Worksite accidents: Mere talk not enough
Start charging site supervisors, equipment owners and project owners for using substandard equipment and for hiring unqualified personnel respectively.
By T K Chua
I am tired of listening to the various excuses dished out whenever there is a worksite accident.
I think all the excuses – lack of training, hiring of unqualified operators or the poor condition/maintenance of equipment – are hogwash.
Why talk about causes after an accident has occurred?
How about answering these questions first?
1) How did untrained and uncertified personnel get to operate one of those sophisticated and dangerous machines?
2) Who is responsible for the proper functioning and maintenance of those machines?
3) How often and how stringent are the checks by the regulating and certifying bodies on the machines and the qualification of the operators involved?
4) Who monitors the health conditions and working hours of the operators?
Each time a mishap occurs, the authorities are quick to blame underpaid operators who may not even know what they are getting themselves into.
What about the site engineers, owners of the equipment, site supervisors, safety officers, project owners and regulating authorities? What are their roles and responsibilities?
We treat safety with contempt because we do not value the lives of others. Money seems to be able to settle everything, from compensating the victims to settling with the authorities. There is hardly any other punitive action taken against those responsible.
I think a different approach is now necessary.
We should start charging the site supervisor, equipment owners and projects owners for using substandard equipment and for hiring unqualified personnel.
In addition to that, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) should prosecute its own officers for failing to weed out unqualified crane operators or substandard equipment.
Mere talk is not enough, especially when we are incapable of doing anything worthwhile to stop these mishaps from recurring.
T K Chua is an FMT reader.
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