What is Safety at the work place?

Ibai Bina SDN. BHD. was a construction company actually owned by a Chinese 'Dato'. who used Malay influences and connections to get hand into the major construction industry in the East Coast; a scrupulous opportunist I came to learn if you want to call a spade a spade.  We got along fine for a while until i started to understand his modus operandi and then I worked just for the sake of fulfilling my obligation with my sense of loyalty only to the men I had to care for.  ONE of  my experience with this Chinese Boss was when I asked for better scaffolding for a better support of a 'cement pour' for what would be the ceiling of a structure and it was totally ignored as a waste of time and money. The existing scaffolding I found some were rusted and even bent and broken, but nope lets do it as time was of the essence. Walla! The next morning i arrived on scene there was a cement pour alright  but there was also a huge 'cave in at one section where the scaffolding gave way and so back to the drawing board. But being typical of the Chinese no comment! Yes your were right or yes We should have taken your advise or whatever. 

 On another incident a'round the clock cement pour was in the schedule for the floor of a building that required over a hundred loads of cement trucks to keep pouring non stop. I as the Safety Officer was kept strictly out of the picture by the Project manager and the the Main contractor engineer for Foster Wheeler although I was aware of this. My project manager was a nephew of the Dato' who had just returned from his studies in Australia and so from day one i was just to be seen and not heard, a dumb Malay playing Safety man. I kept my distane and observed and only once i mentioned my position about the whole thing when I stumbled puon the Englishman main contractor telling him that his prepperation for the cement pour was not adequate. The fact that there was not enough  cement trucks and they were depending on a few drivers to work round the clock was too taxing. Again my words fell of deaf ears, what the hell do I know about cement pours?

The next early in the morning as i was driving to work i came upon a cement truck laying on its belly and was told later that it had skidded and rolled all the across the road and hit an on coming car and killed the whole family of four that was travelling in the car. As I walked the accident site which happened in front of a school groundsm, I found a piece of a human skull bone covered in blood stuck to the school fence. I turned and visited the nearby town of Dungun police station to find out more of the situation and found the wrecked family vehicle and some belongings of what was the remains of two brand new children bicycles and a few other newly bought items.
My investigation  of the situation led me to discover from the driver of the cement truck that he was tired and fasting and it was drizzling rin on the evening of the day in question and one thing led to another. The rest was history as I don't really know what was done as far as compensation and so forth was concern, I was again kept in the dark; it will all be taken care of assured the Dato'.  

I quit Ibai Bina soon after and joined Van Suemerren for twice the amount of money and better more responsible employer. Perhaps it was because my mentality was that of a western mind due to my having lived overseas for twenty four years of my life . but I found working for a local company was daunting to say the least as one felt like one was up against one's own employer, and not working for hist benefit. At the risk of being called a racist i will say that the Chinese had the least respect for Health and Safety or the Environment for that matter at the job sites i had work for. I felt to them Health and Safety was an added nuisance and an unnecessary expenditure and this I learned from the horses's mouth, the young Project Manager fresh from Australia, himself.

At another incident worth sharing about how the Chinese deem Safety issues happened when we had a group of  Chinese daredevils who were erecting crossbeams for the warehouse that we were working on.. As i watched them it was like they were laughing at me and taunting me to stop them from walking across the high beams some bare footed while others wore not safety hats even. It was like they were building a 'Kampung house in their own neighborhood.and i was lost at what to do or say. Then cane the Petronas main contractor safety Officer and he came down on me hard. The stop work order was given and my arse was chewed.
So I called them in for a pow wow and they were still giving the we dare you looks and arrogance written all over their faces. So I turned on my ugly nature and let loose my own insanity,in Local dialect Malay with a Chine twist to make it sound more forceful if not vulgar. "Do you believe or not!" I yelled at them, and they looked at me for the first time with interest, "Do you believe in Ghosts! Hantu! Tell you don't!  If you don't why do you always have an altar in the corner of the building and offerings with incense?! You may think you are heroes and that you can do magic up there and work like you own the place! Talk to the security guard if you have doubts and let him tell you what he saw sometime!" They were all attention by then and concern was written all over their faces. "While you act like heroes up there and  feel a finger poking you in the back sending you off balance and down smack to the ground, do you think I or anyone can say there was something poked him in the back? Tis place used to be nothing but jungle and a place where tigers used to roam and now we are here pounding and grinding making all kind of noise driving the unseen insane, do you think they are not pissed off at you? What is a life or two as a sacrifice and it happens to be yours because of your arrogance. What do i write to you wife and kids? Your are gone. I am responsible for the bullshit after! "  I went on like a shit train laying my crap all over them until they were receptive to what I was selling them; superstition is part of their everyday life,and when I ran out of ideas  I used it.
The next day there was hard hats and Safety harnesses and big apologetic smiles all over and the Petronas Safety man was pleased,. He laughed at what i did.

Safety is what comes before profit, Safety makes profit.
Safety is non-negotiable, It is the concern for human lives.
Safety is educating the mind to care for the body.
Safety is no danger lurking around the corner.
Safety is a lifeline secured to a beam.
Safety is a State of Mind, Yours and Mine,
Together we make it happen.

Safety is;"To show a little kindness,
To overcome the blindness'
Of the narrow minded people,
In their narrow minded ways.