Industrial accidents in 1999 cost the country a total of RM1.9 billion, Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn said today.

He said according to the Social Security Organisation (Socso), it had paid compensation amounting to RM497 million to its members due to industrial mishaps in 1999.

However, he said that this figure was a "direct cost". The total cost involved is estimated at four times, he added.

"In 1999, for every 1,000 workers, there were 20 injured. The figure was 19 in 1998 and 21 in 1997," said Fong when officiating an exhibition centre at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh).

According to the Socso [#1] website[/#] , the manufacturing sector recorded the highest number of deaths due to industrial accidents in 1999.

Occupational safety

Fong told reporters later that workers being trained on occupational safety by Niosh are mostly from the construction industry. However, he said, employers from other sectors were beginning to send their workers to the institute also.

Niosh, a workers' training centre for health and occupational safety, was established as a corporate body in 1992 and began operations in 1993 with funds from the government and Socso.

Its chairman is social activist and Human Rights Commission member Lee Lam Thye.