Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) director-general Mohtar Musri said despite the inspections conducted, contractors failed to comply with prescribed safety procedures.
“The enforcement is already there, but employers’ implementation is not effective.
“For example, during inspections we found that construction safety helmets weren’t used and torn safety nets were not replaced.
“It also involved design issues. The material does not meet specifications and installation does not fit,” he said when contacted by Bernama here today.
On Aug 25, a woman was killed when her car was crushed by a falling crane hook in Jalan Raja Chulan, Bukit Bintang, here.
Then on Oct 17, a National News Agency Malaysia (Bernama) official narrowly escaped death when a steel rod from the construction of an adjacent condominium building crashed onto his car while he was leaving Wisma Bernama, off Jalan Tun Razak here.
On Nov 5, a couple were killed when the car they were travelling in was crushed by a falling piling rig near the construction site in Bandar Baru Bukit Raja, Klang.
On Wednesday, a pedestrian overpass under construction near the Abdullah Hukum apartments in Jalan Bangsar collapsed, killing one and injuring five others.
Mohtar said the contractors should take more stringent and decisive steps because they had employed safety supervisors and engineers to perform safety supervision and promote safety conduct at construction sites.
“There are 16,800 construction sites in the country and that number is high compared with the number of DOSH enforcement officers. However, inspections would be carried out from time to time.
“Thus, any contractor who employs security supervisors should conduct safety inspection work regularly to check whether the security measures are sufficient or vice versa.”
Mohtar said in terms of enforcement, apart from DOSH, there were other agencies involved, namely the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and local authorities.
The role of DOSH was to monitor the safety aspects of those working on construction sites while the design and the material aspects would be checked by CIDB and the local authority involved in approving the projects, he said.
Mohtar said compound fines totalling RM600,000 were issued last year involving more than 20 offences.
The offences included workers placed on high and open platforms with no guard rails, heavy machinery that were not maintained and workers not provided with adequate safety equipment.