James Kon

There have been 56 work-related fatalities in the last six years in Brunei Darussalam, which is 10 times that of Europe and five times that of Singapore.

To date, there have been five work-related fatalities in 2019. In 2018, there were eight work-related fatalities comprising five in the construction industry, two in the oil and gas industry and one in another industry.

This was highlighted yesterday by Safety, Health and Environment National Authority (SHENA) Chief Inspector Jaime Rebelo in his talk, ‘Better Safe than Sorry – the SHENA Story’, at the Ministry of Development (MoD) Headquarters in Berakas.

The talk was organised by PUJA Academy Sdn Bhd (PASB), with the support of the MoD and SHENA, in promoting awareness on Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) and construction regulations, as well as the importance of complying with legislation in the industry.

Before the talk, a minute’s silence was observed for three work-related fatalities in September, as well as for the two fatalities last weekend in the construction industry and one in the oil and gas industry.

Rebelo said SHENA is “a statutory body set up under the Safety, Health and Environment National Authority Order 2018, enforced in April 2017. SHENA is the authority regulating and enforcing all matters relating to workplace safety and health, environment and radiation within Brunei.

“A Chief Executive Officer heads the authority and is ultimately accountable for the function and affairs undertaken by the authority. He is responsible to the authority and reports directly to the minister-in-charge (Minister of Energy, Manpower and Industry). Appointed inspectors have specific legal prowers to enforce and regulate workplace safety and health, environment and radiation laws on behalf of SHENA.”

He continued, “Our function, among others, is conducting planned and unplanned inspection at worksites. Therefore, there is potential for investigators visiting worksites unannounced. We also carry out regulatory investigations where we are looking to identify if there is a breach of law.

“The catalyst for change came about in October 2014, with an incident at a conduction site in Kuala Belait Science College, where seven persons were seriously injured, with one fatality. A board of inquiry was set up and the result of the recommendations was the setting up of a single National Health Safety Environment Authority. It is from that initial discussion that SHENA was finally signed on as a legal entity last October.

“SHENA is governed by three laws, namely enforcement of the Workplace Safety and Health Order (WSHO) 2009 – this Order is goal-setting and describes the general safety and health expectations on all workplace where the duties are placed primarily on the employer; enforcement of the Environmental Protection and Mismanagement Order (EPMO) 2016 – this Order is goal-setting and describes the general environmental expectation on all industry sectors and persons; enforcement of the Radiation Protection Order 2018 – this Order is goal-setting and describes the general expectations on all industry sectors covering radiation requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“The most instrumental was the SHENA Order signed last year in October, when SHENA came into force.”

Citing statistics on display, he said, “SHENA has carried out over 205 inspections but the main concern is the six major accidents and 56 fatalities since 2013. We have enforced 16 stop orders across various industries, and 20 remedial orders.

“The stop order either stops the activities on the site or also stops the operations of a company. It is quite impactful, and there is quite a lot of concern when it is carried out. It is carried out with a lot of consideration, but the issue is that when there is a serious concern of an organisation, a stop order would be issued. Meanwhile, a remedial order is carried out for improvement notices.”

The talk covered various topics related to the main subject, including the Workplace Safety and Health Order, Construction Regulations and explanations on why compliance is expected from the industry.

Rebelo also pointed out, “We seek support from government and industry stakeholders to review their systems and procedures, and identify areas of concerns. Together, we can make Brunei a safe place to work and live.”

More than 150 PUJA members, government and private officers attended the talk, including Dato Paduka Haji Idris bin Haji Abas, a fellow member and the former president of PUJA Brunei.