SPEECH ON THE OPENING CEREMONY OF FONTERRA HEALTH AND SAFETY WEEK

GOOD MORNING AND SALAM SEJAHTERA

First of all, I wish to thank the Organizing Committee for inviting me to officiate the FONTERRA HEALTH AND SAFETY WEEK.

I also wish to congratulate the management team of the Fonterra Brands (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. for their initiative and commitment to launch this OSH campaign.

NIOSH is always supportive and keen to work with industries in enhancing the occupational safety and health among workers and their workplace environment. This is inline with our aim to be the preferred partner of industries to promote OSH. We believe that the collaboration between NIOSH and the industries will help reduce the number of accidents and work related diseases.

The right to life is the most fundamental human right. The right to work in a safe and healthy environment is also the fundamental right of every worker.

Yet every year, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) more than 1.2 million people are deprived of that right as a consequence of accidents and work-related diseases.

More than 100,000 work fatalities occur every month, more than 3,000 a day, two per minute. This global phenomenon, if left unchecked, leads to consequences which are unacceptable, economically, socially and morally.

Statistics provided by the ILO depict a grim picture indicating :-
 Workers worldwide suffer more than 250 million accidents every year;
 More than 160 million workers fall ill each year due to workplace hazards and exposures;
 Accidents and diseases together account for over 1.2 million fatalities annually, more than all fatal road accidents worldwide;
 More than 10 million workers suffer crippling injuries and diseases resulting in permanent disability and loss of income

According to the world body, while it is impossible to place a monetary value on human lives, compensation figures give a rough idea of how an estimated 4 per cent of gross domestic product disappears with the costs of accidents and diseases through absenteeism, medical treatment, disabilities and survivor benefits.

Estimates from developed countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Norway put the direct cost of accidents in billions of dollars. In many developing countries, workers’ death rates are five to six times those in industrialized countries. And this creates a mounting challenge for labour protection, safety and health.

In Malaysia, the pursuit for a safe and healthier workplace for all workers is an on-going noble mission. The reduction of workplace accidents constitutes an important agenda for both the public and private sectors in tandem with the goal of a zero-accident workplace.

With the implementation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994 and intensification of efforts by the enforcement agencies, like the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) together with the training initiatives of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), it is encouraging to note that fruitful efforts are being undertaken to tackle accidents at the workplace.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

When the organizer wrote inviting me to officiate Fonterra Health and Safety Week, I agreed to be part of today’s event which enables me to convey the message of best safety and health practice so that employees can ‘go to work…and return safely to their loved ones’.

According to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Human Resources, the number of industrial accidents reported to SOCSO for all sectors decreased from 109,447 in 1994 to 56,339 in 2007. This is a substantial reduction of almost 50 percent over a period of thirteen years.

Although there is a decline in the average number of industrial accidents from 17 per 1,000 workers in 1994 to 6.7 in 2007, we should strive against the benchmark of developed countries which only have 3-4 accidents per 1,000 workers.

Companies should regard occupational safety and health as part of their corporate responsibility and must allocate yearly budget for safety training to help prevent work-related accidents because accidents don’t just happen as they are caused and as such they can be prevented.

Making the workplace safe is a joint responsibility of both the employers and the employees. Thus, training of employees is the key to achieving a successful safety programme and management must be committed to invest in safety.

An accident-free environment helps the company to save and increases the organization’s productivity and profitability. It will also help to boost the morale of the workers. Companies must not profit at the expense of safety because if accidents occur, lives may be lost and productivity will be affected. Even in times of economic downturn, companies must not cut costs at the expense of safety and health.

The focal point of safety training is the human being needs protection in all aspects of his life. Thus, training is an essential part of OSH programmes to reduce injuries and fatalities at the workplace.

Furthermore, the OSHA 1994, stipulates that appropriate training courses and programmes must be formulated for the workers to effectively check the occurrence of industrial accidents at the workplace.

It also enables managers, supervisors and workers to understand the workings of safety and health systems, so that they know when to upgrade safety and health at the workplace. It is imperative that efforts to instill safety awareness through education, training and accident prevention programmes be promoted and intensified.

To fulfill the need for occupational safety and health training and education, NIOSH was created in December 1992 as the major training provider for OSH management and other OSH related training programmes in the country.

Since its inception, NIOSH has endeavoured to contribute towards efforts in upgrading OSH through developing curriculum and training programmes for workers, employers and others who are responsible either directly or indirectly for safety and health at the workplace.

