UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSI

BDA 31302 OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND

HEALTH
GROUP ASSIGNMENT 1:

MORAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF AN
ENGINEER RELATED TO SAFETY AND
HEALTH

SEMESTER 2

SESSION 2020/2021

LECTURER: DR. S KANNA A/L SUBRAMANIYAN

NAME MATRIC NO. SECTION

(1) MUHAMMAD IKMAL BIN MOHD YUNOS CD180238 8

(2) MUHAMMAD NOR SANI BIN SANWAN CD180233 8

MEMBER

(3) ABDUL’AZIM BIN MOHAMAD AD180179 8

 CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF THE VIDEO 2

CHAPTER 3 CASE STUDY 3

3.1 Case study description 4

3.2 Explanation of the common unethical behavior 5

3.3 Explanation related to socio-culture issues 6

3.4 Description of the moral issues and evidence 7

3.5 Explanation of viewpoints and value system considered 8

to decide for a plan of action

3.6 Explanation of the decisions and the associated impacts 9

CHAPTER 3 CONCLUSION 10

REFERENCES

APPENDICES
 INTRODUCTION

The study's aspects include employer responsibilities, employee responsibilities, occupational

health and safety commission, occupational safety regulation, compliance liability,
occupational safety, and health security principles. The case study was studied based on OSH
as a multidisciplinary field concerned with people's safety, health, and welfare. As we may
know, OSH helps businesses protect their workers and reduce the number of workplace deaths,
injuries, and illnesses by implementing new safety and health management systems. Those
organizations that fail to reach the OSH standard may be cited or fined. It necessitates death, as
well as temporary and permanent disability. As a result, we have been assigned to give OSHA
1994 as the parent act to explore engineers' roles and responsibilities connected to safety and
health in the real working environment in subject BDA31302 Occupational Safety and Health.
Numerous rules, standards, and codes of conduct provide more comprehensive OSHA 1994
provisions.

Employer and employee obligations, the Workplace Health and Safety Commission,
occupational safety regulation, compliance liabilities, occupational safety, and health security
concepts are all included in the study. The case study was centered on occupational safety and
health (OSH), which is a multidisciplinary discipline concerned with people's safety, health,
and welfare. As you may be aware, OSH assists organizations in establishing new safety and
health management systems in order to protect their employees and reduce the incidence of
workplace deaths, injuries, and illnesses. Organizations that do not meet the OSH criteria may
face citations or fines.
 REVIEW OF THE VIDEO

This video shows an accident that occurred on a construction site during the working process,
based on the video group 6 selection. The video shows an employee's disregard for his or her
surroundings at work. Since of the employee's carelessness, the person operating the bulldozer
failed to detect that there was a person in front of the bulldozer because the view front driver is
high, creating a blind zone in front of the bulldozer. The employee made the error of not
exercising extreme caution in the vicinity of a large vehicle in a construction site where the
driver has a limited view to manoeuvre the vehicle. Because the building site is densely packed
with large vehicles, the victim must be aware of the dangers. Aside from that, the noise
generated by the vehicle and contractor might be hazardous because it reduces employee
awareness of their surroundings. Because of the crowded heavy vehicle, the employee should
not be on the site in the first place instead, wait until the driver has finished his or her duty so
that he or she can get to you.
 CASE STUDY

3.1 Case study description

Malaysia has moved rapidly to keep pace with the times as it aspires to achieve steady
economic growth and plan its path as a developed nation by 2020. The construction industry
has expanded over the last decades and has become an important sector for nations to develop
our country's economic accessibility and enhanced demand for commodities. However, due to
its working climate and various working procedures, safety and health challenges remain
important to the construction industry in line with positive economic development. Rising death
rates for the construction sector worldwide highlight the industrial crisis resulting from
accidents. According to the most recent DOSH figures on accident statistics from January to
April 2021, construction has the greatest death rate of any other sector, with 25 deaths.

