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BY NG WEI KHIANG SELVA PONIAH OSH DEPARTMENT MALAYSIAN TRADES
UNION CONGRESS
In terms of economy contribution,
the service sector has contributed RM 140,224 million which is about
60% of the GDP in 2003. Among the service sector, the significant
GDP contributors are (i) Wholesale and retail trade, hotels and restaurants, (ii) Finance,
insurance, real estate and business services, and (iii) Transport,
storage and communications. Table
1. GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT BY INDUSTRIAL ORIGIN (RM Million)
Source: Economic Report
2002/2003 - Ministry of Finance,
Source: SOCSO, 2001. Given that service sector covers
a wide range of services, the The specific Table
3. Common
Table 4. Distribution of Accidents and Fatality Frequency by Sectors
Source:
SOCSO, 2001. 2.0 Background of SMEs in In A number of reports showed that SMEs
are a crucial cluster for the country economic well-being. In 2001,
they comprise nearly 90% of private business establishments, employing
nearly 30% of the Malaysia employees in the private sector (Total
number of workforce in private sector is about 9.6 million) and
contributing approximately 19% of the Malaysia’s manufacturing output
(2). 3.0 OSH in SMEs
Being
important in its role as an economy dynamic, however, this sector
continuously faces many challenges. They are much dependent on large
companies or multi national companies (MNCs) for businesses, they
lack of financial resources, sound management (e.g. family-run businesses
or “one-man show”) and difficulties in penetrating the overseas
market (2,3). In terms of safety and health, they are prone to workplace
accidents and illnesses. In Malaysia, anecdotal reports on small
and medium sized workplaces showed that they are prone to accidents
and illnesses (3,4,5,6). From
the statistics published by the Social Security Organization (SOCSO),
there are 165 accidents reported per 10,000 workers for all sizes
of enterprises in 2001 compared to 314 accidents reported per 10,000
workers in 1994 (7). The number of accident has reached its plateau
since 1997. This plateau could be due to the program approach has
reached its ceiling and new approach, i.e. the system approach needs
to be implemented. Besides, the SMEs are not taking enough steps
to prevent accident, as an official calculation showed that 80%
of the reported cases were contributed by SMEs. In terms of occupational
diseases, 11591 of invalidity and survivors cases were reported
in 2001, compared to 6035 of invalidity and survivors’ cases in
1997. However, occupational diseases are grossly underreported in
which the proportion of SMES is unknown. The increasing accident and illness
figures had drawn the attention of Government and the industry itself.
Besides causing pain, suffering, and loss of productivity, occupational
accidents and illnesses also exact a heavy cost to Malaysian industries,
for example in 2001, it caused the SOCSO to pay nearly RM 600 million
of compensation which is about 0.3% Malaysia GDP (Malaysia GDP in
2001 is about RM 210 billion). 4.0 OSH Initiatives for
SMEs
Over the years, many of the safety
and health initiatives have been focusing on 10% of the total manufacturing
industries which are the large enterprises such as manufacturing,
mining and agricultural. It means that the 90% which made up of
small and medium sized enterprises have been underserved by many
safety and health initiatives. Given the small number of employees,
SMEs do not need to meet certain requirements of the Occupational
Safety and Health Act 1994, such as safety and health officer and
safety and health committee. In view of this, the approach in training
and communicating safety and health to them requires special consideration
on their issues and constraints (8). 4.1 Legislation and Policies In Malaysia, the framework to manage
OSH was embodied in the OSH Act 1994, and its regulations. A number
of Code of Practices and Guidelines have been produced to assist
the companies to comply with the laws. Besides the legislative provisions,
there are on-going initiatives and programme by different governmental
bodies to assist the SMEs. Government policies such as the Second
Industrial Master Plan (1996-2005) and the SMIs Priority Action
Plan (1999 –2000) have specifically addressed issues faced by SMEs(9).
