`Poisoning Cases’ Not Being Reported
KUALA LUMPUR: Chemicals used in factories across the country may be causing severe harm to workers but many cases of disease caused by chemical exposure go unreported.
This was according to director-general of the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Datuk Dr Johari Basri, who added that matters were made worse by a shortage of occupational health specialists in the country who can accurately identify could of workplace chemical exposure.
Johari said one indication that such cases were under- acknowledged was the suspiciously disproportionate number of chemical-related accidents reported to Socso every year.
“Out of the 61,185 accidents reported to Socso in 2005, only 534 were cases of poisoning caused by chemicals. This figure is quite low, leading us to suspect that many more cases may be going unreported.”
He said this after attending an event to commemorate the launch of the Chemical Industries Council of Malaysia Responsible Care Awards 2007.
In his speech, Johari said that out of 194 types of occupational diseases reported to Socso, 38 types or 19.6 per cent were found to be caused by chemicals.
The chemicals causing the diseases included toxic halogenated hydrocarbons, nitro-glycerine, alcohol, glycols, ketones and antimony.
Later, he added that these figures were low compared with other industrial and developing countries.
Johari added that in a separate study done by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health in 2007, it was found that 31.9 per cent of occupational diseases were because of exposure to chemical substances.
To make matters worse, there was a shortage of occupational health specialists in the country to diagnose patients.
“Currently, we have 500 specialists, but there should be about 3,000.”
In his speech, Johari said the chemical industry was one of the largest employers in the world.
In the future, there will also be high levels of growth in chemical production and consumption in developing countries like Malaysia.
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