SOCSO Data Shows Increase in Construction Accidents and Deaths in 2018

According to Social Security Organisation (SOCSO), there was a rise in the number of accidents and deaths in the construction sector in 2018 compared to 2017.

In the construction sector, 143 deaths and 8,191 accidents were recorded from January to November 2018. The figures show an increase from 2017, which recorded 120 deaths from January to November and 7,870 accidents for the whole year.

Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) president Datuk Abdul Halim Mansor said besides amending laws and imposing heftier penalties, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) must conduct more frequent inspections on construction sites nationwide as part of efforts to prevent disasters.

Recently, DOSH tasked an agency to oversee some 14,000 active construction sites in the country. But the agency only has 100 officers nationwide.

Abdul Halim said that DOSH needs to strengthen its enforcement to monitor the sites and ensure that they are in compliance as there is no use to inspect sites only after an accident occurs.

A number of widely reported cases of death at construction sites have led to public outrage over safety for workers.

In October 2018, nine migrant workers were killed and four were injured in a landslide that happened at a construction site in Paya Terubong, Penang. In July 2018, two construction workers were crushed to death when concrete slabs on the 15th floor of a building they were working on collapsed.

Click on the image for larger size. Pic credit: SOCSO

In November 2018, the Malaysian Cabinet has decided to place social security protection of foreign workers under SOCSO starting 1st January 2019.

Human Resources Minister M. Kula Segaran said “Employers who hire foreign workers with valid documents including expatriates must register their employees with SOCSO and contribute to the Employment Injury Scheme under the Employees’ Social Security Act 1969 (Act 4)”.

“Benefits under the Employment Injury Scheme include Medical Benefit, Temporary Disablement Benefit, Permanent Disablement Benefit, Constant Attendance Allowance, Dependants’ Benefit and Rehabilitation, as well as RM6,500 repatriation cost including funeral”.

According to a Khazanah report, Malay was home to around 2.2 million foreign workers in 2017, most of them hired in the agriculture and construction sectors.

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