1.

INTRODUCTION

a)i)

These reports are about the recycling plant that was operated in the Perai industrial zone area.
The recycling plant was carried out the activities of sorting, dismantling, and recover of the
valuable metal from the discarded computers, office electronic equipment, entertainment device
electronics, mobile phones, and television sets. Recently the company receives many complaints
from the workers that they experience abdominal pain and cramps, loss of appetite, fatigue,
memory loss, sleep problems and headaches. This is because most of the workers are engaged in
the metal recovery process from printed circuit board.

b)i)

The textile company ABC Sdn. Bhd. Will be compound under ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
(COUMPOUNDING OF OFFENCES) RULE 1978, section 1A (b) and (c);

The compoundable offenses under these Rules shall as follow;

(b)all offenses under the Environmental Quality (Industrial Effluent) Regulation

2009

(c) all offenses under the Environmental Quality (Sewage) Regulation

2009

2. REPORT CONTENTS

a)i)

GENERAL DUTIES OF EMPLOYERS AND SELF-EMPLOYED PERSONS

Based on OSHA 1994, the duty of employer in providing a safe and healthy workplace to the
workers was state in general duties of employers and self-employed persons to their employees
(Section 15) and duty to formulate safety and health policy (Section 16). Below are the more
details about the sections.

Duties of employers and self-employed person to their employees (Section 15):

(1) It shall be the duty of every employer and self-employed person to ensure, as far as is
practicable, the safety, health and welfare at work of all his employees.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the matters to which the duty
extends include in particular

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 (a) The provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work that are, as far as is
practicable, safe and without risk to health ;
(b) The making of arrangement for ensuring, as far as is practicable, safety and absence
of risk to health in connection with the use or operation, handling, storage and
transport plant and substances;
(c) The provision of such information, instruction, training and supervision as it
necessary to ensure so far as is practicable, safe and without risk to health ;
(d) So far as is practicable, as regards any place of work under the control of the
employer or self-employed person, the maintenance of it in a condition that is safe
and without risks to health and the provision and maintenance of the means of access
to and egress from it that are safe and without such risks;
(e) The provision and maintenance of a working environment for his employees that is,
as far as is practicable, safe, without risks to health, and adequate as regards facilities
for their welfare work.

a ) ii ) IDENTIFICATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE HAZARD SOURCE

Every electronic equipment such as discarded computers, office electronic equipment,

entertainment device electronics, mobile phone, and television set there were printed circuit
board contained inside all those electronic devices. Employees in facilities that recycle metal
scrap are exposed to a range of safety hazards associated with material handling methods,
hazards associated with the metal themselves (as dust or fumes ), and with the hazardous
substances used to process or recover these metals. Scrap metals are divided into two basic
categories: ferrous and nonferrous. Ferrous metal contain iron while nonferrous metal contains
copper, brass, aluminum, zinc, magnesium, tin, nickel, and lead. Nonferrous metals also contain
precious and exotic metals such as gold, silver, platinum, mercury, titanium, and arsenic.

The three most widely-used specifications for the worldwide scrap metal recycling are
Scrap Specifications Circular, the European Classification for Non-Ferrous Scrap Metals and the
Standard Classification for Non-Ferrous Scrap Metals. Employers should be aware that these
criteria are design to protect the end-user or for the product quality purposes and are not design
to protect employees performing metal scrap recovery processes. The concentrations of certain
metals that are below these quality specification requirements may still pose hazard towards the
employees. The recovery process starts with collection and transport raw scrap, pretreatment,
melting, refining, forming and finishing. Such hazard may include flying pieces of material, fire
hazards, exposed moving parts and noise hazards.

Employees also will be exposed to the hazardous chemical exposures results from hot
processes that produce fumes or dust. Employees involved in this activity may be exposed to
metal fumes, smokes, hot environments and hot materials when working near furnaces, and may
come in contact with metals that present hazard through both skin contact and inhalation. The
employees may be experience acute and chronic problems such as abdominal pain and cramps,
loss of appetite, fatigue, memory loss, sleep problems and headaches.
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 Copper and bronze may be cut with non-thermal methods such as plasma torches or
powder cutting torches. Plasma torches generate a large amount of smoke and noise, as well as
ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) light. Employees using torches often spend long periods of
time in awkward or hunched postures, which may increase the risk of bodily injuries such as
strains and sprains rather than sleep problems.

