PAM president Lillian Tay said the ministry should have engaged professionals and stakeholders in the industry before submitting the proposed new regulations to the Attorney-General’s Chambers, as they are more familiar with the usual causes of construction mishaps.
She also asked the ministry to clarify the term “designer” in the Occupation Safety and Health in Construction (Management) Guidelines 2017, saying it can be misleading since it usually refers to both architects and engineers.
“In this context, the term ‘designer’ in the new guidelines needs to be defined to avoid public confusion,” she said in a statement today.
Tay said architects oversee the general design and delivery of building works, highlighting that they are primarily responsible for the architectural design whereas engineers supervise the structural design.
Citing the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Act 1994, she said contractors are the ones responsible for the management and execution of work on-site, including the safety of construction work.
“Architects and engineers assist to advise whether the contractor’s building method is consistent with the structural design and building design and established good safety practice,” she added.
Human Resources Minister M Kula Segaran said on Feb 17 that his ministry was working out specific legislation to extend the responsibility for workers’ safety to include developers and designers.
He said existing rules on employee safety and health placed the full burden on the contractor, stressing that there must be more stringent compliance.
Tay also called for regulations on the cost of preliminaries — which deal with safety provisions and on-site supervision — of a building contract, highlighting that this is where contractors differentiate and compete with one another.
A set of guidelines or regulations, from tender to the award of a project, is key to ensuring the provision of good safety practices throughout the period of construction, she said.
“Contractors with poor safety records should be identified before accidents happen, rather than having more ‘knee-jerk’ punitive regulations on architects or owners with limited control over the contractors’ daily operations and priorities.”
She suggested a review of the current immigration policy to retain certified foreign workers as supervisors, adding that very few of those holding such positions in the industry had building experience.
Tay said the working and housing conditions of workers should also be improved to boost morale. The insurance compensation for the death of a worker should also be increased from the RM18,500 currently.
The safety of workers came under the spotlight after the partial collapse of a condominium in Taman Desa, Kuala Lumpur, under construction.
The sixth-floor flooring gave way during heavy rain last Friday afternoon at the 37-storey condominium building under construction, trapping two Bangladeshi workers.
They were rescued later and taken to Kuala Lumpur Hospital. Police said another 157 construction workers at the site were evacuated.