Construction, with 86 total cases in January to April 2021, may not be the greatest or
lowest accident sector, but it has the highest death rate among the others. According to the
DOSH Statistics, a total of 6933 incidents had been reported across all industries as of January
to December 2020. There were 140 injuries in the construction industry. There have been 66
fatalities documented in the construction industry, making it the industry with the deadliest
accidents overall. These figures give a clear picture that this country's construction industry is
essential and needs a significant change in safety practices at the construction site.

Unfortunately, labor is the largest community of employees susceptible to construction

site injuries and, therefore, the largest victims of construction accidents. Due to this unexpected
event, projects are not completed as per contract, resulting in various adverse effects due to lack
of time, projected costs, and efficiency, contributing to stakeholder dissatisfaction during
tenders.
3.2 Explanation of the typical unethical behaviour

The application of moral principles that will be given in a scenario is referred to as ethical
behavior. The ethical behaviors can be divided into two categories: those that affect the
individual's relationships and those that affect the work relationship. The concept can be
extended to a company as a whole. It has the potential to have moral ramifications for every
action made. This type of behavior is required for society to function properly. Every person
who acts unethically will inevitably lose the trust of others, and those who break the law should
be punished. Specific ideas and concepts maintained in a partnership will demonstrate
appropriate behavior.

The building business and its contractors are frequently viewed as unethical.
Unfortunately, many contractors act unethically, and some clients participate in unethical
behavior as well. As a result, we must understand why it is critical to be ethical in any
connection. When someone engages in unethical behavior and exposes himself, trust is broken.
The person's or company's image would be severely harmed, potentially resulting in more
losses. Our ethics, or lack thereof, will define who we are and how we will deal with future
issues.

Why are the construction workers or the contractor behaving in such an unethical
manner? Most people are unaware of what constitutes unethical activity. As a result, we must
detect everyday practices that workers or engineers should avoid. The following are some
examples of typical unethical behavior:

1. It does not place a high priority on project safety, as seen by the fact that they do not care if
workers or others are wounded.

2. They deliver a poor or low-quality client project when the contractor fails to give the best
project with correct knowledge and tries to cover up mistakes with a terrible working attitude.

3. Omitting things on purpose results in the creation or non-supply of products that meet project
standards. When a contractor tries to save money by purchasing low-quality materials, it can
be captured.

4. The contractor's environmental practices were lacking. Some clients and contractors were
found to have dumped hazardous waste into regular garbage disposal rather than a proper waste
disposal system. If they care about the environment, they will also care about the people and
society around them.
3.3 Explanation related to socio-culture issues

Socio-culture is a phenomena or scenario in which social and cultural influences coexist.

Socio-culture, in a more particular sense, refers to a demographic group's shared customs,
habits, practices, and beliefs. There are several examples of sociocultural or social cultures in
everyday life, particularly in the workplace. For example, the socio-cultural issue that women
are unsuitable for engineering careers is due to their inability to match or rival men's strength
and intelligence. This is just one of many different socio-cultures in the subject of engineering,
not to mention other fields like business, medicine, entertainment, and others. This tendency
isn't just limited to work-related issues; it's also pervasive in our daily lives. The beliefs or
customs passed down from generation to generation and still practiced by some, such as
arranged marriage or the use of dark magic, are examples of socio-culture in everyday life.

The socio-culture in this case study involves employers' disregard for their employees'
safety, which results in deadly occurrences and accidents. In this situation, several socio-
cultural elements may have contributed to the employer's disregard for their employees' safety.
One of the major issues is the employers' impatience or person-in-desire charges to complete
the construction without first studying the construction needs, such as materials and
measurements, in order to construct a good and safe structure—the employers simply value
quantity over quality. They will purchase it as long as it is within the production cost, regardless
of whether the materials are the proper ones or not, to ensure that the construction is completed
on time as stated in the contract with the clients. Some scumbag employers purposefully used
low-priced materials that barely meet the standards for physical and mechanical qualities in
order to keep the money left over from the production cost. Aspects such as racial
discrimination against specific communities, such as Bangladeshi or Vietnamese laborer’s, are
also present. Racial discrimination is a serious internal socio-cultural phenomenon that
continues to this day, in the year 2020. Employers believe that they are not Malaysian workers
and hence do not deserve to be treated as such. As a result of this, people are in risk since their
employers do not treat them fairly.
3.4 Description of the moral issues and the evidence

