. Outcome of the study reveals that the most effective approach would be one that is multi-dimensional in nature, with the inclusion of at least two or more intervention strategies at the same time.