By Brad Rantayy
MIRI, Dec 15: A forensics team from the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) will arrive in Miri on Monday (Dec 16) to investigate the sudden collapse of five structure beams at the Pujut By-pass flyover construction site.
The flyover is part of Pan Borneo Highway project.
The incident occurred on Friday (Dec 13) around 2.40pm, injuring two welders.
Disclosing this to reporters during a brief visit at the construction site on Sunday afternoon, Minister of Human Resources M Kula Segaran Murugeson gave assurance that a comprehensive investigation will be carried out by the team.
“We want to determine what actually happened that day (Dec 13), whether it was just plain human error or something more serious or flawed,” he added.
The minister also revealed that the forensic team will look into the whole process including technical errors if there are any.
He added the investigations would take about two to three months to complete.
Following the incident, a stop work order was issued immediately.
Kula pointed out that that every relevant authority needed to learn from the incident so as to to avoid it recurring.
Expressing concern about the rate of fatalities on construction sites in Malaysia which is slightly higher compared to other countries, Kula said it is about time to strengthen the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994.
“Based on the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, in 2015 to 2018, an average of 4,000 cases (per year) were reported occurring at construction sites in Malaysia,” he said.
He revealed that the construction sector has been identified as having one of the highest fatality rates, which is 13.4 for every 100,000 workers. This is three times higher than the national fatality rate for 2018, which is 4.14 per 100,000 workers.
Through enforcement activities in the construction sector from January to November this year, DOSH has taken action to prosecute 123 cases and issued compounds in 1,109 cases, involving penalties totalling RM3.7 million. Additionally, 4,244 prohibition notices (‘notis larangan’) were also issued.
Also present during the visit today were Senator Alan Ling, Pujut assemblyman Dr Tiong Choon and DOSH director Mohd Anuar Embi. — DayakDaily