Moral issues should be understood as a matter to be addressed by considering technical

issues and holding moral principles in mind. In general, to be more precise, a moral issue is a
working description of a problem of moral concern presented as any problem with the ability
to support or hurt others, including oneself. The concerns and facts to be discussed here are
primarily based on the construction sector.

Fall hazards can occur when scaffolding is not erected or used properly. Approximately
2.3 million construction workers also work on scaffolding. Protecting these workers from
scaffolding-related incidents will avoid an estimated 4,500 injuries and 50 fatalities per year.
Scaffolding incidents may happen in two ways, either due to the fall from the scaffold or the
scaffold (Hamdan & Awang, 2015). A study of fatal accidents involving scaffolding in
Malaysia revealed approximately 24 fatal accidents registered to the Department of
Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) between 2010 and February 2020 (DOSH, 2020). Of
the total 24 fatal accident cases reported, 19 cases (79.2%) were accounted for falling from a
height, 5 cases (20.8%) were due to scaffold collapse, 2 of the cases were deaths from concrete
floor crush the boom of the mobile crane. In Johor (6 cases), the majority of accidents were
identified, followed by Kuala Lumpur (4 cases), and Pulau Pinang, Melaka, Kedah, Perak, and
Selangor (2 cases each) (DOSH, 2020).

Trench collapses cause dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries per year. Deaths by
trenching rose in 2003. Trench collapses, or cave-ins, pose the most danger to the lives of
workers. Trenching operations can minimize employee exposure to other possible hazards when
performed safely, including slips, dropping loads, unsafe atmospheres, and mobile equipment
accidents. Approximately four fatal cases were filed from 2014 to 2016 in total (DOSH, 2020).
Three cases were confirmed to have been buried (75%), and one of the cases was due to the
collapse of the concrete wall, resulting in three deaths (25%). Most of the cases occurred in
Johor (2 cases), both of which occurred in Sarawak and Pulau Pinang. If cranes are not tested
before use and are not used properly, severe and serious injuries can occur. Sometimes, these
accidents occur when an overhead load hits a worker or is trapped within the crane's swing
range. Most crane deaths occur when a crane's boom or load line hits an overhead power line.
According to Raja Noraina Raja Rahim (2015), some crane accidents in Malaysia, such as a
huge construction crane operating at maximum speed on April 29, 2015, reportedly lost control
on the downslope of a flyover near Taman Bukit Kepayang, 6 ultimately crashing into no less
than 13 vehicles. A woman was killed on August 25, 2016, when a crane hook plummeted on
her car at a construction site as she drove along Jalan Raja Chulan, Bukit Bintang. The tower
crane luffing boom collapsed at a construction site in Kampung Baru on November 10, 2017,
and collapsed on a vehicle outside the construction site. The incident caused a worker and two
members of the public to suffer minimal injuries. On the morning of January 2, 2018, a foreign
construction site worker was killed while three others were seriously injured after being hit by
a falling crane part in Seksyen 7 Shah Alam.
3.5 Explanation of viewpoints and value system considered to decide for a plan of
action

A value system is a set of values or morals that people adhere to and which will be
reflected in their decisions. The value system is significant since it influences a person's
decision. Engineers' and construction workers' value systems and perspectives have also
influenced the construction site plan of action. Some of the values required are safety and health
concerns. It is a critical value in the design of physical constructions. To ensure safety, the
structural system chosen must be subjected to testing. Additionally, the structural structure must
be compatible with mechanical equipment. The materials chosen for the physical structure will
be determined by safety and health issues. For example, steel frame because unsuitable steel
will limit the structure's span and be unsafe to construction workers, suitable steel may be
chosen.

