THE Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) has detected 318 construction sites that have disregarded COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) after having conducted inspection on 7,996 ongoing construction projects.
To-date, construction sites have reported in excess of 4,000 COVID-19 positive cases which stemmed from close contacts with existing clusters in addition to the spread of infection following the movement of subcontractor workers from work one site to another.
Moreover, lack of social distancing close-range working environment, densely populated housing and unsanitary living conditions also contributed to the spike in the number of cases.
“CIDB takes this matter very seriously as this is a major concern,” its CEO Datuk Ahmad ‘Asri Abdul Hamid pointed out. “We want to stress that contractors are responsible to make sure that their construction sites and the workers are adhering to the SOPs of both the conditional movement control order (CMCO) and recovery MCO (RMCO).”
In view of the latest development, CIDB will remain pro-active in conducting SOP checks on construction sites around the nation. Between April 20 to Dec 17, the CIDB enforcement unit has conducted 13,977 inspections at 7,996 construction sites nationwide.
From that figure, a total of 7,840 (98%) of the sites have commenced operations while 158 (2%) have yet to operate. From those sites which have commenced operations, a total of 7,522 (96%) have adhered to the SOP while 318 (4%) failed to do so.
Contractors who failed to conform with the SOP risk getting prosecuted according to Section 34B(1)(c) and Section 34C(1) of the CIDB Act 1994 (Act 520) which requires contractors to ensure the safety of their work sites as well as and that of their workers during and after the construction period.
Among the actions that can be taken by CIDB is the issuance of a stop-work order on the construction site. Additionally, the contractor will face disciplinary action that entails penalties and having their registration revoked. – Dec 21, 2020
