insider - Malaysian Association of Standards Users

SELAMATKAH
ANAK ANDA DI
TAMAN
PERMAINAN?
pg 5
THE WONDER
WATER
THE NEW FOUNTAIN OF
YOUTH??
pg 6-7
safety
insider
WHEN WALKING
SAFELY IS NO
LONGER AN
OPTION!!
SEPTEMBER 2015
Volume 2
www.standardsusers.org
After the many escalator incidents
many of us can’t step onto escalators
with a peace of mind. What we want is
the improvements to ensure the safety
of all escalator users is assured after going through a series of incidents involving the escalator this year in Malaysia.
What can be done?
Read more Pg 2
MEET THE CULPRITS
the cause to your frequent visit to the toilet..
PAGE 2
SAFETY INSIDER SEPTEMBER 2015
reason of incidents was due friction between clothes and
handrail.
WELL, THAT
ESCALATED
QUICKLY...
A news of an escalator swallowed a mother has shocked
the entire world at the end of July. The incident occurred
at one of the shopping complexes in China. An incident
involving a one year boy’s left hand that was trapped into
the escalator in China again. The country shook with an
incident where a cleaner’s limb was trapped into the escalator while sweeping the escalator stairs.
To no exception, Malaysia also contributed to the number
of escalator incidents. A week after woman swallowing escalator incident in China, a limb of a three-year-old kid was
trapped at a shopping mall in Georgetown. Another event
that took place three months before Georgetown incident
was involving a toddler’s hand pulled along by the rubber
handrail prior to a fall that causes the death of the child.
The incident, which takes place last year in Shah Alam
where the escalator was moving in the reverse direction
suddenly which caused all the users, had a bad fall on
each other. However, no serious injury was reported from
this incident.
It is an ordinary flow of life to use escalator at shopping
malls and even at accessing the workplace. Wrong usage
of escalator too could contribute to a life threatening issue. There are shocking facts where thousands of people
rushed to the emergency room of a hospital due to escalator accidents.
Based on US Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC), there are 26,000 cases involving escalator from
the year 1990 to 2002. It was estimated that more than
67% of the accident cases involving victims aged between
15 to 19 years old.
In the year 2007, a consultant called David Cooper published research outcomes based on accidents involved
handrails. He concluded that there were 305 accidents
were observed in 10 years period all over the world based
on the research. Cooper explicitly states out that the main
Whether the person who is in charge of fixing an escalator meets the fixed standard of MS 1918-1-2011 Safety
of Escalators and Moving Walks-Parts 1: Construction and
Installation (First Revision) was raised. Meanwhile International Organization for Standardization (ISO) have few
standard documents such as followsa) ISO 9589:1994 Escalators-Building dimension, ISO
14798:2009 Lifts (elevators), escalators and moving walks
- Risk assessment and reduction methodology,
b) ISO 22201-2:2013 Lifts (elevators), escalators and
moving walks-Programmable electronic systems in safety
related applications-Part2: Escalators and moving walks
(PESSRAE)
c) ISO 25745-3:2015 Energy performance of lifts, escalators and moving walks-Part3: Energy calculation and classification of escalators and moving walks.
The following would be the list of recommendation from
Department of Safety and Health (DOSH) to ensure the
escalator users are safe: Get to know the location of emergency button usually
red in color at the beginning and the end of the escalator. This button will stop the escalator immediately.
Ensure the shoe laces are not loose, and the type of
shoe you are wearing is suitable when using the escalator (avoid rubber shoes or sandals).
Always hold your kid’s hand whenever on the escalator
and never allowed them to sit and play on the escalator
stairs surface.
Face forward, stand in the middle which means inside
the yellow border and hold on to the handrail.
Avoid standing at the edge of the escalator stairs to prevent foot being trapped
Avoid placing your handbag or package onto the handrail
Do not lean onto the handrail
Standard documents involving escalator shall be revised
to include more improvements to ensure the safety of all
escalator users is assured after gone through a series of
incidents involving the escalator this year in Malaysia.
