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Category: LETTER TO EDITOR
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10/JUL/2016

I have heard of many accidents involving express busses during the last week’s festive break. Every time I feel for the victims of accidents which could have been avoided with stringent maintenance protocol and improved enforcement by public transport regulators such as SPAD.

My staff was in a bus which rammed 10 cars on the north south highway yesterday (Sunday 10 July 2016). Media reports say that there was a brake failure. Video of the bus appearing to be driven fast and ramming into vehicles has gone viral. The reality of how serious is the problem with express bus services in Malaysia has hit home when my staff was involved. Victims can be the sole bread winner of a family, a mother or father with young kids who need the parents. How do we compensate for such losses and what do we say to families who experience loss of a loved one or active and productive citizen of the Malaysian workforce!

Again, as the president of a consumer organisation and who have been actively monitoring public transport quality of service I am truly and utterly disappointed with both the operators and regulators for their inaction in improving safety of the very lives of people who they depend on for their own livelihood and business sustainability.

Regulators such as SPAD MUST come down hard on poor service quality and weed out all errant bus operators though active surveillance and rapid response to complaints. SPAD should also employ means of receiving complaints – if possible real time. Speed records should be captured the minute speed limits are breached?

We hope the UNECE standards for busses are widely enforced especially on anchorage, superstructure and seat belts for passengers? We need clear, transparent and efficient mechanism to compensate passengers who suffer losses in terms of loss of lives, disabilities, loss of working time and delay accordingly?

Close to 2000 people are killed daily globally in road accidents and in Malaysia death rates are 23.6/100000 in 2015 among the highest in Southeast Asia. According to the Minister of Transport statistics showed that 6,706 lives were lost in about 489,600 road accidents in 2015. This is 32 deaths more than the figure recorded in 2014.

We need to put a stop to the unnecessary loss of lives and limbs with more responsible and accountable public transport operators and improved enforcement.

It is my sincere hope that the general public as consumers assert their rights to safer and accountable public transport system by choosing express bus operators with impeccable safety performance. Relevant government agencies should respect consumer rights to fair and transparent information to help consumer choose the right service providers.

Professor Datuk Dr. Marimuthu Nadason
President
Malaysian Association of Standards Users

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Category: LETTER TO EDITOR
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15/JUL/2016

 

SPAD and other regulators involved in the integrity of the public transport system and public transport vehicle plying Malaysian roads should be held responsible if errant operators are allowed to operate public transportation.

The general public have no way of knowing if a bus driver or an operator of a express bus has five dozen summons before they purchase tickets or use their services. The bus checker on the SPAD website only shows (through number plate registration) if the use of the bus is given the temporary operating license (for the recent festive season) and nothing else. As in the past the public often find out that buses involved in accidents often had unresolved traffic summonses including the drivers.

What is the benefit of suspending operating licenses after the fact? How did over 60 unresolved summonses went unnoticed. Why was the operator allowed to carry out its operation during festive season despite so many traffic violations?

According to SPAD (website), there are more than 100 operators offering express bus services to the public and they come under the jurisdiction of the Commission. SPAD acts as the regulator for these operators, and monitor issues like touting, speeding, reckless driving, route and scheduled adherence.

As we are not regulators we can only give strong voice to the Malaysian public by demanding that the Land and Public Transport Commission (SPAD) pursue compensation to all owners of vehicles involved in the accident last Sunday. SPAD must strengthen monitoring and surveillance of all public transport operators and their vehicles (including school buses and commercial vehicles).

We hope the Performance Monitoring Hub System (PMHS) by SPAD is up and running full scale  very soon to avoid further untoward incidents and loss of lives. Violators should be listed for other agencies such as JPJ and traffic division of PDRM to support surveillance programmes. Highway operators should also lend support for this purpose to convey information of buses under surveillance and have mechanism like in the United States to assess the speed of the buses at several points along the highway.
 
Media report pointed out that the despite suspension the operator involved in the accident last Sunday (10 July 2016) is still operating. This begs the question - who enforces the suspension order and ensures compliance with the order?
 
We hope consumers or the general public at large keep the pressure on express ad commercial vehicle operators to behave responsibly on the road by immediately reporting reckless driving behaviour to SPAD. Voicing out displeasure over services rendered and coming together in solidarity against poor service providers are among the five global responsibilities of consumers. Let’s do it and let’s make regulators and operators carry out their functions to fulfill our rights as consumers to safe and sustainable public transport services for all.

Prof Datuk Dr. Marimuthu Nadason
President
Malaysian Association of Standards Users

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Category: LETTER TO EDITOR
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13/AUG/2015

About 22,259,374 million products recalled are those which involve infants and children.
 
The Malaysian Association of Standards Users subscribes to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission alerts. We compiled products recalled from the market from 13th September 2007 till 28th November 2008.

About 22,259,374 million products recalled are those which involve infants and children. There were 7,007,869 million products recalled which are used by consumers in general. The total number of products recalled is 29,267,243 million. . The products recalled were manufactured in 21 different countries. Most of the products recalled were manufactured in China, followed by the United States and there was one product manufactured in Malaysia.

Among the children product recalled there were 168 reports of injuries and 10 deaths. As for general consumer products there were 148 injuries and 1 death.

Standards Users and the Department of Standards Malaysia have pursued the implementation of the toy safety regulation by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs since 2002. We hear that regulation will be implemented by March 2009. Albeit this is an achievement in terms of child safety in Malaysia, we must take note that there are still many children products which do not carry marks to indicate that they are safe. These products include cribs, baby car seats, baby harness, prams and walkers.

Lack of data on the injuries or hospitalization due to the products mentioned above and the cause of injuries (negligence or unsafe products), thus can not be verified. The products mentioned above are also available at day care centers and nurseries. We must ensure that day care centres and nurseries or kindergardens have a safe environment for children.

We hope that the Ministry of Domestic Trade does not sit on implementing one regulation too long when there are still many products out there which may pose danger to young consumers in Malaysia.

We urge consumers / parents and day care center owners / managers to report any injuries caused by the use of children products to us (or the National Consumer Complaints Centre) in order for us to justify the need for new safety standards or mandatory standards to improve protection of young consumers.

Datuk Marimuthu Nadason
President

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Category: LETTER TO EDITOR
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15/FEB/2016

 


You would have used one today. In fact is the US 90 billion riders use it annually – the escalator.

Early February this year a poor four year old lost half a foot due to a traumatizing incident on the escalator. When we combed the media report online we discovered at least nine (9) incidents of children injured on escalators in Malaysia – mostly were reported on blogs. We also found seven (7) incidents in Singapore from 2006 – 2016 with five (5) involving children.

Are escalators unsafe to children?

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission of USCPSC reported back in 2007 there were about 11,000 escalator related injuries. Upon investigation the US CPSC is able to say that most injuries are due to fall, ten (10) percent occur when hands, feet or shoes are trapped in escalators. Soft shoes particularly clogs are most likely to get stuck similarly with ladies shoes.

When we researched online about escalator safety incidents we were nearly traumatized by the kinds of injuries children sustain and that kept us from riding the escalator for a while. But it also sensitized us about the dangers of using escalators – ONLY if we do not mind the safety measures.

As children (usually) under the age of seven are most prone to accidents on escalators, please pay extra attention to their safety when using the escalators. It’s like riding a car or motorcycle or using the bus and crossing the road. They need to be protected when using any mechanical installation.

Always know where the emergency stop button is. The facility’s maintenance team must ensure that the emergency stop button is always in working condition – of course. Adults and children alike must ensure that shoes are tied before getting on an escalator and avoid wearing clogs or soft shoes. Parents need to ensure that children are constantly reminded to use the escalator safely especially placing their foot in the centre and alighting promptly. If you are unsure of where you are do not stop after alighting and wonder. There maybe people behind you who need to alight – promptly and not able to do so with you blocking their way. Building management should not allow use of strollers and prams on escalators. People with strollers or prams and carts – please use the elevators / lift.

However, with many cases of injuries to children, building and mall owners, escalator manufacturers and installers and the relevant government agencies should perpetually educate the general public about safe use of elevators. Advertising space near escalators should probably be reserved for safe escalator use awareness, promotion and education.

Agencies such as the Department of Occupational Safety and Health should make it mandatory for building and escalator brand owners to report incidents – if DOSH has not done that already.
 
Building owners and brand owners who fail to report incidents should be penalized. DOSH and the relevant emergency response agency should investigate the cause and detailed report made available to organisations working on public safety. Investigations into the incidents will shed light and may result in one or more improvements in terms of design, maintenance, review of safety standards and compliance with these standards. Let’s elevate safety standards for the sake of our children.

Prof Datuk Dr. Marimuthu Nadason
President
Malaysian Association of Standards Users

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Category: LETTER TO EDITOR
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05/AUG/2013

CONTAMINATION OF WHEY PROTEIN FROM NEW ZEALAND WITH BOTULISM TOXIN

The Malaysian Association of Standards Users and its members are gravely concerned with the contamination of whey protein concentrate with the notorious botulism toxin. The CDC and several other health literatures (and a known fact) states that botulism is a muscle-paralyzing disease caused by a toxin made by a bacterium called Clostridium botulinum. They also classify botulism into (source CDC):


•    Foodborne botulism - occurs when a person ingests pre-formed toxin that leads to illness within a few hours to days. Foodborne botulism is a public health emergency because the contaminated food may still be available to other persons besides the patient.
•    Infant botulism occurs in a small number of susceptible infants each year who harbor C. botulinum in their intestinal tract.
•    Wound botulism occurs when wounds are infected with C. botulinum that secr

About Botulism


CDC also provides information on the symptoms of foodborne botulism such as:
•    symptoms appearing between 6 hours to 10 days (most commonly between 12 and 36 hours) after eating food that contains the toxin.
o    include double vision, blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, dry mouth, and muscle weakness that moves down the body, usually affecting the shoulders first, then the upper arms, lower arms, thighs, calves, etc.
o    paralysis of breathing muscles can cause a person to stop breathing and die, unless assistance with breathing (mechanical ventilation) is provided.

Standards Users Concerns

Since this incident affects infant formula besides other products which uses whey protein such as yoghurt, energy drinks, biscuits etc we urge the Food Safety Quality Division to open up several 24 hours helpline than just a media release on its website and newspaper to address public concerns. Our call centers are currently flooded with enquiries and there is no helpline or enough information on the division’s website to address public concern especially parents.

We urge the ministry and the division to publish up to date information either a positive list or negative list of the products involved in this latest incident.

We also urge the division to obtain list of all Fonterra’s customers and also ensure that they do not use or have issued recalls of their products which use whey protein concentrate from Fonterra (similar to what Danone has done). It could be ice-cream or cakes or anything that uses whey protein in their formulation.

We hope that the emergency response system in FSQD and among food and beverage manufacturers and the whole supply chain in Malaysia operates efficiently following lessons learnt and improvement made after the melamine incident in 2008 – which is also associated with Fonterra Group.

Once again, this incident warrants heightened and efficient response and action due to the high risk group involved – namely children, pregnant mothers and also the elderly

Laboratory Capacity

On the same issue, we also urge the upcoming national budget for 2014 – which is expected to be tighter than past year to ensure that there is no compromise in the capacity of the Food Safety Quality Divisions role and tasks to improve food safety in Malaysia. There should be increased allocation to ensure that laboratories and well equipped with both human and materials to handle food surveillance and emergency response situation. We are a net food importing nation and the food import bill keeps swelling making us vulnerable to food safety incidents like this (botulism), melamine and tainted meat and counterfeit products.

If importing food cannot be avoided, our surveillance and emergency response mechanism must be tried and tested to ensure that it is effective all the time.

Food Security

The above does not underestimate the efforts needed to address our dependency on food import such increasing yield of local produce, making them more accessible to Malaysians, increasing agriculture land to produce food for local consumption, anticipating and addressing impacts of climate change and so on.

All those involved in food supply chain from farm to fork (including consumers) need to address issues like wastage running into thousands of tonnes a day, ensuring food safety and making food more accessible and affordable. We look forward to a effective, clear and transparent mechanism to ensure that the above is realized in the very near future rather than later.

Datuk Dr. Marimuthu Nadason
President
Malaysian Association of Standards Users

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