THE Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) should start using drones to monitor construction sites for safety hazards, Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran said.

DOSH’s work, he said, involves risky operations and dangerous work, and at times, supervision is impossible without the use of drones.

He said DOSH has a workforce of some 1,600 personnel but it does not have a single drone.

“We will have to ask for an allocation to equip the department with drones.

“We are extremely concerned about the lapses. We lack the instruments to address the issue. We don’t even have a single drone.

“If we have the equipment, we can take more proactive action. We also want to get the latest technology to help us with the monitoring work,” he told reporters after visiting the Bukit Kukus landslide in Paya Terubong, Penang this afternoon.

The landslide happened at a road construction site in Paya Terubong last Friday, and killed nine foreign labourers. Many were believed to be inside containers on the slope that collapsed.

Since the tragedy, it was revealed that the contractor had failed to comply with erosion and sedimentation control plan. This was discovered by the state’s Ops Lumpur task force more than a week before the landslide.

The city council also reported that the contractor had cut off a natural water source on the hill where the landslide happened, without properly diverting the water flow.

Kulasegaran said he was told there was a stream on the hill and it had been raining – two major factors for the severe erosion at the site.

“I was told that an estimated 42,000 tonnes of soil eroded and collapsed.”

He said DOSH will investigate the incident thoroughly.

Kulasegaran said the government is in the process of amending nine acts related to his ministry, like the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), to give DOSH more power to act against not just the main contractor of projects but also the owners and consultants.

He said some of the acts are outdated and should have been amended decades ago to give the relevant authorities more power and to better safeguard workers’ safety.

“Under OSHA, the maximum fine is just RM50,000. We want to increase it to RM500,000 with two years’ jail for those responsible.

“We hope the amendments can be approved within the year or early next year,” he said. – October 25, 2018.