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Managing Director

Marcoco Industries Sdn Bhd

Plot 252,

Jalan Perindustrian Bukit Minyak 3,

14100 Bukit Minyak,

Seberang Perai Tengah.

Penang, Malaysia

1st November 2012

Occupational and Safety Assessment Report

Sir,

On last 29th October 2012 I had been on tour to every department in our factory for annual

checking of safety regulations that had been applied in the factory. Overall, most of the

departments gladly follow all the regulations and has taken appropriate action to avoid

hazardous injury in their workplace. Anyhow, the Material and Handling Department has

come to the disappointment by blatantly ignoring the safety regulations in their daily

operations. From my observation, the workers and operators in the department not only

ignoring the safety standard that we set, but also failed to obey the basic requirement one

must do before begin their tasks. Four common mistakes that I found very irritating and

totally violate our safety standards are improper handling of gas and chemicals, improper

ways on disposing the chemical waste, smoking at non-smoking zone and improper handling

of machinery. This problems, though seems insignificant but it can threatened the safety and

health of co-workers. As you know, the safety standard is develop based on OSHA Act 1994

and this four problems falls under subsection of OSH (Employers Safety And Health General

Policy Statements) (Exception) Regulations 1995 and OSH (Use And Standards Of Exposure

Of Chemicals Hazardous To Health) Regulations 2000. Violation of this act can cause the

employer penalty of RM50,000 or 2 years jail or both and for the employee penalty of

RM1,000 or 3 months jail or both. This consequence shows that occupational safety and

health of the workers and operators is a big concern to the nation.


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Improper handling of gas and chemicals seems to be the first frustrating problem that

happens in the Material and Handling Department. The operators deliberately handle the

chemicals without proper equipment. If they have to move a chemical from here and there,

they just do it without any protection. When I interview the operator, he just said that he used

to do that the way he does it without the hustle and bustle of proper equipment. Each

equipment for handling chemicals comes with manuals, and he said that he just doesnt have

the time to read those. He just does it in his own way because of the years of experience he

had. As an Occupational Health Manager, I advise him to try using proper equipment because

with chemicals we cannot actually predict when it will become really dangerous. Cases

reported with OSHA shows that operators tend to get burn injury when their chemicals

explode because of improper handling and exposure to hot temperature. This people also

have years of experience in handling chemicals even use it in their daily operations. I found

this problem is really severe and appropriate actions must be taken to avoid the operators

facing fatal and hazardous injury. As for the suggestions, for start I propose that the head of

department can summon all of the operators and reminded them about the safety regulations

involving this problem before they start their tasks for the day. The management group may

also be able to put up some labels on each chemical which stated how to use each of these

chemicals. The head of department also can assign a supervisor to assist and observe each

operators when they handling the chemicals. This type of action can minimize the risk of

injury and also can educate the operators on how to handle gas and chemicals in proper and

safety ways.

The second problem to be advised is about the improper ways the operators showed

when they disposing the chemical waste. The most common mistake is that they just disposed

the chemicals into the sink. This obviously not the right way to disposed the chemical waste.

In the safety standard declared clearly that any chemical waste must be put in a container.

The container submitted for disposal must be clearly labeled with the complete chemical

name of all waste in the container or product name. The container also must be in good

condition without leaks, the outside of the container must be free from contamination and lids

or covers must be securely in place. This only just the basic ways to dispose chemical waste.

In the health and safety handbook, the workers and operators can find the complete

procedures for disposing chemical waste. All this regulations and standard is always to ensure

the health and safety of the workers. Obeying the standard can minimize chemical exposure

injury to all the workers.


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The third problem that raised my concern is about workers and operators smoking at

the non-smoking zone. During my tour I saw that the operators and workers will smoke

during their 15 minutes break, and because its only a short break, so they just decided to

smoke wherever they find it suitable. Regretfully, the place they picked sometimes near the

storage which contains lots of valuable material for the factory. For example, the storage is

full with chemicals and other materials that tend to explode if exposed to heat. This kind of

situation obviously endangered the operators safety and also the safety of other co -workers.

To avoid this type accident from happening, I suggest that we make it clearer of where the

smoking and non-smoking zone. If the operators violate this, we can charge him with some

kind of discipline act that will affect their working record. Other tougher action is that we can

just ban smoking on work property. Create and implement programs that offer reimbursement

of qualified smoking cessation therapy, such as nicotine replacement, to encourage workers

to kick the habit. This type of action is good to apply for long-term situation because beside

manifest a non-smoking worker at work place, it also can build a non-smoking society and

this is very good for nation development. Just additional information, 33 percent to 50

percent of all smokers is killed by their habit.

