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Improving Occupational Safety and Health in Construction
By Ir . Dr Mohd Fairuz bin Ab Rahman , Department of Occupational Safety & Health ( DOSH )
The construction industry is very diverse , with large projects by big contractors on one extreme , to small projects by small contractors on the other extreme . In general , it covers businesses and workers engaged in the construction of buildings and structures . The total employment in the industry is over 1.2 million in 2015 , including manual workers , skilled workers , managers , architects , engineers and various professionals , which represents around 9 % of the nation ’ s workforce .
Construction remains one of the most hazardous industries , contributing about just over one-fifth ( 21 %) of all fatalities to workers ( 140 workers died in construction-related accidents , out of 668 work-related fatalities in 2015 ). More than half of the fatality cases were related with working at heights . The number of fatalities in construction only showed a slight downward trend over many years , in comparison to a more significant long-term downward trend in the number of fatalities in all industries , as shown in Figure 1 . In the five years from 2011 to 2015 , 495 construction workers died . This five-year average of 99 fatalities per year is about 14 % lower than the five-year average of 1999 to 2003 . The construction industry has twice the mortality rate ( 10.94 per 100,000 workers ) to that of the average fatality rate across all industries ( 4.84 per 100,000 workers ).
The construction industry is very important to the country as it accounts for about 4 % of the Gross Domestic Product . With several Governmentbacked mega infrastructure construction projects in the works , the economic outlook for the industry is encouraging , as reported by the Star ( Steady outlook seen for Malaysia ’ s construction sector , dated June 9 , 2016 and Promising 2017
30 VOL 69 JANUARY-MARCH 2017