REPORT ON OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH OF BEKAS WAJA STEEL MILL SDN. BHD.

FACTORY

1.0 INTRODUCTION The unsatisfactory Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) implementation in the manufacturing industry has always been highlighted. It is because the OSH management system is a neglected area and a function that has not been pursued systematically in the factory. Safety is an important issue, but many employers do not feel it is vital to the success of companies. For a long time, the manufacturing industry has been labeled as average OSH culture and performance. But a mature manufacturing company is still able to perform well in safety area. This type of company usually set their OSH goals for the continuous improvement in overall. Understanding the concept of the OSH management system will help us to understand the application of OSH management system and legislation needs to be follow by our factory. The rules and legislation are always protecting the worker safety and ensuring healthy workplaces. The main purpose of the rules and legislation is to prevent accidents, ill health and injury at workplaces. This assignment will discuss theoretical review on OSH management and problems involved in this factory of steel mill towards development of safety culture at workplace.

OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System- Requirements

ASASThis standard enables an organization to manage its occupational health and safety (OHS) risks and improve its OHS performance. The requirements of the standard are intended to address occupational health and safety for employees, temporary employees,

contractors and other personnel on site rather than the safety of products and services. eeeConformance to this standard will provide a more effective method of protecting employees and others from workplace injuries and illnesses. It will also demonstrate the management commitment in meeting OSH legal requirements. MS 1722 Part 1 Occupational Safety and Health Management System - Part 1: Requirements eeeThis is a Malaysian Standard on Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems based on International Labour Organisations standard OSH MS 2001. As the requirements of this standard are equivalent to OHSAS 18001, auditing and certification to this standard can be carried out simultaneously. One of the measures to assist countries in their efforts to develop the image of the manufacturing industry is to provide a safe working environment. As is often the scene of an accident occurring in this sector has resulted in the loss of so many people and property losses of millions of dollars each year in this country Rapid development of this emerging economy has certainly many benefits to all Malaysians. However, we also recognize that with the side effects that must be overcome. One of them is increased danger or risk in the workplace as a result of the use of materials, equipment and sophisticated processes and many at this time. Of course these risks effectively controlled to ensure productivity and quality of work in the construction industry can always be maintained at high levels (Embong Ludin, 1995). High accident in the manufacturing sector can lead to loss of national manpower and loss of property worth thousands of millions of ringgit each year. In the manufacturing industry, most cases occur in the workplace injury was caused by workers not given adequate safety training or did not receive training (Grossman, 1996).

2.0 CASE STUDY BEKAS WAJA STEEL MILL SDN. BHD. Bekas Waja Steell Mill Sdn. Bhd. located at strategic industrialized park in Gurun, Kedah started operating in Malaysia in the 1960s with a workforce of more than 1,000. Steel supplies are needed for rapid advances in construction, infrastructure and manufacturing activities in Malaysia, especially with a number multibillion ringgit projects being undertaken. Historically this industry is known to be of high risk to the health and safety of workers. Many serious accidents have been reported from this industry. The steelmaking operations is a highly polluting industry to the environment. The burning of scrap iron releases a lot of dust and other pollutants in the air. Despite the fact that measures exist to control the release of particulates, some measure are rather difficult and expensive. Regardless modern techniques of controlling the hazards should be instituted to prevent the hazards.

LITERATURE REVIEW Many studies have been conducted regarding the health hazards posed to steel mill workers. Studies have shown an excess risk of lung cancer (after control for confounding by smoking) among a cohort of steel workers. Elevated risk of lung cancer has also been observed in foundry workers. Lung cancer among the steel mill workers is most likely due to exposure to polynuclear aromatic compounds silica, chromium and nickel fumes. An excess of mortality in steel mill workers in various work areas and their causes is illustrated in Table 2.1

Table 2.1 : Causes of Excess Mortality in Various Work Areas in Steel Mills

Work Area Open hearth workers Coke oven workers Sheet and tin mill workers Batch picking and sheet drying Coating, heat treating forging Tin finishing and shipping

Causes of Excess Mortality Diseases of the digestive system Respiratory cancer, kidney disease Arteriosclerotic heart disease Hypertensive heart disease Cancer of lymphatic and haemopoetic tissue Cancer of lymphatic and haemopoetic tissue.

PRODUCTION PROCESS To understand the health hazards of the steel mills operations, one sould know the flow of the steel process.

Raw Material Section Scarp iron, iron or both are used as essential raw materials. The scrap iron used is graded based on its quality. The scrap iron will then be crushed and compressed to reduce its size. Limestone, graphite (carbon) and other types of metal are also added in the process.

The Blast Furnace and Ladle Furnace

All the raw materials are transported into the electrode arc furnace. Electrical current is used to melt the metal. Subsequently a second melting process is carried out at the ladle furnace. A very high temperature of up to 1500o C is needed to melt the metal.

Input Making Section The molten steel from the ladle furnace is then transported by using big iron pots to the ingot making section. Billets of various length are formed in this section.

Rolling Mill Billets of various lengths are then transported to the rolling mill. In the rolling mill the billets are reheated in the furnace up to 1050 oC. The reheated hot billets subsequently pass through different types of rolling mills to form the end products. The end products of these processes are round bars, flat bars and wire rods. All the products are then packed and transported to stores.

HEALTH AND SAFETY HAZARDS

Table 2.2 shows various health hazards identified in the steel mill process.

Table 2.2

Health Hazards of the Steel Mill Operations. Health Effect Deafness Annoyance Processes StressTransporting crushing and compressing the scrap Blasting process in the electric arc furnace Smelting process at ladle furnace Cutting the billet

Type of Hazard 1. Noise

2. Dust 3. Heat Silica

Pnuemoconiosis

Raw material section

Heat cramp Heat syncope Heat stroke

Molten iron Furnace Welding process Welding process Smelting process of the metal

4. Fumes Feroud oxide Manganese Zinc Nickel Chromium 5. Toxic gas Carbon monoxide Nitrogen oxide

Fever

Lung cancer

Gas leaking from blast furnaces Welding process.

