PETALING JAYA: Plus Malaysia Bhd (PLUS) is making it compulsory for all its contractors, employees and other individuals involve in maintenance, construction and operation works on its highways to undergo a safety induction course.
PLUS managing director Datuk Azman Ismail said the course, which will be carried out by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), is to ensure all highway duties personnel receive basic knowledge on safety procedures at work areas and also to obtain the Expressway Operations Safety Passport (EOSP).
The EOSP move is a part of the concessionaires' initiative to improve and enhance occupational safety and health practices on the highway industry in general.
“We have more than 4,000 contractors and employees who are involved in road works at PLUS highways nationwide.
“From there, we hope to achieve an 80 per cent turnout for the course and obtain the passport by next January.
“From 2015 to June this year, there have been 249 accidents involving employees carrying out highway duties, with 13 resulting in fatalities.
“This figure is worrying. As such, we need a comprehensive and holistic move to solve the issue and altogether reduce the number of accidents,” said Azman at a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing between PLUS and NIOSH today.
Present were NIOSH chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, executive director Zahrim Osman, executive secretary Ayob Salleh and Malaysian Highway Authority chief assistant director (operations monitoring) Harryati Rofik.
Azman said the training will be conducted at all NIOSH centres nationwide from next month.
Lee said the course will be conducted by the institute's trainers.
"To obtain the safety passport, all highway duties personnel are required to attend a basic safety induction course for one day, or seven hours training, and an hour of assessment, which will be conducted entirely by our trainers.
"Upon completion, the EOSP will be issued to eligible personnel. The passport is valid for three years.
"We are serious and committed towards providing safety and health training for all workers to ensure that the number of accident risks is reduced," he said, adding that the number of mishaps at the workplace is alarming.
He said last year, there was a slight increase in occupational accident rates nationwide, at 2.88 per cent for 1,000 workers compared to 2.81 per cent in 2015.