PSZ 19 : 16 (Pind.

1/07)

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA


PENGESAHAN PROJEK SARJANA MUDA DAN HAK CIPTA


Nama Penulis : NOR SYUHADA BINTI ABD RASHID
Tarikh Lahir : 21 MARCH 1984
Tajuk : COMPARISON STUDY ON SAFETY AND HEALTH LAW BETWEEN
MALAYSIA AND INTERNATIONAL IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
Sesi Akademik : 2/ 2008/2009

Saya mengesahkan bahawa tesis ini dikelaskan sebagai:


SULIT (Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau
kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam AKTA
RAHSIA RASMI 1972)*

TERHAD (Mengandungi maklumat TERHAD yang telah ditentukan oleh
organisasi/badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan)*

CARIAN TERBUKA Saya setuju bahawa tesis ini akan diterbitkan secara carian
terbuka atas talian (teks penuh)

Saya mengaku bahawa Universiti Teknologi Malaysia mempunyai hak seperti berikut:

1. Tesis adalah hakmilik Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
2. Perpustakaan Universiti Teknologi Malaysia dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk tujuan
pengajian sahaja.
3. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan tesis ini sebagai bahan pertukaran antara
institusi pengajian tinggi.

Disahkan oleh

____________________________ ___________________________
TANDATANGAN TANDATANGAN PENYELIA

840321-08-5474 EN. AHMADON BIN BAKRI
(NO. IC / NO. PASPORT) NAMA PENYELIA

Tarikh : 30 APRIL 2009 Tarikh : 30 APRIL 2009

Catatan * Jika tesis ini SULIT atau TERHAD, sila lampirkan surat daripada pihak
berkuasa/organisasi berkenaan dengan menyatakan sekali sebab dan
tempoh tesis ini perlu dikelaskan sebagai SULIT atau TERHAD.


















I hereby declare that I have read this project report and in my opinion this project
report is sufficient in term of scope and quality for the award of the Bachelor Degree
of Civil Engineering



Signature : ...................................................................
Name of Supervisor : ENCIK AHMADON BIN BAKRI
Date : 30 APRIL 2009

iii













I declare that this project report entitled Comparison Study on Safety and Health
Law between Malaysia and International in Construction Industry is the result of
my own research except as cited in the references.




Signature : .
Name : NOR SYUHADA BINTI ABD RASHID
Date : 30 APRIL 2009











iv







ACKNOWLEDGEMENT



All praise be to Allah S.W.T, The Al Mighty, The Most Gracious and The
Most Merciful.


First of all I want to extend my appreciation to everybody who contributed to
the accomplishment of this dissertation. My project supervisor, En Ahmadon Bakri,
for his valuable guidance, advises and his valuable time. With his valuable guidance,
I was able to understand more in-depth about this report, where to collect the
information that is needed and how to maximize the usage of the information
collected. And therefore I was being able to complete my research on time.


Special thank to my parents, Abd Rashid Bin Abd Nabi and Aziah Binti
Shafeai for their encouragement and support. My beloved brothers and sister, thank
for your support.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to my
friends for their valuable advice and opinion. Unfortunately, it is not possible to list
all of them in this limited space. I am grateful to all my family members.





v







ABSTRACT



In developed countries such as United Kingdom and Australia, there is strict
legal enforcement of safety which is designed to minimize or eliminate
accidents at work places. This study was carried out through safety and health
law among Malaysia and international in construction industry. Focus of
study was made on Occupational safety and Health Act 1994 (Act 514) and
Factories and Machinery Act 1967 (Act 139), Health and Safety at Work etc
Act 1974, Factories Act 1961 and Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984.
To achieve three objectives of this study, comparison divided into four main
elements. The elements were department which implements the law, the
regulation, general duty employers and employees and construction activity.
All these elements were compared base on law and regulation related in
construction industry. As result Malaysia have 24 regulations, United
Kingdom 15 regulations and Australia eight regulations. Furthermore, the
study also proposes some recommendations for safe construction in Malaysia
based on the comparisons of the safety and health law and regulation.
vi





ABSTRAK



Di Negara maju seperti United Kingdom dan Australia, memiliki
penguatkuasaan undang-undang yang tegas dan ia bertujuan untuk
mengurangkan kemalangan di tempat kerja. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk
membandingkan undang-undang keselamatan dan kesihatan di Malaysia dan
Antarabangsa dalam industri pembinaan. Undang- undang tersebut adalah
Occupational safety and Health Act 1994 (Act 514) dan Factories and
Machinery Act 1967 (Act 139), Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974,
Factories Act 1961 dan Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984. Untuk
mencapai objektif kajian, perbandingan di bahagikan kepada empat bahagian
iaitu badan yang bertanggungjawab untuk melaksanakan undang- undang
keselamatan, peraturanperaturan keselamatan dan kesihatan, tanggungjawab
majikan dan pekerja, dan kerja-kerja di tapak bina. Daripada hasil kajian,
Malaysia ada 24 peraturan, united Kingdom 15 peraturan dan Australia ada
lapan peraturan. Akhir sekali kajian ini juga membuat saranan dan cadangan
untuk meningkatkan lagi keselamatan dan kesihatan di Malaysia berdasarkan
kajian yang telah dibuat. Ini akan membuatkan keselamatan di dalam industri
pembinaan berkesan dan berjaya.

vii





TABLE OF CONTENTS




CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

THESIS TITLE i
DECLARATION ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
ABSTRACT v
ABSTRAK vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
LIST OF FIGURES xi
LIST OF TABLE xii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xiii
LIST OF APPENDIX xiv



1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background Introduction 1
1.2 Statement of Problems 3
1.3 Research Objectives 5
1.4 Research Scope 5
1.5 Research Methodology 6
1.6 Significance of study 7



viii


2 LITERATURE REVIEW 8
2.1 Introduction 8
2.2 National Implementing Legislation 10
2.3 The Malaysian Laws Are Regulated 11
2.4 Some Basic Definition and Interpretation 12
2.5 Sources of Law 14
2.5.1 Criminal law 14
2.5.2 Civil law 15
2.5.3 Common Law 15
2.6 Common Workplace Hazard 16
2.7 Duties of employers 17
2.8 Duties of employees 19
2.9 Safety and Health Law in Malaysia 20
2.9.1 Introduction 20
2.9.2 Occupational safety and health act 1994 21
2.9.3 Factory and Machinery Act 1967 23
2.10 Health and Safety at Work in United Kingdom 25
2.10.1 Background 27
2.10.2 Health and Safety Commission and Health 28
and Safety Executive
2.10.3 Health and Safety Executive 28
2.11 Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 29
2.11.1 WorkSafe Australia 29
2.12 Element of Management in Construction Industry 30
2.13 Occupational Safety Program for Construction Industry 31
2.13.1 Commitment 31
2.13.2 Policy and Procedures 32
2.14 Safety and Health Training 32

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 34
3.1 Introduction 34
3.2 Methodology 34
3.3 Research Design 35
ix


3.4 Data Collection 35
3.5 Framework analysis Planning 36

4 ANALYSIS AND RESULT
4.1 Introduction 38
4.2 Objective of Safety and Health Act. 40
4.3 Regulation related safety and health 42
4.3.1 NADOPOD (Malaysia) 47
4.3.2 RIDDOR (United Kingdom) 48
4.4 Implementations 49
4.5 The general duties 50
4.6 Construction Activity 53
4.6.1 Scaffolding 53
4.6.1.1 Malaysia 54
4.6.1.2 United Kingdom 56
4.6.1.3 Australia 57
4.6.2 Excavation 59
4.6.2.1 Malaysia 60
4.6.2.2 United Kingdom 61
4.6.2.3 Australia 62
4.6.3 Demolition 63
4.6.3.1 Malaysia 64
4.6.3.2 United Kingdom 65
4.6.3.3 Australia 65
4.7 Safety and Health Committee (SHC) 67
4.7.1 Malaysia 67
4.7.2 United Kingdom 68
4.7.3 Australia 69
4.8 Training Program 70
4.8.1 Malaysia 71
4.8.2 United Kingdom 71
4.8.3 Australia 72

x


5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Introduction 73
5.2 Conclusion 73
5.3 Recommendations for This Study 74
5.4 Recommendations for Future Study 75




























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LIST OF FIGURE




FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE

Figure 1.1 Number of construction fatalities 2000 2007 4
Figure 1.2 Research Methodology Flow Chart 7
Figure 3.1 Flow of Research Methodology 35
Figure 4.1 Number of section Act between three countries 39
Figure 4.2 Number of section in factory act between two country 39


















xii





LIST OF TABLE




TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE

Table 1.1 Safety and Health Law 5
Table 2.1 Hazard of Construction Industry 16
Table 3.1 Safety and Health Law 35
Table 4.1 Objective safety and health act 40
Table 4.2 Regulation related safety and health in Malaysia 42
Table 4.3 Regulation related safety and health in United Kingdom 44
Table 4.4 Regulation related at safety and health in Australia 45
Table 4.5 Similarity Safety and health regulation between
Malaysia, United Kingdom and Australia 46
Table 4.6 Department which responsible to implement safety
and health law 49
Table 4.7 General duties of employers 51
Table 4.8 General duties of employees 51
Table 4.9 General duties of designs, manufactures, imports
or supplies any article for use at work 52
Table 4.10 Regulation related in scaffolding 54
Table 4.11 Regulation related inspection of scaffold 58
Table 4.12 Regulation related excavation 59
Table 4.13 Regulation related in demolition at construction industry 64
Table 4.14 Regulation related in safety and health Committee
(SHC) at construction industry 67
Table 4.15 Regulation related in training program at
construction industry 70
xiii





LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS




ABBREVIATION TITLE

BOWEC Factories and Machinery (Building Operations & Work
of Engineering Construction) Regulations, 1986
DOSH Department of Occupational Safety and Health
FMA Factories and Machinery Act 1967
FMS Factories and Machinery (Fencing of Machinery and
Safety) Regulations, 1970
HSE Health Safety Executive
HSWA 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act (1974)
NADOPOD Occupational Safety and Health called the Notification
of Accident, Dangerous Occurrence, Occupational
Poisoning and Occupational Disease.
OSHA 1994 The occupational Safety and Health Act 1994
OSHA 1984 Occupational Safety and Health Act (1984).
RIDDOR Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous
Occurrences Regulations 1995








xiv




LIST OF APPENDICES




APPENDIX TITLE PAGE

Appendix A Safety And Health Act 1994 Malaysia 79
Appendix B Health And Safety At Work Etc. Act 1974
United Kingdom 82
Appendix C Occupational Safety And Health Act 1984 Australia 88
Appendix D Factories And Machinery Act 1967
(Revised 1974) Malaysia 93
Appendix E Factories Act, 1961 United Kingdom 96
Appendix F Kosmo news 104
Appendix G Bernama .com 105






CHAPTER 1



INTRODUCTION



1.1 Background Introduction


The construction industry has unique characteristics that sharply distinguish it
from other sectors of the economy. It is fragmented, very sensitive to the economic
cycles and political environment. In Malaysia the building construction industry
plays a major role in the economy. Mr. Patrick Wong, President of Master Builders
Association Malaysia (MBAM) said, the construction sector is improving in
performance contribution of 4.0% and 4.8% in the first quarter and in the second
quarter for 2007 as result of Governments effort in rolling out a series of projects
worth RM200 billion under the 9
th
Malaysia Plan (9MP). While doing so, safety
place as an important factor in pursuing robust construction growth. The lack of
safety could affect productivity; cause lost of lives and consequently affects timely
project completion in the various development corridors if safety is not taken
seriously.


To improve safety, some countries such as Australia, Singapore, and the
United Kingdom have enacted legislations regulating safety working practices on site
nature (Donald P. Dingsdag et al 2008). Though the association is organizing safety
and health related courses for experience site supervisors and project engineers and
preparing them for Department of Occupational Safety & Health (DOSH)
2


professional accreditation, much more has to be done to fulfill the vacuum for much
needed safety officers for the construction industry in this country.


Construction industry performs poorly in occupational health and safety
(OHS). At least 30% of construction sites have safety ratings of unsatisfactory or
lower. (The Star, Jan. 2006). Because of that, Safety and Health law was very
important to every country especially Malaysia. The law has evolved from systems,
principles and customs governing conduct in relation to various aspects of peoples
lives. Rules are established by groups of all sizes to ensure that the rights of members
are respected and responsibilities are fulfilled. Small or informal groups tend to adopt
simple rules, which are not legally binding, while governments of countries and
states develop complex and comprehensive rules, which can be enforced (Helen et al
2005). Laws and regulations administered by OSHA generally provide adequate
technical guidance to the construction industry on how to work safely, but the
administrative and procedural requirements tend to be punitive and burdensome,
especially on small projects.


There are many ways where the safety in construction industry being
controlled in order to reduce the number of accident. Reducing the number of fatality
and injuries to the workers and damage the equipments government worldwide have
maintained an on-going commitment towards establishing a working environment
free of injury and diseases. This performance based workplace health and safety
legislation which set generalized performance objective and provides a system of
clearly stated responsibility to encourage greater self-regulation for the construction
industry.


In Malaysia, the safety and health law about construction site regulated by
two main acts namely FMA and OSHA 1994. Factory and Machinery Act 1967
(FMA) is widely use by Department Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), to
make sure safety, health and welfare at workplace. One of regulation under this act is
3


Building Operation of Work Engineering and Construction (BOWEC) is created
specially to focus the activities at construction industries. The act clearly emphasizes
on the safety and health at different element of construction such as machineries,
working at load platform, scaffolding, floor opening, electrical safety and etc. Indeed
the FMA only enforceable to factory and machineries in which it is considered as
prescriptive, rigid and too dependent to government to enforcement that make in
ineffective in controlling the issues of occupational safety and health at workplace.


The occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (OSHA) has been enacted in
1994 as the reinforcement to the FMA. The objectives of the act are to secure the
safety and health and welfare of person at work, protect person at a place of work
against hazards to promote the occupational environment adaptable to the persons
physiological and to provide the means towards as legislative system based on
regulations and industry codes of practice in combination with the provisions of the
Act. Construction industries are expected to comply with the provision of the
provision of the act such as general duty of employer and employee, the requirement
of safety officer regulation, the requirement of safety and health committee and
responsibilities of reporting of accident and dangerous occurrences.(Ahmad Fauzi,
2007)



1.2 Statement of Problems


The construction industry is considered as one of the most hazardous
industrial sectors wherein the construction workers are more prone to accidents.
Research from Health and Safety Executive in United Kingdom prove that one
worker in UK killed in construction site compare workers from another industries
was 5 times, whereas serious injured was 2 times (Tony Baxendale et al 2000).
Because of that safety and health law play important role to every body. In developed
countries such as United Kingdom and United States of America, there is strict legal
4


enforcement of safety in the construction industry and also in the implementation of
safety management systems which are designed to minimize or eliminate accidents at
work places. Safety and health in the Malaysian construction industry has lagged
behind most other industries as evidenced by its disproportional high rate of
accidents. There are annually at least 60,000 fatal accidents on construction sites
around the world, according to an ILO report published for World Day for Safety and
Health at Work 2005.


From United Kingdom HSE report, safety problems to overcome include lack
of clear cut contractual responsibility for safety; lack of an industry-wide agreement
on shop drawing responsibility; the need for general and site specific safety training;
and the need for workers to accept responsibility for their own actions. Construction
industries in Malaysia also have identified as one of the most hazardous activities.
SOCSO reported out of total 95 deaths in construction industry at 2007 compare 64
deaths during 2006. Figure 1.1 shows the number of fatal injuries in construction
industries from 2000-2007.




Figure 1.1: Number of construction fatalities 2000 2007
*Source: SOCSO and DOSH



5


1.3 Research Objectives


The aims of this study are to determine the comparison safety and health law
between Malaysia and International in construction industry. To achieving this aim,
three objectives have been outlined:


1. To identify safety and health law in Malaysia related on construction
industry.
2. To identify safety and health law in United Kingdom and Australia related
construction industry.
3. To identify omparison about safety and health law between Malaysia and
International in construction industry.


1.4 Research Scope

This study only focuses on safety and health law in Malaysia, United
Kingdom and Australia and related on construction industry. Table 1.1 shown safety
and health law related in construction industry.

Table 1.1: Safety and Health Law

Country Law
Malaysia Safety and Health Act 1994 and
Factory and
Machinery Act 1967 (Act 139)
United Kingdom Health and Safety at Work Act (1974)
Factories Act 1961
Australia Occupational safety and Health Act
(1984).
Dangerous Goods Safety Act 2004
6


The study compared about:

Department which implements safety and health law
Regulations about safety and health
General duties employer and employees and designs, manufactures,
imports or supplies any article for use at work
Construction work (scaffolding, excavation and demolition)
Construction management (Safety and Health Committee and
construction training).



1.5 Research Methodology


The first step of the study was identifying research problem which covered
the significance, objective and scope of the study. Research problem identified
through detail study of construction statistics produced by SOCSO and DOSH. This
is followed by exploratory research of the literature. Information was gathered
mainly through journals, books, working papers and reports. Detailed about
methodology of these study explained on chapter three. Figure 1.3 shows
methodology flowchart used for this research.











7

























Figure 1.2: Research Methodology Flow Chart.

1.6 Significance of study

To achieve and find out the Safety and Health Law in Malaysia and
international related in construction industry. The end of this report will give
suggestion and recommendation to encourage all people who work in construction
industry to apply all safety and health regulation and guidelines according in Safety
and Health law. Lastly, to give awareness the important of safety and health law
among people who work in construction industry.
Identify Problem Accident statistic
from DOSH and
PERKESO.
Determine Research
Area
Important OSH
Malaysia
United Kingdom
Australia

Determine Research
Topic and Objective
Construction
Industry
Journals
Books
Previous Studies
Working Papers
Literature Review
Document study
Data Analysis
Recommendation
and Conclusion
8