Inculcating safety and health culture at work

TODAY is World Day for Safety and Health at Work (OSH Day). The theme this year is “A Safe and Healthy Working Environment – A Fundamental Right at Work”.

Through OSH Day, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) aims to focus worldwide attention on the emerging trends in occupational safety and health, and the magnitude of work-related injuries, diseases and fatalities.

Being a member of the international community, Malaysia commemorates World OSH Day and regards it as an integral part of the national strategy to promote a preventative safety and health culture among all stakeholders.

Time and again, it has been proven that failure to adopt and implement safety rules and procedures is detrimental to workers. Although Malaysia’s occupational accident rate per 1,000 workers had been reduced from 3.10 in 2014 to 1.43 in 2021, and the occupational fatality rate per 100,000 workers from 4.21 in 2014 to 2.00 in 2021, the challenge to build and foster an OSH culture and strive towards an accident-free workplace environment remains.

It is the responsibility of employers and managements to ensure that safety is a culture and not just a priority in their organisation. There is an urgent need to translate OSH knowledge into behaviour and practice. We must avoid a situation where despite all the OSH banners and signage being in place, workplace hazards are not addressed and controlled.

Innovation and innovative practices play a crucial role in improving the OSH landscape and shaping Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems (OSHMS) for the future.

Establishing a safe and healthy working environment requires fundamental changes in the way work is designed and personnel are deployed, and how the very culture of the organisation understands and acts on safety.

These changes require leadership capable of transforming not just the physical environment but also the beliefs and practices of those who create the risks and those who work with the risks.

In this time of global competition and sweeping changes, it is not enough for companies to make safety a priority. Priorities change but cultures stand the test of time.

Safety must therefore be a culture and a core value at the workplace. And managing occupational safety and health certainly ensures business competitiveness.

The global trend in OSH is towards a more integrated prevention concept. OSH is now regarded as a societal responsibility, and countries are required to have a blueprint for building an accident prevention culture with a framework for national and international prevention strategies.

This approach emphasises the following:

1. Reducing workplace accidents and occupational diseases through measures such as law enforcement, risk assessment and OSH Management System;

2. Promoting a prevention culture by raising awareness among all relevant stakeholders, and building partnerships;

3. Mainstreaming occupational safety and health into education and training; and

4. Promoting health and safety as an integral part of lifestyle.

Observations and evidence show that an increase in productivity and improvement in workplace environment were the results of good safety and health practices and the adoption of a work safety culture.

TAN SRI LEE LAM THYE

Chairman

Alliance For A Safe Community