SEPTEMBER 21 — The public are shocked and horrified with the incident where a parapet wall has fallen from the Sg Besi — Ulu Klang Elevated Expressway (SUKE) under construction and hit a car travelling along MRR2 near Tasik Bandar Selatan at 5.45pm on 19 Sep 2020.

The woman driver was inches away from death but instead escaped with an injury on her hand. It is even more shocking that this is not the first construction mishap incident for the same construction project site.

It was also reported that piling steel frame has fallen and injured three construction workers for the same SUKE construction project near Taman Connaught Cheras on August 16, 2020.

Construction sites create a risk not only for construction workers, but also for members of the public who move around the site or who may live adjoining them. The public must be protected from the hazards associated with construction that may be carried out in a public area or adjacent to such areas.

The Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Dosh) and other government agencies have regulations that lay down the legal requirements to ensure the safety and health of not only the workers at the place of works but also the public as well.

For a construction project it is paramount important that the structure to be built is designed and constructed so that workers, and any other persons on the construction site, are protected from hazard such as a fall from height.

The risk management process should be undertaken to identify fall hazards and control measures. CIDB has published the "Construction Activities Risk Assessment — Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control (Cara-Hirarc)” and "Guideline on prevention of fall at construction site” to assist the construction stakeholders to adopt and implement risk management and best safety practices.

An investigation committee should be formed to identify and assess the risk hazard and formulate the control measure to prevent similar incident from happening again. Dosh, CIDB and other government regulating bodies should take necessary measures to ensure all occupational safety and health regulation and guidelines are implemented at the construction site.

* Wong Chee Fui is a Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) specialist

** This is the personal opinion of the writer(s) or organisation(s) and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.