One common process involves the use of aqua regia solution to remove gold from gold-
plated objects. Aqua regia is a mixture of two corrosive acids. This process emits acid fumes that
are dangerous to inhale. On the other hands, employees that exposed to the Beryllium copper
could potentially have a symptom of unexplained cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, weight loss
or loss of appetite, fever and skin rash.

a ) iii ) USE AND STANDARDS OF EXPOSURE OF CHEMICALS HAZARDOUS TO

HEALTH REGULATION 2000

Occupational Safety and Health ( Use and Standard of Exposure of Chemicals Hazardous to
Health ) Regulations 2000 shall apply to all places of work which are within the jurisdiction of
the act where chemicals hazardous to health are used except chemicals which is state in
regulation 3.

Based on Identification of Chemicals Hazardous to Health under the regulation 5 which is state:

1) An employer shall identify and record in a register all chemicals hazardous to health used
in the place of work.
2) The register shall be maintained in a good order and condition and be updated from time
to time.
3) The register shall be accessible to all employees at the place of work who may be
exposed or are likely to be exposed to chemicals hazardous to health.

Permissible Exposure Limit state what employer should do with the employees before and after
in the working environment. Under regulation 6 (ceiling limit) state that an employer shall
ensure that the exposure of any person to any chemical hazardous to health listed in Schedule I at
no time exceeds the ceiling limit specified for that chemical in that Schedule. Under regulation 7
(1)(Eight-hour time-weighted average), there were state that employees that exposed to any
chemical hazardous to health in any eight hour work shift of a work week does not exceed the
eight-hour time-weighted average airborne concentration specified of that chemical in that
Schedule.

Based on Assessment of Risk to Health under the regulation 9, regulation 10, regulation 11,
regulation 12, and regulation 13 is shows the correct way on how to assess the risk.

Regulation 9:

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 1) An employer shall not carry out any work which may exposed or is likely to exposed any
employee to any hazardous health unless he has made a written assessment of the risks
created by the chemical to health of employee.
2) The assessment mention in subregulation (1) shall contain :
a) potential risks to employee result from exposed to hazardous chemical;
b) shall have the method and procedures in used of hazardous chemical;
c) the nature of hazard to health;
d) the degree of exposure to hazardous chemical;
e) risk created by the used and the release of chemicals from work process;
f) measures and procedure to control the exposure of employees;
g) the measures, procedures, and equipment necessary to control accident as a
result of leakage, spillage, or process or equipment failure;
h) necessity for employee exposure monitoring programme;
i) the necessity for health surveillance;
j) the requirement for training and retaining of employees as required under
regulation 22.

After applied the regulation 9, employer should applied regulation 10 which is the review
assessment, regulation 11 which is the assessment to be carried out by an assessor, regulation 12
which is about the assessment of risk to health report and last but not least, employer should
ensure all the report are in good order and condition as state in regulation 13 under the
assessment report.

Based on action to control exposure under regulation 15 which is control measure state that:
1) The employer shall control chemicals hazardous to health through:-
a) elimination of hazardous chemicals from work place;
b) substitution of less hazardous chemicals;
c) total enclosure of the process and handling systems;
d) isolation of the work to control the emission of chemicals hazardous to health;
e) modification of the process parameters;
f) application of engineering control equipment;
g) adoption of safe work systems and practices that eliminate or minimize the risk;
h) provision of approved personal protective equipment;

The other adequate control measures that must be implement by employer is all the employee
should wear the appropriate PPE[1] as state in regulation 16 and any engineering control
equipment must provide pursuant to subparagraph 15(1)(f).

Under regulation 22 which is Information, Instruction, and Training;

1) An employer necessary to enable them to know:-
a) the risk to health;
b) the precautions should be taken
2) The information shall include:-
a) information on the results of any monitoring of exposure;
b) on collective results of surveillance programmed undertaken accordingly;

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3) The employer shall review and conduct the training programme:-
a) at least once in two years;
b) if there is a change in the hazard information on the chemicals hazardous to
health, safe work practices or control measure;
c) each time employees are assigned to new tasks or new work areas where are they
exposed or likely to be exposed to chemicals hazardous to health.
4) All training programs shall be documented and kept for inspection by any occupational
safety and health officer.

[1] PPE : Personal Protective Equipment

a ) iv ) RISK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Hazard Identification

Accident analysis Experience

HAZOP Measurement

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 Enforcement Observation
Investigation Knowledge
Audit Report

Risk Evaluation

Qualitative Quantitative
Matrix 2D/3D, HAZAN, Fault tree analysis,
HAZOP, JSA, Health surveillance, record
HIRARC

Hazard Control

Eliminate Substitution Engineering Control

Administration Control Personal Protective Equipment

Accident Health Surveillance Exposure Monitoring

Achievement Measurement

a) v ) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ( NOTIFICATION OF ACCIDENT,

DANGEROUS OCCURRENCE, OCCUPATIONAL POISONING AND OCCUPATIONAL
DISEASE ) REGULATIONS 2004.