Last but not least, the major ignorance in safety standard is the improper handling of

machinery. As you know, our factory filled with expensive and complicated machine that

actually runs our day to day operations. This machine comes with manual and also some with

proper training that conducted by the vendor which at some point cost us lots of money.

Unfortunately, I saw that operators at the department, especially new one using the machine

without proper training. They also dont bother to read the manuals. Some of them just ask

favors from seniors operators to show them how to use the machine. My concern is that, what

happen if the senior operators are sick or not available to work? How the other operators will

operate and handle the machine that actually estrange from them. Another thing is that

machine part that could cause harm must be safeguarded. If accidental contact with the

equipment or a certain part of it could cause bodily harm there are certain rules which must

be followed to ensure safety. Workers must be protected from any machine that is overtly

dangerous. Machine guarding caused 2,364 violations in 2009. There are two primary

methods to safeguarding machines which are using guards and safeguarding devices. Guards

for machines are physical barriers that enclose dangerous machine parts and prevent the

employees from coming into contact with these parts. Guards should be strong and properly

secured so that they cannot be removed. They should be fastened with screws, bolts or


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fasteners so that a tool is necessary to remove them. As for safeguarding devices, they are

controls or attachments that prevent the start of hazardous motion or stop the machine from

operation. Therefore, a safeguarding device may stop the machine if a body part or hand is

placed in a dangerous area of the machine or it may require the operator to use both hands on

machine controls so hands would not be placed in a dangerous area. However, when guards

and safeguarding devices are not designed properly, accidents and unnecessary injuries can

still happen. Many machine operators who get injured at work on machines often do not

know that they have other legal remedies beyond worker's compensation. Workers also think

that they do not have a case because the machines have guards or safeguarding devices. Just

because machines have guards or safeguarding devices does not mean they are properly

designed or applied. If guards have design defects, workers may also have a case against the

following parties such as machine manufacturer, guard manufacturer, or safeguarding devices

manufacturer. They can file a lawsuit which will end terribly.

As for the conclusion, Im gladly suggesting that we must ensure that all staff

members are aware of their responsibilities regarding the Occupational Health and Safety

Administration (OSHA) regulations. Staff should comply with general workplace policies

and procedures on attending mandatory training sessions and following protective clothing

rules. Appoint a suitably qualified person to be in charge of implementing health, safety and

security in the department. This person will directly cooperate with us to prevent violation of

safety standard from happening again. Another thing that I gladly propose is we also can

ensure the staff receives the correct training on health and safety procedures. Keep a training

log detailing this training and reminding you of when refresher sessions are necessary. Ensure

that staff members have copies of particular policies and procedures when they join the

organization. Ask them to sign to confirm that they have read these. Issues appropriate

personal protective equipment and clothing. Provide correct changing facilities, and, where

appropriate, laundry facilities. Last but not least, another important action we can take is by

ensuring that all health, safety and security procedures are regularly monitored. These should

be revised in the light of new developments or accidents that highlight inadequacies. Detailed

accident records must be kept. New laws on workplace health and safety must be

incorporated into policies and procedures. Those in charge of the implementation of these

policies must regularly update their own training.


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So sir, this is all of my report from the observation Id done during the touring. I hope

you will find it helpful in order to raise our safety standard. I hope we can work together with

all head of the department of the factory in ensuring health and safety of our workers and

operators. As a wise man always said, workers and operators are the company most valuable

assets. Without them, the company cannot run smoothly and if they feel that their safety is

threatened at their own workplace, then they will not enjoy working. This situation will

clearly affect our company good name and also our credibility as an international brand.

Hope to hear comments and feedbacks from you soon. Thank you.

Your Sincerely,_____________________

(KAMARUDIN YAACOB)

Occupational Health Manager

Flextronics (M) Sdn Bhd.


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References

Arthur A. Hawkins. (2010). Smoking Deaths Worldwide. Retrieved from :

http://www.inforesearchlab.com/smokingdeaths.chtml

Guidelines On Occupational Safety And Health In The Service Sector. (1999). Department of

Occupational Safety And Health. Ministry Of Human Resources Malaysia

Raemy Md. Zein. (2008). OSH at workplace. Ergonomics Division, NIOSH

Stacy Morgan. (2011). How to Improve Workplace Health & Safety. Retrieved from:

http://www.ehow.com/how_6547119_improve-workplace-health-safety.html
http://www.inforesearchlab.com/smokingdeaths.chtmlhttp://www.ehow.com/how_6547119_improve-workplace-health-safety.htmlhttp://www.ehow.com/how_6547119_improve-workplace-health-safety.htmlhttp://www.ehow.com/how_6547119_improve-workplace-health-safety.htmlhttp://www.inforesearchlab.com/smokingdeaths.chtml

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