KUALA LUMPUR – A paper recycling factory in Banting, Selangor, has been ordered to stop operations immediately following the death of a 22-year-old worker who plummeted 24m to his death two days ago.
The Selangor Occupational Safety and Health Department issued the stop order after initial investigations into the employee’s death revealed that the factory failed to provide practicable work safety systems.
An order to not disturb the accident area has also been issued, the department said in a statement today.
“Two repair notices were also issued to the employer (due to its) failure to install barriers on rotating parts of its solid fuel conveyor machines and implement a lockout-tagout system on the machines.
“The employer has been instructed to carry out a risk reassessment for clean-up works on the solid fuel conveyor machines,” the department added.
The department’s initial investigations have found that the victim and another colleague were tasked with manually cleaning the pulley section of a solid fuel conveyor machine using shovels.
“During the incident, the shovel and the victim’s body got stuck between the pulley and a conveyor belt in operation,” the department said.
“This caused the victim to be pulled and spun on the pulley before falling down through a belting tensioner hole next to the pulley.
“The victim fell from a height of about 24m to the ground level. Medical personnel confirmed that the victim died on arrival at the hospital.”
Further investigations are underway to determine the cause of the accident and the party responsible, and the employer could face legal action if probes reveal it had violated the
Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994.
“The employer has full control on any activity at the workplace. They have a responsibility to identify and evaluate workplace risks as well as implement risk-control mechanisms before employees carry out work activities.
“It is the employer’s responsibility to immediately report to the department fatal accidents, as outlined in Chapter 5(1) of the Guidelines on Safety and Health (Notification of Accident, Dangerous Occurrence, Occupational Poisoning and Occupational Disease) Regulations 2004.”
The department added that such an accident can be avoided in the future if employers comprehensively conduct risk assessments and controls according to methods specified in guidelines on Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control. – December 29, 2023