We have designed a wide range of courses, which cover almost all aspects of OSH training, and awareness to meet the needs of the big multinationals as well as small and medium sized enterprises.

NIOSH have started to introduce and market its products and services to various industries, government departments and agencies. These efforts have enable NIOSH to be known among both the public and private sectors thus enabling it to be a referral center for information and services in relation to OSH in Malaysia.

An accident prevention strategy should be adopted at all workplaces. To achieve the total promotion of safety and health at work and elsewhere, organizational measures for prevention and measures for motivation and behavioural change must be adopted.

Managements who are responsible for the safety and health at the workplace can change the attitude of safety and health of their employees. Management or employers must recognize occupational safety and health of employees as an integral part of business management. Concerns for the bottomline must be looked at with equal gravity with OSH issues at the workplace. After all they are both concerned with the viability of the business enterprise.

In this connection, it is the responsibility of the employer to create a safe and healthy work environment through “self regulation”, education and safety training, while it is the duty of employees to co-operate with employers and participate actively in occupational safety and health endeavours.

There is a need to eradicate the misconception, that safety and health at work is the responsibility of the Government alone. It is not so. Ensuring the safety and health of workers is a collective responsibility of the Government, employers and the employees themselves. Industrial accidents can be reduced if every workplace takes steps not only to enunciate its safety and health policy but also to set up its safety and health committee with the objective of promoting a safety culture among the workforce.

Total commitment from top management is essential in working closely with employees to promote occupational safety and health for their organizations. Occupational safety should not be seen as a profit-sapping factor for the management of industries, but be regarded as a productivity booster. Industries must realize that accident prevention is no longer a fringe benefit but a prerequisite to a profitable operation.

Industries and employers must realize that four fundamental factors justify OSH management. These are, corporate responsibility, social and moral obligation, good business sense and legal obligation. Common sense tells us that effective OSH management not only reduces the risk to safety and health but also ensure high returns to the company in terms of productivity and profitability.

In an organization, embracing a new corporate culture requires a paradigm shift in the views of the highest echelon of management. In the case of occupational safety and health, this shift must focus on viewing the bottomline performance of the organization in the same manner as that of the number of injuries, fatalities and ill-health suffered by employees in attaining the bottomline target.

The single most important critical success factor for any change in an organization is the commitment of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and his senior management team.

In the area of occupational safety and health the CEO and his management team must exhibit in every way possible to the workers that they are committed to the protection of the safety and health of their workers who have to deal with the daily hazards at the workplace.

Safety and health at work cannot be effectively regulated through legislation alone. In our modern day society and advancing technology, existing regulations may not be able to keep pace with the development of new inventions and processes.

While the government and its agencies provide the leadership, legislation and guidelines, it is the employers who have to take the lead. As safety and health at work is everybody’s responsibility, the employees must also give the vital support to employers’ efforts in the promotion of OSH.

Addressing OSH issues requires a good OSH management system. This responsibility lies with the management team, which must accord serious attention to the aspect of how to manage OSH appropriately. The very objective of good OSH management is to provide the required investment in terms of commitment – financial, human resources and equipment in systematic OSH strategies – in order to secure the highest rate of return on investment such as zero accident without jeopardizing the company’s overall profit performance.

There is no doubt that for Malaysia to adopt a safe and healthy work culture amongst its working population there must be a reminder to both employers and employees of their respective responsibilities in adopting and implementing good OSH practices.

Employers must change their misconceived attitude that occupational safety and health is a liability and not an asset. At the same time, employees must not take safety for granted but stand for their right to work in a safe and health work environment as well as following strictly to safe and healthy work procedures set out.

Safety is not something we can take or leave alone nor it is an activity in which we participate only when we are being watched or supervised.

Safety is not just about safety posters, slogans, rules and regulations, videos, meetings investigations or inspections.

Safety is an attitude, a frame of mind, an awareness of our environment and actions – all day, every day.

Safety is knowing what is going on around us, knowing how to prevent that injury or accident and then acting to prevent it.

In conclusion, I wish to pronounce the idea of safety as a culture. Safety must not only be a priority but a culture. In order to make safety a culture in society, the workplace is where such a culture can be developed. Thus, safety as a culture is what we must all continue striving for, so at the end of the working day, all workers will come home safe.

With that, I am pleased to officiate FONTERRA HEALTH AND SAFETY WEEK.


Thank you.