BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

SIX instructors from the Institute of Brunei Technical Education (IBTE), Pusat Latihan Mekanik (PLM) Campus recently attended a health and safety sharing session with officials from the Labour Department under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The sharing session was held at the department’s building in Jalan Menteri Besar.

Dk Kiasatina Nurul Aniqah Pg Yahya, the assistant commissioner at the Labour Department, spoke of the Workplace Safety and Health Order (WSHO) 2009.

She explained that the order sets out to ensure and regulate the principles of occupational safety and health framework towards promoting a strong safety culture in workplaces in Brunei.

“Employees at the same time have their own duties towards their own safety and health under section 15 of the WSHO 2009. Currently, there are four enforcement authorities in Brunei Darussalam (that looks after this matter). These include the Department of Labour, Ministry of Home Affairs; Occupational Health Division, Ministry of Health; Public Works Department, Ministry of Development; and Energy Department, Prime Minister’s Office.”

Zaharuddin Hj Abd Rahman, Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) officer at IBTE-PLM Campus, shared that the session was a good exposure for the instructors, especially those who will be teaching the HSE module at the institution.

“The HSE module was recently introduced for the new programmes of HNTec and NTec at IBTE. (The sharing session) was a good start to gain more information on occupational safety and health law that exist in Brunei, not just for our teaching curriculum on the HSE module but for the management of health and safety within the institution itself,” he said.

Zaharuddin added that having proper health and safety policy will motivate employees to maintain a positive and safe working culture at their respective institutions.

The Brunei Times