Level of heavy metals in marine ecosystem has been intensively studied during recent years as these hazardous substances could be accumulated in the biota. Generally, the presence of contaminants in fish is a result of human activities such as industrial and agricultural wastes. In this study, the marine fish and shellfish from the Straits of Malacca were analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrophotometer (ICP-OES) and Flow Injection Mercury System (FIMS) for Cd, As and Pb and Hg, respectively. The Straits of Malacca is one of the busiest shipping routes in the world that make the level of heavy metals potentially high besides the various industrial activities along the west region of Peninsular Malaysia. The range of heavy metals in samples were 1.0-3-6.5-3 µg/ g wet sample for Hg, 0.5-2-47-2 µg/ g wet sample for Cd, 0.01-0.39 µg/ g wet sample for Pb and 0.14-6.57 µg/ g wet sample for As. Most part of the values was below the permitted limit set by FAO/WHO 2004 as well as Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985. Therefore it can be generalized that fish and shellfish from the Straits of Malacca are safe to consume in terms of these heavy metals concentrationand do not constitute a risk for human health.
Background: Safety and health audit study is a part of occupational safety and health risk assesment. Thus, student’s residential audit is important in order tu ensure the safety rules which implemented by the management is appropriate and follow the standard set forth. Furthermore, it also important to determine places, area or situation that might lead to hazard risk so that prevention step could be plan and implement.
Objective: This study was to determine the safety level of students residential in physical aspects.
Methods: Safety inspection or audit conducted is in accordance with criteria and indicators listed in the checklists that have been formed based on the audit forms from the Department of Safety and Health (DOSH), National Institute of Safety and health (NIOSH) and the Occupational Safety and Health Committee of UKMs (JKKP). Several indicators are also included in the audit form as to ensure it covers all the technical aspect and suited with the college conditions. The safety level for each of the blocks in KDO is categorized using points and percentage score obtained.
Results: Based on the overall score, the average safety score in percentage for areas in KDO are preceded by general office with score 85.5% followed by residential blocks with 71.5%, facilities with score 71.2% and administration block with 70.9%. The results of the study show that most of the areas are at least in a safe level.
Conclusion: Roles of employer and college administration, significant OSH programme and safety audit are important factors as to ensure the safety of student's residential college.
This study was conducted to determine the cholesterol and alpha-tocopherol contents of 20 marine fish and four other seafood from the Straits of Malacca. Cholesterol and alphatocopherol contents of the fish and other seafood were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography. The results showed that most of the fish contained low amounts of cholesterol, except sixbar grouper (Epinephelus fasciatus), long-tailed butterfly ray (Gymnura sp.), yellowstripe scad (Selaroides leptolepis), cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis), large-scale tongue sole (Cynoglossus arel), and longtail shad (Hilsa macrura) that contained high amounts of cholesterol (119.39-353.97 mg/100 g wet samples). Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta), giant seaperch (Lates calcarifer), prawn (Metapenaeus affinis), and moonfish (Trachinotus blochii) had high alpha-tocopherol contents (462-989 μg/100 g wet sample). Regular consumption of fish and other seafood is highly recommended partly due to the high alphatocopherol content. Due to the high cholesterol in certain types of fish, consumption of the fish fillets of sixbar grouper, long-tailed butterfly ray, yellowstripe scad, cuttlefish, and large scale tongue sole should be < 100 g per day and < 50 per day for longtail shad. Validation of the analytical method also showed a high accuracy and reproducibility of the HPLC method.