Gas poisoning

6. Radiation Infra-red Ultra-voilet Cataract Conjucntivitis Keratitis 7. Engonomics Backache Sprain 8. Injuries Cuts Burns/scalding Support Activities Supporting activities like welding activities, machine maintenance, quality control, fork lift and other activities are very important to ensure the success of the process. Temporary and Permanent disabilities Death Molten iron Welding process Furnaces Lifting heavy objets Working with awkward position Accidents can occur at various stages of process especially at steel shop.

PROBLEMS INVOLVED CONCERNING TO OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH IN BEKAS WAJA STEEL MILL Trained Personnel

There is a shortage of trained individual in occupational medicine, occupational health nursing, occupational hygiene, toxicology and ergonomics to provide the necessary expert input in this company have embarked on training programmes to meet this need, but the pace of development has caused the demand for such expertise to quickly outstrip the supply.

Right to Know As our populations becomes better educated and more aware of the world they live in, the demand for knowledge becomes a critical factor. Both employees and the public have the right to know the hazards they face on a daily basis. It is not enough today for tone to give instruction or orders to employees on how to work safely. This must include information concerning health and safety on the materials used in the process. In this way the awareness will heighten the employee's resolve to protect himself as well as fulfill the moral obligation of the employer to meet the right of the employee to know the risks he faces in the workplace. Short seminar or short course can educate workers on occupational safety and health thoroughly.

Alien Workers As Malaysia increases its dependence on alien workers to fill the gap in the supply of lower echelon workers, there is a concern for the inequitable level of care provided for their health and safety. The cultural and ethnic differences provide unique difficulties in providing proper training at the workplace. Work attitudes also differ and this makes it doubly difficult for the management and supervision of such a workforce.

3.0 CONCLUSION The steel industry is one of the most important industries in the development of the country. Steel is a basic material needed as a component for most of the products. It must be ensured that the workplace is safe, health and comfortable for the workers.

These are essential to ensure that this industry is not labeled as the most dangerous and filthy industry. Preventive action such as proactive and comprehensive approaches should be adopted. The management, workers and government should cooperate to ensure that the workplace is safe and health (Figure 3.1) Figure 3.1: Prevention Strategies. GOVERNMENT SAFETY & HEALTH MANAGEMENT WORKERS

Role of Management Management must be enlightened. They must ensure that the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994. Factories and Machinery (Noise Exposure) Regulations 1989, Factories and Machinery (Mineral Dust) Regulations 1989, and other legislation and regulations are followed. Management should train their workers regularly as well as supervise and advise them properly. Employers must ensure that their workers have a good knowledge on preventive measures regarding safety and health hazards that exist in the steel mill process. Engineering control must be implemented to reduce the noise level below the permissible exposure level; heat is reduced to a tolerable level and there is less contact hours between men and the hot material; dust and fumes are not emitted freely in the air; and workers work comfortably. The administrative measure to reduce the dose of exposure must be ensured. Personal protective equipment is the last resort of protective

measures for the workers. Outline of the elements of health hazard prevention at the factory is shown in Figure 3.2 Figure 3.2: Prevention of Hasards at the Factory

SAFETY & HEALTH POLICY

SAFETY & HEALTH OCCUPATIONAL TRAINING & EDUCATION Role of Workers

ENGINEERING CONTROL

ADMINISTRTIVE CONTROL PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

Workers in the still mill industry must know that occupational health and safety issues are more important then wage issues. It will be of no value to fight for increased wages when a worker cannot live long as result of having contracted an occupational disease. Workers should therefore promote health and safety programme in their workplace. The workers should cooperate with the management to ensure the success of occupational health and safety programmes to prevent health hazards which exist in the steel mill process. Workers must use personal protective equipment provided to them.

Role of Government The government must ensure that legislation pertaining to occupational health and safety is enforced effectively. Sport checks and monitoring should be done more

regularly in the factory which have a high rate of accidents and occupational diseases. Enforcement officers of the Department of Occupational Safety and Health should help management who have difficulty in implementing the OSH Act and regulations at workplace.

There is no doubt that Malaysia is well on its way to becoming an industrialized nation by 2020. The challenge is to ensure that we do not pay the price, as experienced by some other countries, of deterioration of our environment and health. The Government has enacted reasonable and practicable Regulations which industry has accepted as a challenge. At the same time industry has bolstered the Government's efforts with its own initiatives to improve not only the workplace but also the environment. Unresolved issues however still remain. They will have to be tackled by the industry and government to ensure that the wheels of industrialization are well greased.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Occupational Safety and Health Act, 1994. Government Printers, Kuala Lumpur (1994) Country Report for Malaysia, Asean Chemical Industries Club Board of Directors Meeting and Conference, Jakarta (1994).

Chemical Industries Council of Malaysia Report on Responsible Care in the Chemical Industry, (1994). Castleman, B. Exporting hazardous Industries to the third world. In : Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), Hazardous industries and workers health. SAM, Penang, pp 118127(1984) 'Laporan Kesihatan Kerja, Lawatan ke Kilang Amalgamated Steel Mill Berhad, Fakulti Perubatan UKM (unplublised) Redmon, C.K. Werand, H.S Rockette, H.E. et al. Long Term Mortality Experience of Steelworker. U.S Department of Health and Human Services, Cincinatti (1981) Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM). Case Study : Steel Industry, In : SAM, Hazardous industries and workers health SAM, Penang, pp 185-187(1984).