Other than that, look for any potential safety issues on the construction site. Regular
safety inspections of the building site will help to lessen the likelihood of an accident occurring.
It will aid geotechnical engineering investigations because the subsurface condition has an
impact on the design of the provision. Any construction project will benefit from a successful
geotechnical engineering investigation. The engineer in charge of the project must keep track
of inspections to ensure the hazard has been resolved. To facilitate debate about ways to resolve
the hazardous conditions, photos and videos are required.

One of the values considered while deciding on a plan of action is to ensure a suitable
building site environment. As the project is still in the planning stages, the construction
manager, design specialists, and contractor must visit the construction site for more information.
A bad layout will cause construction issues, and inputs are necessary to overcome the layout's
construction and design issues. The site visit can be used to confirm the availability of road,
power, water, and service utilities in a specific area in order to locate a suitable location for a
field office and facilities. During the site visit, environmental factors such as groundwater,
drainage, and the danger of flooding must be highlighted.
3.6 Explanation of the decisions and the associated impacts

The first plan of action is analyzing the structural system selected to ensure the
construction's safety. The structural system and mechanical equipment must be compatible with
each other. The mechanical equipment is dependent on the structural system. This is because
the mechanical equipment has to be the tools that ensure its use while the structural system is
the base of the construction. The structural system determines which mechanical equipment
should be used. Examples of mechanical equipment crucial in construction are sturdy ropes
complete with safety gear for hanging in a high building. Another example is a construction hat
to protect the head if some debris or blocks of cement fall on top of the worker's head, and thick
gloves to handle or move rough objects.

The next plan of action is a construction inspection for safety hazards. As we all know,
hazards exist in many forms and come with the consequences, whether expected or unexpected.
Inspections should be done regularly to overcome the unexpected impact, such as falling
accidents. The construction company's safety and health officer should make a straightforward
and easy to understand the standard of procedure for the workers to follow. This action will
decrease unwanted accidents to happen to the worker and make the company more reliable for
other clients to deal with them. They will be reassured that the construction company is a trusted
and reliable company that values the workers' safety and makes a good building that will last
long. That is why the regular inspection is a must for every company, not only in the
construction field.

Lastly, the construction site environment maintains fairness and safety from outside
factors that will danger the workers and damage the materials for the plan of action. This will
be important before doing any construction work. The environment is to make sure free of any
dangers for them to start working. It is because a safe work environment will make the workers
feel relief and deliver a good job.
 CONCLUSION

All in all, construction can indeed be challenging and hazardous work. According to
Charles and James (2006), people in the construction industry face the dangers of being the first
on the job site and face potential risks and exposure throughout the building process. According
to real life, we can conclude that accidents in the construction industry are increasing every day.
This is because some of the employers and employees are not aware of the surrounding
conditions.

To prevent an accident, the proposed improvement measures essentially refer to the

desires and compliance with the Factories and Machinery Act 1967, Part 3, and the OSHA
1994, Part 1, Section 4. As our suggestion, employers and employees need to adhere to OSHA
guidelines, avoid direct sunlight to minimize fatigue and minimize night work because it can
create a more comprehensive environment for potential construction accidents.

Finally, yet importantly, we can see that the roles and responsibilities of engineers of
Occupational Safety and Health are extensive. The roles and responsibilities of OSH
professionals vary regionally. However, they may include evaluating working environments,
developing, endorsing, and encouraging measures that might prevent injuries and illnesses,
providing OSH information to employers, employees, and the public, providing medical
examinations and assessing worker health programs' success.
 REFERENCES (JOURNAL)

1. Adnan, H., Hashim, N., Mohd, N., Yusuwan, & Ahmad, N. (2012). Ethical Issues in
the Construction Industry: Contractor's Perspective. Procedia - Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 35(August), 719–727.

