MBDK to carry out safety audits on contractors

Safety audits will be carried out by the Klang Royal City Council (MBDK) on contractors to ensure they fully comply with the regulations, says its mayor.

Datin Paduka Noraini Roslan said the level of compliance among most contractors was unsatisfactory.

This followed discussions at the city council’s full board meeting yesterday, where councillor Ngian Yoke Mooi questioned the lack of safety compliance at work sites in Klang.Noraini says the city council had never seriously audited compliance on safety requirements before.

“Today, we discussed the enforcement of regulations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1994 (Act 514).

“In general, we observed the level of compliance on project safety among most contractors, not only in Klang, was low and left much to be desired.

“My hope is that the compliance will be strengthened through auditing, and MBDK will choose a few projects to be audited to check on worker safety and compliance,” Noraini told StarMetro after the meeting.

When asked, she said MBDK had not received any feedback about particular projects.

“No, this was raised by the councillor and outsiders.”

However, she said some MBDK contractors working on the road medians along Persiaran Raja Muda Musa, had not placed traffic cones or barriers to protect their workers, which was a safety violation.

Noraini said the city council had never seriously audited compliance on safety requirements before.

She also pointed out that there were federal and state laws in place to protect workers and ensure their safety.

“Local authorities handled the project management and appointment of contractors and we include the laws and regulations in the conditions of the terms and agreement for contractors to abide by all relevant safety laws.

“It is also compulsory (for contractors) to buy insurance for their workers,” added Noraini.