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All occupational accident, dangerous occurrence and occupational disease must be notified to
Department of Occupational Safety and Health. The notification must follow the procedure.
Flow chart below shows the process on how the notifications of accident are reported.

Accident

Poisoning

Send

Report

Within 7
days
DOSH

If believe to be
suffered.
Report

Within 7 days

DG

[2] DOSH- Department of Occupational safety and Health

[3] DG- Director General

b)

N Offences Explanation
O

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1. Company At Environmental Quality (Licensing) Regulation 1977, Act 2
ABC Sdn. section (1) and (2), state that;
Bhd. has been (1) An application of any licensing under the
illegally Act,or for any renewal or transfer there of,
operated. shall be made to the Director General in Form
1 in the Schedule.
(2) If the applicant is body corporate, the
application must be completed and signed by a
person duly authorized in the behalf by the
body corporate.

They should take a license before operating the company

because in regulation of Environmental Quality Act 1974, Act
51 section (1) stated that;
a) Prescribing fees for examining plans, specification and
information relating to installation or purpose installation
the subject of application at the company;
b) Prescribing standard or criteria for the implementation of
any declared environmental policy of classification for the
protection of the environment and for protecting
beneficial used;
c) Prescribing standard or criteria for determining when any
matter, action or thing is poisonous, noxious,
objectionable, detrimental to health, or within any other
description referred to Environmental Quality Act 1974;
d) Prohibiting the discharge, emission, or deposit into the
environment of any matter, whether liquid, solid or
gaseous, and prohibiting or regulating the use of any
specified fuel;
e) Prescribing ambient air quality standards and emission
standards and specifying the maximum permissible
concentrations of any matter that may be present in or
discharged into the atmosphere;
f) Prohibiting the use of any equipment, facility, vehicle, or
ship capable of causing pollution or regulating the
construction, installation or operation thereof to prevent or
minimize the pollution;
g) Requiring the giving of pollution warning or alerts;
h) prohibiting or regulating the open burning of refuse of

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 other combustible matter;
i) Regulating the establishment of sites for the disposal of
solid or liquid wastes on or in land
j) Defining objectionable noise and prescribing standard for
tolerable noise;
k) Prohibiting or regulating bathing, swimming, boating or
other aquatic activity in or around activity in or around
any water that may be detrimental to health or welfare or
for preventing pollution;
l) Any matter or thing which by Environmental Quality Act
1974 is authorized or required or permitted to be prescribe
or which is necessary or expedient to be prescribe or
which is necessary or expedient to the prescribed for
carrying Environmental Quality Act 1974 into effect;
m) Requiring any person handling, storing or using oil or
mixture containing to report discharges and spillages of
oil or mixture containing oil into Malaysian water;
n) Requiring any person handling, storing or using oil or
mixture containing to store such substance or material and
equipment necessary to deal at any oil pollution of the
Malaysian water that may be rise in the coarse of their
business;
o) Regulating environmental audit and the submission of an
audit report and the appointment of qualified person to
assist the Director General in carrying out an
environmental audit of any vehicles, ship or premises,
irrespective of whether the vehicle, ship or premises are
prescribed under section 18 or otherwise, and their
manner of operation, and prescribing the fees chargeable;
p) Regulating any matters relating to the environmental
impact assessment;
q) Prohibiting or regulating the manufacture, storage,
transportation, or the application of use, emission ,
discharge, or deposit to the environment, or any
environmentally hazard substances;
r) Regulating measure to asses, control, reduce, or eliminate
the environmental list;
s) Regulating any matters relating to the competent person;
t) Regulating the competency of training provides providing
training in the environmental field.

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 So, based on the regulations, ABC Company Sdn Bhd should
take a license before operating their textiles business. This is
to ensure that the operation/discharge waste is not harmful to
the environment and the competent person can can manage the
schedule waste and can prepare a report, plan, proposal
relating to environmental matters.

