LETTER | When are worksite deaths going to end?

LETTER | The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) is horrified about the news of the Bangladeshi worker who fell into a waste boiler filled with boiling oil at a palm oil mill in Jasin, Malacca, and was fried to death.

According to reports, the foreign worker was installing piping for fire sprinklers on the roof of the building when he suddenly fell into the boiler. It was also said that he was not wearing any personal protective equipment (PPE) when he was carrying out this work.

CAP has time and time again stressed that proper safety precautions are necessary when carrying out work, such as what the victim was doing, to prevent unnecessary loss of life.

The police have determined that the victim’s death was accidental and not a pre-meditated incident, but there are other questions that also need to be asked.

For instance, was the victim, Md Abdul Manan Molla, provided with the PPE equipment vital for this kind of work? Did he have the necessary skills or certification to carry out such work and was anyone monitoring/managing his work?

Are there any SOPs for this kind of work and are they being followed?

Until these questions are asked and the authorities take strict action against anyone who was flouting these vital SOPs (if there are none, there definitely needs to be SOPs) we are bound to keep repeating these same mistakes that result in horrible deaths.

MOHIDEEN ABDUL KADER is the president of the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP).

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