D8-3　The Paper Submitted to the Asian Conference on Ergonomics and Design: Malaysia Occupational Safety and Health Status in Agriculture: Overview

抄録

There are a lot of concerns directed towards safety and health in the agricultural sectors including Malaysia which covers 23% of total land area (approximately 34 million hectares). Under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry (MOA), agriculture sector in Malaysia are further defined in 3 major agricultural activities; crops and plantation, livestock and animal husbandry as well as fisheries. With agriculture highlighted as one of the key sector towards national economic development, yet several tasks by the farmers in the agricultural have been shown to lead to various safety and health issues. Statistics by DOSH (2014; 2015) in Table 2 shows that although the number of accidents has declined over the years, the total numbers of accidents in agriculture sectors were consistently the second highest after manufacturing sector. However, like many other statistical reports, the reported numbers of cases were only the tip of the icebergs. In reality, it is estimated that there are many unreported cases of occupational accidents, injuries and diseases in agricultural sectors. The reported statistics of occupational injuries and accidents according to types of injuries and sectors was in contrasts to records from Social Security Organization (SOCSO), Malaysia (MOHR, 2015) which shows significantly higher reporting of accidents. Among these accidents and injuries reported from all sectors, ergonomics injuries attest to be the most pronounced cases with an increasing trend over the years (MOHR, 2015). This is consistent with the number of investigation cases of occupational diseases and poisoning as reported by DOSH (Table 4) where Occupational Musculoskeletal Disorder among the types of diseases reported to DOSH was showing increasing trend from 2010 - 2015. In pursuance of Occupational Safety and Health (Notification of Accident, Dangerous Occurrence, Occupational Poisoning and Occupational Diseases) Regulation 2004, enforcement activities carried out by DOSH warrant investigation upon reporting of occupational accidents, injuries or diseases. In reality, physical stress associated with farm work can be minimized or in some tasks entirely prevented with appropriate ergonomic interventions. Many effective and feasible ergonomic modifications in improving living and working conditions have been introduced in many countries including Malaysia, but the questions have been raised as to whether farmers actually put to use educational information on elimination, reduction and control of physical hazards. In Malaysia, although many generic strategies for the elimination or reduction of workplace ergonomics risk factors exposure have been demonstrated and published for many industries especially in manufacturing, services and oil and gas, application of these ergonomics intervention remains largely unaddressed in agricultural industry. In some respects there has been improvement in the health and safety of those working in Malaysia agriculture due to improved technology, personal protection, and awareness of hazards. However, there is still much to be done to prevent injuries and improve health status of those working in Malaysia agriculture.