Awareness of the Regulations and Industry Codes of Practice Vis-a-Vis the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994: A Study among the Masters and Crews Working in Vessels of Commercial Fishing Industry

Azuddin Bin Bahari,Hanum Binti Hassan,Abdullah Osman

doi:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5p269

Abstract

The Fisheries Act 1985 is the current legislation regulating the fishing industry in Malaysia. However in terms of occupational safety and health at the workplace, the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act 1994 are applicable to all the fishing operations in Malaysia. The activities of fishing on vessels are exposed to lots of hazards due to unsafe act and unsafe conditions. As a result, accidents at the workplace happen due to the aforementioned reasons. Hence, the workplaces for Masters and Crews in fishing vessels must be safe and conducive to work. Following the enactment of the OSH Act in 1994, various initiatives have been implemented by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) to increase awareness and knowledge of OSH in the workplace, including among Masters and Crews working in fishing vessels. DOSH have also circulated “Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health in Fishing and Aquaculture Operations”. At this juncture, both the employer and employees ought to be well-informed of some of the requirements stipulated in the OSH Act 1994 which have bearing on the safety of the Masters and Crews working in fishing vessels. The objective of this study was to determine the level of OSH awareness and knowledge among the Masters and the Crews working in fishing vessels with regards to the safety at the workplace. A study was conducted using questionnaire addressing general OSH issues, OSH legislations, occupational hazards at the workplace and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5p269

Highlights

Any jobs that entail working on water meet the criteria as a hazardous occupation (Health and Safety Report, 2011)
There are about 54,054 workers working in licence fishing vessels (LKIM, Annuar Report, 2015)
In terms of safety at the workplace, the OSH Act 1994 are applicable to all the fishing operations in Malaysia (Department of Occupational Safety and Health, 2006)

Summary

Introduction

Any jobs that entail working on water meet the criteria as a hazardous occupation (Health and Safety Report, 2011). Commercial fishing is qualified to be classifying as hazardous occupation (Lincoln, Davis, & Lucas, 2014). Fishing is considered to be the world’s most dangerous occupation with more than 24,000 casualties per year (which corresponds to appropriately 80 fatalities per 100,000 fishers per year) (Safety at Sea in Fisheries Sector, 2012). The objective of Department of Fisheries Malaysia is to realize the production of 2.6 million tonnes of food fish through an optimum contribution of 1.8 million tonnes from capture fisheries and 0.8 million tonnes from aquaculture (Fisheries, 2015). To meet the aforementioned targets, there are about 32,672 licence fishing vessels in Malaysia. There are about 54,054 workers working in licence fishing vessels (LKIM, Annuar Report, 2015)

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion