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ENVIRONMENTAL AND SAFETY COMMITTEE

Malaysia Safety & Environmental Country Report 2012
- By Christopher Hii & Sia Han See

1.0 EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
1.1 OVERVIEW
At the Copenhagen Climate Change conference in 2009, Malaysian Prime Minister
Dato Sri Mohd Najib Bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak had committed to reduce up to 40%
in terms of emissions intensity of GDP by the year 2020 compared to 2005 levels.
Various government organizations and legislation have been established with
different roles and responsibilities to implement policies and carry out programmes
towards the fulfillment of the commitment.
1.2 ENVIRONMENT
1.2.1 Government Organizations & Legislation
Malaysia is one of the earliest nations in the world to have adopted a serious
concern towards environment by enacting the Environment Quality Act - Act 127 way
back in 1974. At the moment, Act 127 consists of 21 Regulations, 2 Rules and 16
Orders. (The details can be obtained from http://www.doe.gov.my/en
/content/environmental-quality-act-1974) The implementation authority of this act is
the Department of Environment (DOE) under the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environment to address environmental issues such as environmental pollution,
depletion of ozone layer, and global warming.
Likewise, the very concept of sustainability was already an integral part of Third
Malaysia Plan (1976-1980), even before the idea of Sustainable Development was
popularised in the late eighties by the Brundtland Report. The present Prime Minister,
six days after taking office, announced the formation of the Ministry of Energy, Green
Technology and Water (formerly known as Ministry of Energy, Water &
Communications), to focus on the sustainable development of energy and also green
technology.


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1.2.2 Reduction Measures and Programmes for Environment
1.2.2.1 Continuing Measures & Programmes
a) Green Technology (GT) Road Map
b) National Energy Efficiency Master Plan (NEEMP)
c) Green Technology Policy
d) Incentives for Environmental Management

1.2.2.2 New Measures & Programmes
a) Establishment of Sustainable Energy Development Authority of Malaysia
(SEDA Malaysia)
SEDA Malaysia is a statutory body formed under the Sustainable Energy
Development Authority Act 2011 [Act 726] gazetted on 2 June 2011.
The key role is to administer and manage the implementation of the feed-in
tariff mechanism.
Other main functions include:-
To advise the Minister and relevant Government Entities on all matters
relating to sustainable energy including recommendations on policies,
laws and actions to be applied to promote sustainable energy;
To promote and implement the national policy objectives for renewable
energy;
To promote, stimulate, facilitate and develop sustainable energy.
b) Feed-in Tariff (FiT) Mechanism
FiT mechanism is mandated under the Renewable Energy Act 2011 [Act 725]
which was also gazetted on 2 June 2011.
FiT system obliges Distribution Licensees (DLs) to buy from Feed-in Approval
Holders (FIAHs) the electricity produced from renewable resources
(renewable energy) and sets the FiT rate. The DLs will pay for renewable
energy supplied to the electricity grid for a specific duration.
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By guaranteeing access to the grid and setting a favourable price per unit of
renewable energy, the FiT mechanism would ensure that renewable energy
becomes a viable and sound long-term investment for companies, industries
and also for individuals.
Note:
Distribution Licensees: Companies holding the licence to distribute electricity (e.g.
Tenaga National Berhad (TNB), Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB), Northern Utility
Resources Sdn Bhd (NUR).

Feed-in Approval Holder: An individual or company who holds a feed-in approval
certificate issued by SEDA Malaysia. The holder is eligible to sell renewable energy
at the FiT rate.

Eligible Renewable Resources includes:-

- Biogas
- Biomass
- Small Hydropower
- Solar Photovoltaic

c) Sustainability Achieved via Energy Efficiency (SAVE) Programme
SAVE Programme under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP)
was launched by the Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water,
Malaysia, Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui on 7 July 2011. The main purpose of
SAVE programme is to improve energy efficiency in Malaysia through rebates
for refrigerators, air-conditioners and chillers for qualified consumers to
improve energy efficiency in the country.
Under the initiative, qualified consumers will be given a rebate of RM200 for a
new refrigerator and RM100 for an air-conditioner. Both are household items
while the chillers are for commercial use. The rebate amount for chillers is
RM200 per RT (Refrigeration Ton). There are certain criteria needed for
compliant for the rebate.
SAVE will be implemented through the collaboration between the Ministry and
the utility companies, such as Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Sarawak Electricity Bhd
and Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd as well as the participating appliance
manufacturing companies.

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d) The Low Carbon Cities Framework
The Low Carbon Cities Framework was launched by the Prime Minister in
September 2011. It was the Prime Ministers aspiration to develop Putrajaya
and Cyberjaya as shining examples of eco-friendly townships and to replicate
this in other cities and towns in the country.
The framework aims to provide guidelines for translating initiatives into actual
carbon reduction estimates for property development. It helps achieve the
goal, assisting local councils, town planners and developers in formulating
action plans to cut carbon emissions. Ultimately, Malaysians can live in clean,
healthy and high quality environments; in cities, townships and communities
that are built on the fundamentals of green technology.
e) Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
Rapid economic and energy demand growth in a number of developing APEC
economies including Malaysia is necessitating major expansions in energy
infrastructure, especially for power generation. With growing concern about
global climate change, the growth of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the
regions rapidly expanding coal-fired power generation sector and heavy
industries such as steel and cement industries, raises the question of when in
the future it may become necessary to capture and store CO2 emissions from
these plants.
In this regard, APEC economies need to have legal and regulatory information
and tools that underpin a sound permitting system for projects that might
employ CCS.
APEC is currently conducting a project to review current activities regarding
legal, regulatory, and permitting aspects of CCS implementation in national
administrations and international bodies. Malaysia was included as one of the
countries to be assessed under that project. The assessment will identify the
essential elements of a permitting process for CCS projects in these
economies, as well as additional mechanisms and structures that might need
to be put in place to support the CCS permitting process and monitoring of
CCS projects.
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CCS is being considered by the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environment (MNRE) as a possible technology to meet Malaysias voluntary
emissions intensity reduction target. However, implementation would start no
sooner than 2020 as the government has prioritised mitigation technologies
that they may be of lower cost.
1.3 SAFETY AND HEALTH

1.3.1 Government Organizations & Legislation

The authority of Safety and Health in Malaysia is the Department of Occupational
Safety and Health (DOSH) under the Ministry of Human Resources. There are three
Acts that are implemented by DOSH, namely
a) Factories and Machinery Act 1967 (Revised - 1974) (Known as FMA 1967 or
Act 139)
b) Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (Known as OSHA 1994 or Act 514)
c) Petroleum Act (Safety Measures) 1984 (Act 302)
The Iron and Steel Industry is only involved with FMA 1967 and OSHA 1994.

1.3.2 Reduction Measures and Programmes for Safety and Health
a) Occupational Safety and Health Master Plan for Malaysia 2015 (OSH-MP15)

To reinforce the main OSH legislative frameworks such as FMA 1967 and OSHA
1994, a master plan is necessary to provide strategic vision, direction as well as
action framework for work safety and health in Malaysia. Thus, the Occupational
Safety and Health Master Plan for Malaysia 2015 (OSH-MP 15) was launched by the
Prime Minister, Dato Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak on 1 May 2009 in conjunction
with Labour Day.
The main aim of the OSH-MP 15 is to build a safe, healthy and productive pool of
human capital by creating, cultivating and sustaining a safe and healthy work culture
in all organisations throughout Malaysia.

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The specific objectives are:
i. To increase awareness and knowledge in OSH and commitment to OSH in all
undertakings both big and small business;
ii. To reduce the rates of workplace injuries and associated fatalities;
iii. To reduce the number of occupational lung diseases, occupational noise
induced hearing loss and occupational skin diseases; and
iv. To minimise their adverse impacts on efficiency, productivity and business
performance.
OSH-MP 15 is actually the middle stage of a series of three consecutive 5-year
action plans that began in 2005. The first stage which will end in 2010 was targeted
towards spreading out OSH ownership to all Key Stakeholders and Social Partners.
OSH-MP 15, as the second stage, will focus on building and sustaining the culture of
self-regulation. By end 2015, self-regulation would have been fully ingrained into the
working culture or entering into the stage of preventative culture in all workplaces.
The OSH-MP 15 provides guidance and direction in combining efforts of all relevant
parties to encourage organisations to give higher priority to OSH with the aim of
boosting the national OSH performance. A well structured and well implemented
OSH-MP 15 will eventually improve OSH standards in Malaysia. Better OSH will
reduce injuries, diseases and fatalities and hence will improve efficiency, productivity
and competitiveness in organisations, thus bringing various benefits to Key
Stakeholders, Country Social Partners, the general community and the entire nation,
thereby resulting in a better quality of life for all.
1.4 EVALUATION, MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT
1

The Department of Environmental (DOE) is given the responsibility to strengthen and
implement strategies, programmes and activities effectively in managing the
environments sustainability. Thus, DOE needs to ensure that the environment

1
Source: The Malaysia Environmental Quality Report 2011.

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remain clean, safe, healthy and productive, both ecologically and environmentally, in
order to support socio-economic development of the country. As such, evaluation,
monitoring and assessment are continuously being carried out by DOE.
1.4.1 Air
a) Air Quality Monitoring
DOE monitors the countrys ambient air quality continuously through a network of 52
monitoring stations, strategically located in residential, urban and industrial areas.
These stations detect any significant change in the air quality which may be harmful
to human health and the environment.
Based on the Air Pollutant Index (API), the overall air quality for Malaysia in 2011
was between good to moderate levels most of the time. The overall number of good
air quality days decreased in 2011 (55 percent of the time) compared to that in 2010
(63 percent of the time), while remaining 44 percent at moderate level and one (1)
percent at unhealthy level. However, the country experienced several short spell of
haze episodes due to trans-boundary haze pollutions as a result of forest fires from
Central Sumatra and Kalimantan, Indonesia which occurred during the dry period
from May to September 2011. These had contributed to the slight deterioration of
overall air quality in 2011.
a) Sources of Air Pollution
Industries, power stations, motor vehicles and open burning activities remain the
major sources of air pollution in the country. Motor vehicles remain as the major
contributor of air pollution especially in urban areas. There was an overall increase in
the number of motor vehicles registered in 2011. The number of registered
passenger cars increased by 6.65%, taxis by 6.33%, motorcycles 5.76%, buses
3.81%, and goods vehicles 3.26% in 2011 compared to 2010.
b) Air Pollutant Emission Load
In 2011, the combined air pollutant emission load was 1,759,248 metric tonnes of
carbon monoxide (CO); 770,099 metric tonnes of nitrogen dioxide (NO
2
); 190,075
metric tonnes of sulphur dioxide (SO
2
) and 27,719 metric tonnes of particulate matter
(PM). In 2011, there was an increase in emission load for CO, NO
2
and SO
2
as
compared to 2010.
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1.4.2 Water
a) Water Quality Monitoring
DOE monitors river water quality to detect changes in river water quality and to
identify pollution sources. In 2011, river water quality was assessed based on a total
of 4,249 samples taken from 464 rivers, using 812 manual stations (MWQM) and 10
continuous water quality monitoring stations (CWQM) for the purpose of early
detection of pollution influx. For the period of January to December 2011, no
distinctive incidence of pollution flux was observed.
Out of 464 rivers monitored, a total of 275 (59.3%) were found to be clean,
150(32.3%) slightly polluted and 39 (8.4%) polluted.
b) Biological Oxygen Demand Load
Sewage remained the largest contributor, which load of 1,067,235 kg/day (77%),
followed by pig farming 202,293 kg/day (14%), agro-based industry 73,664 kg/day
(5%) and manufacturing industries 50,336 kg/day (4%).
1.4.3 Scheduled Wastes Inventory
A total of 3,281,569.21 metric tonnes of scheduled wastes were produced in 2011 as
compared to 3,087,496.84 metric tonnes generated in 2010. In 2011, the main
categories of waste generated in the country were dross/slag/clinker/ash
(370,789.09 metric tonnes 22.86%), Gypsum (278,139.00 metric tonnes
17.15%), Mineral Sludge (207,445.01 metric tonnes 12.79%), Heavy Metal Sludge
(173,837.06 metric tonnes 10.72%), and E-Waste (152,722.04 metric tonnes
9.42%).
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Table A - Facilities handling scheduled wastes in 2011:
No. Facility Tonnes Percentage (%)
1. Special Management 1,659,537.67 50.57
2. Local Off-site Recover Facilities 937,769.83 28.58
3. On-site Treatment 340,460.16 10.37
On-site Storage 189,861.05 5.79
4. Kualiti Alam Sdn. Bhd. 119,684.03 3.65
6. Off-site Clinic Waste Incinerators 17,795.47 0.54
6. Trinekens (Sarawak) Sdn. Bhd. 14,500.00 0.44
7. Foreign Facilities (Export) 1,961.00 0.06
TOTAL 3,281,569.21 100.00
(Source: Malaysia Environmental Quality Report 2011)

1.5 PUBLIC, NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANISATIONS (NGOS), PRESSURE
GROUPS.
The needs for environmental protection and the importance of environmental
conservation have been publicised extensively not only by government agencies
such as the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and Ministry of Energy,
Green Technology and Water, but also Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and
Pressure Groups with the aim to increase the environmental consciousness among
publics in Malaysia. Various seminars, forums, conferences, and campaigns had
been organised to create awareness of the impact of air pollution, ozone layer
depletion, greenhouse effect/global warming, acid rain, deforestation, water pollution,
land pollution and so on. Many cases had been highlighted to the public on the
impacts to environment as a result of illegal dumping of toxic wastes, water pollution
due to leachate from dump site & industrial discharge, illegal and unregulated
logging, destruction of wetland areas for construction (development) and open
burning.
The public, NGOs and pressure groups are getting influential in voicing their views
and issues in the media, lodging of complaints with regards to environmental issues
to government departments such as DOE, Environmental Division/Unit of Local
Authorities, and also politicians.
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Examples of environmental incidents that have occurred recently in Malaysia
include:
1.5.1 In May 2011, nearly 400 fishermen barricaded the Sungai Langat (Langat
River) with some 300 boats in protest of what they claimed as inaction by
authorities. The fishermen claimed that their livelihoods had been affected
because the river has become the passageway for trawlers, barges and
cargo ships sending supplies to the steel mill there. They estimated 20
ships coming in and out of the river daily and claimed that the riverside
commercial activities had depleted fish resources while buoys placed by the
Marine Department as markers for vessels to moor at the jetties damaged
their fishing nets.
They had been appealing to authorities for 11 years to resolve the problem,
but to no avail. Therefore they have decided to stage the protest in order to
highlight their plight to show how serious their problem is.
1.5.2 In December 2011, Some 2,500 fishermen and their families were up in arms
against a proposed iron ore pelletising plant by giant Brazilian mining group,
Vale, in Teluk Rubiah, Manjung of Perak State.
In March 2012, about 100 members of Jaringan Aktivis Alam Sekitar Perak
(JAASP), an environmental nongovernmental organization, staged a
demonstration against the operation of Vale. They claimed the operation had
destroyed the environment in the area.
Vale reportedly would invest RM467 million in Teluk Rubiah to create a
distribution centre consisting a pelletising plant to convert raw iron ore into
pellets for use in steel production. Teluk Rubiah would be Vales main base
to export to the Far East, especially China.
Some examples of NGOs/ Pressure Groups in Malaysia, includes:
a) MGBC (Malaysian Green Building Confederation) is a voluntary, non-profit
and non government organization formed in April 2009 with a mission to be
the key driving force towards a Sustainable Built Environment in Malaysia.
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MGBC is a member of World Green Building Council (GBC) and supports,
promotes and provides input to the Malaysia Green Building Index (GBI)
which was developed as a green rating tool for buildings.
(http://www.mgbc.org.my)
b) ENSEARCH (Environmental Management and Research Association of
Malaysia) is a non-profit association dedicated to promoting effective ways of
managing the impact of human activity on the environment. Established in
1984, ENSEARCH today is among the largest and the oldest environmental
NGOs in Malaysia.( http://ensearch.org)
c) CETDEM (Centre for Environment, Technology & Development, Malaysia),
founded in 1985, is an independent, non-profit, training, research,
consultancy, referral, and development organization. It is committed to
improving environmental quality through the appropriate use of technology
and sustainable development. (http://cetdem.org.my)
d) WMAM (The Waste Management Association of Malaysia) founded in March
2005, is an association for waste management professionals. WMAM is a
non-profit, technical and educational organisation that provides a forum
where all viewpoints of waste management matters can be discussed. The
WMAM works to promote and encourage the maintenance of high standards
of waste management services in Malaysia in respect of solid and liquid
waste, hazardous, clinical and all other types of waste. It also encourages
collaboration and cooperation between all those interested and concerned
with waste management. (http://www.wmam.org)

2.0 IN THE STEELWORKS
2.1 OVERVIEW
2.1.1. By-product & Waste Handling

There are considerable effluent/wastes generated by steel companies, such
as slag, dust, chemicals, etc. that need to be properly treated and
discharged.

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The following relates some efforts done and experienced by some of the
local steel coil coating companies with regard to sustaining a cleaner
environment in compliance with required regulations.

With the increasing global demand and search for renewable energy, and
the increasing price of oil and cost of energy, more efforts are focused
towards energy saving to lower production costs. Companies are either
switching or are in the process of switching the usage from their existing fuel
to natural gas for better environmental compliance, and at the same time
lowering their operational costs. Heat Recuperators and Heat Exchangers
are being used to extract/channel energy, in the form of heat produced, to be
used as an additional source of heating medium into the processing facilities.

In the Acid Regenerating Plant (ARP) of the pickling facilities, the acid is
recovered and recycled. Even though the plant is more expensive, the
efficiency of the plant is high, as less waste is generated and the effluent
discharge from the wastewater plant complies with the Malaysian Standard,
under the Sewage and Industrial Effluents Regulation 1978.

Also, waste coolant oil from the Cold Rolling Mill is passed through an
oil/water separator to separate the coolant oil from the other wastewater
before it is further treated in the wastewater treatment plant. With the
removal of the majority of the coolant oil, the wastewater is hence easier to
be treated in the wastewater treatment plant. Hence, this lowers the
wastewater treatment cost. The concentrated waste coolant oil along with
the other wastes, such as oil and grease is then sold to recycling companies
for further recovery.
2.2 GENERAL ISSUES

2.3.1 Training & Education

Malaysia Iron & Steel Industry Federation (MISIF) is still trying its best to talk
to the government to establish Malaysian Steel Institute (MSI). Education
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and training the industry players in Safety and Environment will be one of the
focus areas by MSI.
2.3.2 Environmental Management System

Local steel products manufacturers are also looking into efforts towards
obtaining certification in environmental management system (i.e. ISO14001),
so that environmental issues can be managed more systematically.
3.0 CONCLUSION
It is not just the matter of fulfilling the commitment by the prime Minister in
Copenhagen, but it is our responsibility to ensure all living things live in safe and
green environment. It is also our obligation to the future generations in preserving
and protecting the environment as we are the ones who bring them to live in the
future.
Concerted effort from the government and industry will be effective in ensuring safe,
healthy and green environment for us and future generations to live. Therefore, as
an important economy sector of the country, iron and steel industry players must be
committed towards efforts in environmental preservation and protection.