2. Au, T. and P. Christiano, Structural Analysis, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs,

NJ, 1987.

3. Hamdan N., & Awang H. (2015). Safety Scaffolding in The Construction. Jurnal
Teknologi, 5, 26–31.
4. Hamid, A. R. A., Noor Azmi, M. R. A., Aminudin, E., Jaya, R. P., Zakaria, R., Zawawi,
A. M. M., Yahya, K., Haron, Z., Yunus, R., & Saar, C. C. (2019). Causes of fatal
construction accidents in Malaysia. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental
Science, 220(1).
5. Muhamad Zaini, N. Z., Mat Salleh, M. A., Fikri Hasmori, M., & Haslinda Abas, N.
(2020). Effect of Accident Due to Fall from Height at Construction Sites in Malaysia.
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 498(1).
 REFERENCES (WEBSITE)

1. Chin, E. S. (2018, January 2). One dead, three injured after crane boom collapse at i-

City construction site. Retrieved from malaymail:

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2018/01/02/one-dead-three-injured-
after-crane-boom-collapse-at-i-city-construction-sit/1544627

2. Incompetent crane handlers cause of accident at construction sites. (2016, December

10). Retrieved from theSundaily: https://www.thesundaily.my/archive/2090660-
GTARCH414049

3. Kg Baru construction site ordered to stop work after crane collapse. (2017, November
10). Retrieved from malaymail: https://www.malaymail.com/s/1507009/kg-baru-
construction-site-ordered-to-stop-work-after-crane-collapse

4. Netscher, P. (2017). Ethics in Construction. What are the unethical behaviors? Why
should we care? LinkedIn, 2020(6), 1–8. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ethics-
construction-what-unethical-behaviours-why-should-netscher/

5. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). (2013, April 23). Retrieved
from safeopedia: https://www.safeopedia.com/definition/109/occupational-safety-and-
health-administration-osha

6. Official Website Department of Occupational Safety and Health. (n.d.). Retrieved

from Fatal Accident Case: https://www.dosh.gov.my/index.php/fatal-accident-case-1

7. Rahim, R. N. (2015, April 29). Kren sapu 13 kenderaan . Retrieved from myMetro:
https://www.hmetro.com.my/mutakhir/2015/04/47161/kren-sapu-13-kenderaan

8. Rahim, R. N. (2015, April 29). Kren sapu 13 kenderaan . Retrieved from myMetro:
https://www.hmetro.com.my/mutakhir/2015/04/47161/kren-sapu-13-kenderaan
9. United States Department of Labor. (n.d.). Retrieved from Worker Safety
Series Construction: https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3252/3252.htm

10. Labour, U. S. D. of. (, 2016). Recommended Practices for Safety and Health
Programs. A Safe Workplace Is Sound Business (October). Retrieved from
https://www.osha.gov/shpguideline
11. Laws of Malaysia. (n.d.). Retrieved from Department of Occupational Safety
and Health: https://www.dosh.gov.my/index.php/list-of-documents/acts/23-02-
occupational-safety-and-health-act-1994-act-514/file
12. Factories and Machinery Act 1967 (REVISED - 1974). (n.d.). Retrieved from
Department of Occupational Safety and Health:
https://www.dosh.gov.my/index.php/list-of-documents/acts/26-03-factories-and-
machinery-act-1967-revised-1974-acts-139/file
 APPENDICES

Case Study Instrument:

1. Youtube

2. Newspaper
2. Journal (Search Engine)

Figure 1: Google Scholar

Figure 2: Academia
Figure 3: ResearchGate

Figure 4: Google Meet

Gantt Chart

Activity Planning Week

& Actual
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Group P
Selection
A
Member
Video P
selection
A
Idea P
discussion
A
Finding P
company
A
background
Dividing P
Task
A
Data P
Collection
A
Compiling P
A
Final check P
on report
A
Submit P
Report
A