Occupational Diseases and Poisoning Investigation
In 2015, a total of 5960 cases of occupational disease and poisoning have been reported to the Occupational Health Division as compared with 2648 cases reported in the year 2014. Sabah (1470 cases; 24.7%), Penang (1341 cases; 22.5%) and Sarawak (704 cases; 11.8%) have reported most number of occupational disease and poisoning cases for the year 2015. A total of 4034 cases have been successfully investigated for the purpose of carrying out improvements to the workplace in terms of occupational health. A total of 3377 cases of occupational disease that were investigated were of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and the disease is still the most common occupational disease experienced by workers (83.7%) as compared with other diseases. This was followed by occupational musculoskeletal diseases, i.e. a total of 147 cases (4.4%) and occupational lung diseases, of 91 cases (2.3%) were investigated in 2015. Diseases caused by physical agents were the least investigated diseases by the Division whereby no cases were investigated in 2015.
Analysis of occupational disease and poisoning by sector revealed that the manufacturing sector recorded the most number of cases of occupational disease and poisoning in 2015, a total of 3487 cases (86.4%). This was followed by the public service sectors, of 149 cases (3.6%) and the agricultural sector, a total of 122 cases (3.0%). The Occupational Health Division also investigated ex-gratia compensation cases for occupational disease confirmation purpose for the government employees and a total of 38 cases have been successfully investigated for the year 2015.
