Risk assessment of mechanical workshop at Politeknik Sultan Azlan Shah

Abstract

Politeknik Sultan Azlan Shah (PSAS) is a technical and vocational education institution under Jabatan Pendidikan Politeknik dan Kolej Komuniti emphasizing on the technical and vocational education (TVET) approach. TVET focuses hands on practices, hence engineering students and staffs spend majority of their learning period in laboratory and workshops making them vulnerable to accident risk. As an administrator of facilities, it is imperative for PSAS to prevent hazard and harm from falling onto their staff and students. The study is conducted through method of a survey questionnaire and interview assisted with Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control (HIRARC) form in selected engineering workshops at PSAS. A total of 67 respondents were involved in this questionnaire survey. The result shows the mean average index for the questionnaire items is valued at 4.51. This value of safety practices falls under the “Always” category. Hence, it indicates the mechanical workshop in this study observes and performs high-level of safety practices. For the interview session conducted, two expert respondents have been selected. For welding workshop, the main hazards identified are electric shock, toxic fumes and gases and gas leakage. Meanwhile for lathe machine workshop the main hazards identified are sharp object/ sharp cutting tool material and flying work pieces generated from surface grinding machine. The value of risk for each of the hazards identified is 12, hence falls under medium level risk. Several measures to control the hazards are suggested. For main hazards at welding workshop, which are electric shock, toxic fumes and gases (smoke produce from process) the proposed measures are; follow the safety working procedure, provide extra supervision and additional training. For gas leakage, the suggested control measure is a gas detector system. For lathe machine workshop, proposed counter measures for sharp object/ sharp cutting tool material are; follow the safety working procedure, provide extra supervision and additional training. Lastly, for flying work pieces? hazard, the proposed control measures are; always check magnetic status in control panel, use appropriate feed rate speed and lastly provide extra supervision and training.