SAFETY AT WORK

Safety officers in Sabah should be appalled at the news today, July 22, 2016, of a worker who died from electrocution. He was fixing electrical cables on a high voltage pole. It was stated that he had worked for nine years for the electricity company.

A Senior Officer of the company said that a thorough investigation would be carried out. He did not want members of the public to make any speculation as a sign of respect to the victim's family.

Let's hope that the promised investigation would be carried out properly and the deceased worker's family compensated well.

Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, USA had said:

"Making a living shouldn't have to cost you your life. Workplace fatalities, injuries, and illnesses are preventable. Safe jobs happen because employers make the choice to fulfill their responsibilities and protect their workers."

Ensuring safe jobs and safe working environment actually saves costs for companies. Think of the amount of compensation payable, the loss of skills, lost man-hours, expenses in finding replacements and cost of training, not mentioning the possible criminal charges and compensation claims through the court.

Insurance can take care of some or most of the expenses. But there will be irreparable damage to the image of the employing organisation. Some big organizations had gone down because of the failure to take care of the safety and health of their people.

Companies particularly those involved in high risk activities should employ safety officers. Safe working systems and rules should be in place. Employees need to be told that they must follow safety rules. There are laws compelling employers to do all these. If and when they fail to do so, they might face shutdown if some serious accidents occur.

Safety is not something that can be negotiated or ignored. Either there is safe and healthy work place or there isn't.