GEORGE TOWN: The Alliance for A Safe Community has called for the outcome of investigations into the Batu Maung logistics warehouse collapse incident to be made public.
Its chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said it was important that the cause of the accident be made known so that it could be a lesson to all those involved in the construction activities.
He said the fact that the incident had occurred was indeed very tragic because it left three workers dead and two others, seriously injured.
"It is our hope that the results of the investigations be made public, especially to those who are involved in the construction industry.
"This is so that they can learn from this to prevent a recurrence.
"Whether it is foreign workers (killed) or local, the fact is that human lives are involved.
"As such, everyone involved in construction activities, be it the contractors, the sub-contractors or even the company, have a responsibility to ensure the safety of all their workers and worksites," he told the New Straits Times.
According to Lee, the time has come for the construction industry to really take a serious view of such accidents.
He said, every time such an accident occured, the authorities and those involved in the industry would say that they will do their best to ensure that such incident will not recur.
He said, but time and again, such incidents occurred.
"And I think this is certainly not good, especially for the industry concerned.
"And this is the reason why we feel that all those involved in construction activities, especially the contractors, must put in place a safety management system. This system should involve safety monitoring at every stage of the work.
"If at all there are safety concerns, the supervisors (concerned) should alert the workers on time or should just rectify whatever weaknesses they have.
"So, this monitoring is very, very important," he added.
Lee said there had been far too accidents over the years at construction sites despite attempts by many to assure otherwise.
"The question is how committed are all those involved in terms of ensuring the safety of the project as well as the safety of workers.
"Safety must never be taken for granted because if safety is taken for granted, then accidents will continue to happen," he said.
Lee pointed out that the highest number of occupational injuries was recorded in 2013 with 43,795 cases followed by 42,513 (2017) and 41,504 (2012).
The lowest was recorded in 2021 with 21,535 accidents.
During the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, a total of 32,674 cases of occupational injuries was recorded.
In term of sectors, manufacturing recorded 5,244 cases last year, followed by services (1,035), transport, storage and communication (266), agriculture, forestry and fishing (256), finance, insurance and business services (99), mining and quarrying (77), utilities (74), wholesale, retail and trade (44), construction (29) and hotels and restaurants (19).
The Statistics Department showed that more than four-fifths (84.2 per cent) of the occupational injury cases last year involved men, compared with only 15.8 per cent of female workers.
The department also found that there was an increase of 58.9 per cent in occupational injuries last year compared with 2021.
