Occupational Health and Safety in Malaysia

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

Occupational safety and health (OSH) is an interdisciplinary field which encompasses among others, the disciplines of industrial hygiene, occupational medicine, occupational nursing, engineering, epidemiology, and toxicology (Levitt and Samelson, 1993). Although concerns with health and safety in the work-place may be as old as work itself, OHS as a field of research is a newly emerging or developing area. Research is emerging from three distinct areas namely: public health systems (LaMontagne, 2003; Frank et al., 2003), institutions involved in legislative or compliance support (Gallagher, Underhill and Rimmer 2001; Bluff, 2003) and research focussed on work-place applications (Blewett and Shaw 1996; Frick, Jensen, Quinlan and Wilthagen 2000; Rankin 2001). Furthermore, the assertion that safety is integral to the efficient and profitable management of a contemporary organisation is based on the claim by Rankin (2001) that modern businesses are based on systematic approaches and, therefore, require plans and controls in order to achieve their organisational goals. Rankin (2001) further asserted that if OHS is to be applied successfully within an organisation, there is no alternative but for the systematisation of OHS within the structure of the organisation.

Safety and health culture within a company is closely linked to the workforce’s attitudes in respect to safety. They share the company’s risk, accidents and incidents. According to Glendon and McKenna (1995), effective safety management is both functional (involving management control, monitoring, executive and communication sub-systems) and humanizes (involving leadership, political and safety culture sub-systems paramount to safety culture). The role of management and the involvement of all employees as important key players in safety and health culture are important in order to cultivate the positive beliefs, practices, norms and attitudes among all in the company. (Ahmadon Bakri, 2006).

The construction industry plays a vital role in helping the efforts of the government to attain sustainable development when there is a requirement of balance between economy growth, social expansion and environmental protection. (Construction Innovation Vol. 12 No. 1, 2012). The construction projects are categorized as residential projects, non-residential projects, mixed developments, social amenities, infrastructure and others. (JOSE 2014, Vol. 20, No. 3). Worker characteristics, work environment and the activity undertaken by the victim decide the level of exposure that was present at the time of an accident. When that situation is triggered by an appropriate mechanism, the accident will take place. The accident coupled with the injured body location will decide the level of injury severity. While the study looked at the relationship of factors that govern the level of exposure and severity. (Dumrak, J et al (2013)). These characteristics are believed to be influential in workers’ behaviours on a construction site, which could be unsafe in certain circumstances. Hinze et al. (2005) found human errors are mainly responsible for construction accidents. A number of factors were uncovered by Choudhry and Fang (2008) relating to human error.