2. They disobey The activities specified in the schedule are prescribed to be

the prescribed activities.
ENVIRONM Industry;
ENTAL (a) Chemical - where the production capacity of
QUALITY each product or of combined is
(PRESCRIBE greater than100tonnes/day.
D (b) Petrochemical - All sizes.
ACTIVITIES) (c) Non-ferrous - Primary smelting;
(ENVIRONM Aluminium - All sizes
ENTAL Copper - All sizes
IMPACT Others - producing 50
ASSESSMEN tonnes/day and
T) ORDER above of product
1987. (d) Non-Metallic
-Cement
-For clinker throughput of 30 tonnes/hour and
above
-Lime - 100 tonnes/day and above burnt
lime rotary kilo or 50 tonnes/day and kilo.
(e) Iron and steel -Require iron ore as raw materials
for production greater than 100
tonnes/day; or
- Using scrap ion as raw materials for
production greater than 200
tonnes/day.
(f) Shipyards - Dead weight Tonnage greater than
5000 tonnes.
(g) Pulp & paper industry - Production capacity greater
than 50 tonnes/day.
Company ABC produce waste that contains heavy metals that
exceed the permissible limit. The heavy metals can cause
harmful to river. Water pollution can be occur and the water
not suitable for domestic use.

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3. They disobey They just discharged the liquid contaminant that have heavy
the metals to the river.
ENVIRONM
ENTAL This situation can cause water pollution and harmful to the
QUALITY( domestic user.
INDUSTRIAL Can cause healthy problem.
EFFLUENT)
REGULATIO
N 2009.

They do not It is means they do not apply practical, structural or non-

do the best structural method for the purpose of preventing, reducing the
management discharge of industrial effluent or mixed effluent containing
practice contaminant.

At the scenario 1, they have a malfunction of the treatment

plant and the effluent which is contain heavy metal that
exceed the possible limit is discharged directly to the river.

Industrial effluent in this scenario is the liquid waste that

generated from malfunction of water treatment at the textile
company ABC.

They need to have industrial effluent treatment system to

reducing the potential of the industrial effluent to cause
pollution.

4. They disobey In this cases, the schedule waste is falling within the
the categories of waste listed in first schedule which is;
ENVIRONM - Metal and non-metal bearing wastes.
ENTAL - Wastes containing principally inorganic
QUALITY constituent which may contain metals and
(SCHEDULE organic materials.
WASTE) - Wastes containing principally organic
REGULATIO constituent which may contain metals and
N 2005. inorganic materials.

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 - Waste may contain either inorganic or organic
Constituents.
The schedule waste should be manage perfectly. They cannot
discharge the waste directly to the river before doing any
treatment.

5. They also may The schedule waste that specify in the fourth schedule, which
produce a is when the substance mixed, it will produce hazardous
incompatible situation through heat generation, fires, explosion or the
schedule release of toxic substances.
wastes

6. The waste Every waste generator shall ensure that schedule waste
generator is generate by him are properly stored, threated on-site,
irresponsible recovered on-site for material or product from such schedule
to the waste wastes or delivered to a received at prescribe premises for
they generate treatment, disposal or recovery of material or product from
through out schedule waste.
the process. every waste generator should ensure the schedule waste that
are subjected to movement or transfer be packaged, labelled
and transported in accordance with the guidelines prescribed
by the Director General.

3. RECOMMENDATIONS

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a)i)

All the poisoning occurrence in work place must be record otherwise it must be reported
to DG or DOSH as soon as possible. All the data about the accident that involve the injury, death
or poisoning must be kept safely. To make sure the workers are safe from the hazard in the
workplace, the employer must give an appropriate PPE for workers. Other than that, employer
can reduce the usage of hazardous chemicals or just eliminate it and exchange it with another
chemical which is contains less hazard.

b)i)

The recommendation that suggested to the Textile Company ABC Sdn. Bhd is they should
have one competent person that can conduct the operation of a control equipment, can manage
the schedule wastes, and can prepare and submit a reports, plan, proposal, engineering drawing
or other document that relating to environmental factor. Other that that, they should do a
treatment process of schedule waste that cannot give harmful to the environment. By that, the
heavy metal will not exceed the permissible limit and can be acceptable to the environment.

4. LIST OF REFERENCES

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 http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/concerned-about-aluminum-dangers/

http://www2.publicationsduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/dynamicSearch/telecharge.php?
type=2&file=/Q_2/Q2_A.html

http://www.mddelcc.gouv.qc.ca/publications/lois-reglem-en.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2782734/

International Law Book Services 2004. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT
1994 (ACT 514) , REGULATIONS & OEDERS. Petaling Jaya Malaysia : International
Law Book Services

MDC Publishers Sdn Bhd may 2014. ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT AND
REGULATIONS. Kuala Lumpur : MDC Publishers Sdn Bhd

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