It’s Everyone’s Responsibility

According to Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), statistics have shown that many fatalities due to working in a confined space are mainly because of the employers themselves. They hire contract workers from a small company to work in confined space knowing that the contractor workers which are mostly foreign workers do not have the knowledge and experience required to carry out the task. Some of these workers do not even have the proper working procedure and equipment suitable for working in a confined space.

Let’s take a case from the passed years as an example. A worker was found dead in an underground communication cable system without a respirator, a safety harness and wearing only simple working clothing. After the investigation, it was later found that the cause of his death is due to oxygen deficiency. It was said that the worker went in even though few feet from the area, there was a respirator, a safety harness, as well as other required personal protective equipment. A co-worker without any personal protective equipment went in and pulled the victim out. Sometimes even a well trained worker may forget their training and the proper rescue procedures especially when their instinct to do the right thing which is rescuing takes over.

Inadequate training in working in a confined space programs often contributes to fatality. For employers, they often defend themselves by saying that it is because of workers misconduct not because of inadequate training. Training contract workers in confined space programs prove to be quite a challenge to the employers, but as far as OSHA 1994 stated, employers are responsible for the safety of the contract workers as well as they are for their own regular workers. The victim was a foreigner and spoke only little Malay or English, thus created a language barrier that may have contributed to the problem itself. With the growing numbers of foreign workers in this country, any company may have to endure a hard time in providing the adequate training to them.

Accidents can be prevented or minimize if employers take their responsibilities seriously towards their duties. By establishing and maintaining a safe work system for their organization and employees, it will improve their awareness towards the risks of working in a confined space and to comply better of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 and the regulations made under the act so that a safer and healthier workplace can be created.