4.2 Training and Promotional Activities The Ministry of Human Resource had also approved
OSH training and auditing program under the Human Resource Development
Fund (HRDF). The Ministry of International Trade and Industries
(MITI), through its agency, Small and Medium Sized Development Cooperation
(SMIDEC) provides Industrial Technical Assistance Fund (ITAF) to
SMEs for financing the purchase of machinery, technical and productivity
training and acquiring quality certification. In 2000, the OSH training and auditing was included
as one of the categories approved for the fund. An allocation of
RM 600,000 was given to NIOSH Malaysia in 2002 to conduct OSH training
and auditing for the small and medium sized enterprises. The approved
ten courses under the funding are:
Industrial specific training and
seminars have also been carried out. For example, UITM has
conducted OSH training for the Food and Beverage Industry. The State
level Hotel Association also promotes OSH practices among its members
including OSH talks and seminars. Some of the service companies
have also participated in the Annual MSOSH Award. 4.3 OSH Studies in SMEs In 2000, the National Council of
Occupational Safety and Health (NCOSH) has initiated a pilot study
on OSH-MS among the Proton vendors of which the majority are small
and medium sized enterprises. The study showed that by using the
OSH-MS checklist adopted from ILO OSH 2001, there were significant
differences between Proton’s vendors and the benchmarked companies
which consisted of gold and silver safety award winners organized
by Malaysia Society of Occupational Safety and Health (MSOSH). This
study also highlighted that the Proton vendors OSH management are
geared towards legislative compliance and lack of management review
and continuous improvement, which are obvious in the benchmarked
companies. 4.4 The DOSH “Stick & Carrot”
Approach The Department of Occupational Safety
and Health (DOSH) has started a Star Rating Scheme for the small
and medium sized enterprises. There are all four star categories,
namely four stars, three stars, two stars, one star and zero star.
Under this scheme, each small and medium sized enterprises will
be audited and inspected by using the standard audit checklist.
In 2002, a total of 2600 factories was audited and in the subsequent
years until 2006, an average of 3464 factories will be audited yearly.
Factory which achieved a good star rating, for example four stars,
will enjoy several privileges. These include lower frequency of
inspection from DOSH, lower insurance premium and faster approval
of loans from financial institutions. 4.5 The Partnership Programme DOSH is also promoting a mentor-mentee
system among the multinational companies (MNCs). Under this program the host company will provide
the necessary resources especially on OSH know how to their vendors.
Currently, few companies such as Motorola Malaysia had started the
program. Effort has been taken to encourage more MNCs to adopt this
program as part of their OSH management. Some OSH conscious companies such
as Intel Malaysia have started the program since 1998 with the Contractor
Safety Passport System (CSPS). This system is to ensure their contractors
/ vendors are trained and qualified for the necessary trade of OSH
competence before starting their work in Intel. Proton Malaysia
also responded to the government initiative to start the vendor
training program. DOSH has carried out a number of
collaboration works with ILO aiming to upgrade OSH among the SMEs.
In 1997, the ILO WISE program was launched in Malaysia and 82 trainers
were trained to conduct the programme (10). This programme has achieved
its objectives at its own right. A follow up survey of the ex-WISE
participant also revealed that majority of the companies showed
some form of OSH management e.g. setting up of safety and health
committee, and appointment of safety and health personnel (11).
5.0 Conclusion & Recommendations Service sector is the major sector
besides manufacturing, mining and agricultural. Majority of the
subsector are small and medium sized enterprises. The case fatality
in this sector as a whole is higher than industrial average especially
in Electricity, Gas, Water &
Sanitary service, Transportation and Construction. The various approaches in upgrading
this sector are welcomed. The government bodies, DOSH has emphasized
their focus on OSH prevention in this sector. The “Carrot and Stick”
approach thru enforcement will continue to play its role, and should
be balanced by the training and awareness program such as the initiative
by SMIDEC, trade unions and associations. It is important to note that self-regulation
within this sector will be the ultimate solution in preventing the
rise of accident. 6.0 References
1.
SMIDEC. (1998). Profile of SMEs in APEC Economies. (p23).
Malaysia: SMIDEC.
2.
Malaysia. (1999). Small and medium industries development.
In Malaysia International Trade and Industry
Report. (pp211-225). Malaysia:MITI. and policies. Paper presented at the fourth Takemi symposium on
international health, Boston, US. presented at the
NIOSH 2nd conference
on occupational safety and health,
Bangi, Selangor. 2000). http://www.fmm.org.my/smi/paper-action.htm Musri M. 1996.
Experiences of action-oriented field ergonomics training in Malaysia. J.
Science of Labour 72 part 1(1): 24-30. Webpages Department
of Statistics Malaysia. (April 25, 2003), at http://www.statistics.gov.my Social Security Organization, (April 25,
2003), at http://www.perkeso.gov.my Ministry of Finance, (April 26, 2003),
at http://www.treasury.gov.my/ Official Malaysian Publication SOCSO. (2002). Annual report 2001. Kuala Lumpur: Affluent
Master. International Law Book Service. (1999). Factories &
Machinery Act 1967 (Act 139) & Regulations and Rules. Selangor:
Percetakan Ihsan. International
Law Book Service. (1999). Occupational Safety and Health Act
1994 (Act 514) & Regulations and Rules. Selangor: Percetakan
Ihsan. |
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Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor.Tel:03-80242953,Fax: 03-80243225,
Email:mtuc@tm.net.my . OSH Contact No: (603) 8023-3954, FAX: (603) 8023-3955, Email: mtucosh@tm.net.my