Vision zero to safe workplaces

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Vision zero to safe workplaces

September 13, 2022 @ 12:06am

Zero fatalities or serious injuries related to RTA were aimed for. Realistically speaking, the zero is an aspiration. The process of achieving Vision Zero is more important than meeting the zero target. - NSTP ﬁle pic

LETTERS: "Vision Zero" is a strategic mindset that all occupational accidents, injuries or diseases are preventable.

This mindset was initially implemented in Sweden more than two decades ago, as the Swedish authorities wished to totally eliminate road traﬃc accidents (RTA) among their road users.

In this context, zero fatalities or serious injuries related to RTA were aimed for.

Realistically speaking, the zero is an aspiration. The process of achieving Vision Zero is more important than meeting the zero target.

Disclaimer: Perpustakaan Tun Abdul Razak,UiTM

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This ambitious zero-accident philosophy often takes time to materialise as multiple contributory factors (such as road conditions, vehicle speeds, driving behaviour or other human factors) typically interact with each other in a complex manner and still lead to the potential loss of precious lives in RTA.

Interdisciplinary collaboration between policymakers, designers, engineers, public health professionals and other key stakeholders (which was not the norm in the past) is heavily emphasised in the Vision Zero plan to tackle this public health problem.

There are three dimensions that Vision Zero touches on: safety, health and wellbeing.

A culture of prevention incorporating these three dimensions at all work levels is desired in any organisation, be it a small- to medium-sized enterprises or an international company.

Nevertheless, it is acknowledged that human beings tend to make errors in their workplace.

Under such circumstances, Vision Zero warrants the proper establishment of an occupational safety and health management system to ensure those inevitable mistakes do not result in the worker's death or serious occupational injuries.

To date, the Vision Zero concept has spread beyond preventing RTA. In fact, it has been pursued by other industries across the world.

For instance, the concept has been successfully introduced in most of the mining, aviation and engineering companies of the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States).

Although Vision Zero is relatively new, Malaysia can be considered one of the few Southeast Asian countries with the highest number of companies adopting this concept.

In Malaysia, Vision Zero was oﬃcially launched in 2019 and is slowly gaining popularity in local settings.

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In short, all occupational accidents, injuries or diseases have systemic causes and are preventable if the correct measure is taken in a timely manner. Indeed, the best social security is for employees to remain safe at their workplace.

If you are interested in learning more about Vision Zero, attend the "Towards Vision Zero Conference: Occupational Safety & Health Beyond Pandemic in Hospital"

organised by the University Malaya Medical Centre. Visit

https://ummctrainings.onpay.my/order/form/twz2022for more details.

Hopefully, you will be able to apply what you have learned to improve the preventive culture in your own organisation.

DR YAP JUN FAI DR LIM YIN CHENG

Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, and Department of Public Health, University Malaya Medical Centre