PAGE 3
SAFETY INSIDER SEPTEMBER 2015
Building consumers’ trust and
confidence in food safety
system in Malaysia
On December 10, 1998, a boy was
born to Kowalcyks. Unbeknownst to
them less than three years later Kevin, the boy will succumb to a strain of
E.Coli which contaminated his food crumbs of uncooked meat in his burger. According to his parents Kevin went
from perfectly healthy to being dead
in just 12 days and how he contracted
the E.Coli O157:H7. The parents and
their attorney spent three years to find
the answers to these questions.
Kevin’s parents continue to promote
awareness about foodborne illnesses
in the United States and Representative Anna Eschoo Member of the US
House of Representatives from California, proposed Kevin’s Law in 2005
calling for the USDA or the United
States Department of Agriculture to
among others:
•
Requiring the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) to
identify the pathogens that threaten
human health (e.g. Salmonella, E. coli
O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes).
•
Requiring the USDA to establish performance standards to reduce
the presence of these pathogens in
meat and poultry.
•
Confirming that the USDA has
the authority to enforce its own standards by shutting down plants that
continually breach basic health standards.
Meat processors successfully lobbied
against the law citing increased production cost and thus cost of food.
Till to date many food safety incidents
related to meat contamination by Salmonella and E.Coli points towards the
need to revive and implement the
proposed Kevin’s Law.
On 4 March, 2014 a five year old Muhammad Iqbal Rafie Mohd Ilme, in
Malaysia succumbed to Salmonella.
Another 68 were admitted for food
poisoning.
In addition to the above, we receive
many complaints through the National Consumer Complaints Centre
regarding food contamination. There
was one on cockroach in kids fast
food meal, lizard in wedding cake
and mouldy filled buns sold in a hypermarket in Kuala Pilah. The foods
above are prepared by the facility (as
restaurants or in house bakery) for
their customers.
The Terengganu State Department
had also confirmed that the victims
fell ill after consuming four types of
food which was sold at the Dataran
Syahbandar night market between
February 28 and March 1.
The National Consumer Complaints
Centre or NCCC reported that slightly
more than 60% of its over 300 food
product complaints are related to
safety issue – most of which can be
seen by consumers.
“All the victims had consumed these
four types of food which was sold at
the Dataran Syahbandar or Padang
Hiliran night market which included
white fried rice, red fried rice, fried
kuey teow and fried noodles,” State
Health director Datuk Dr Anwa Sulaiman said.
Foreign material – maggots in chocolates, needle in three in one cereal mix
and dead insects in malt drink powder
are some of the gory details of the
complaints. Issues with safety make
up over 16% of the 405 complaints
against restaurants such as plastic in
chicken burger and cockroach in ‘sirap
bandung’.
Just about two weeks before that on
February 17, 2014 close to 160 students in Kuala Nerang suffered from
diarrhoea and vomiting.
According to media reports, Kedah
state health director Ismail Abu Taat
said the food poisoning was caused by
Ayam Masak Merah (chicken in spicy
tomato sauce) probably contaminated
with Salmonella bacteria because of
improperly preserved chicken.
What is happening to our food?
What will it take for restaurant operators and retailers to take food safety
seriously?
Should consumer organization call
for stricter safety requirements and
strong punitive measures – such as
increased fine / compound or even jail
sentence?
SAFETY INSIDER SEPTEMBER 2015
PAGE 4
Food Safety related complaints received by NCCC (2006 -2013)
Food Safety related complaints received by NCCC (2006
-2013)
% Complaints Against Restaurant Operators
Total Food Safety Complaints
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Year
the eight universal consumer rights is
the right to fulfill basic needs – air,
water and food, followed by right
to safe products and services. How
much of this is safeguarded through
laws and their implementation?
Price of prepared or cooked food
has always been increasing but level of safety and hygiene is far from
improving. Hiring foreign labours to
wait on customers or to prepare food
in the kitchen maybe counterproductive to food hygiene practices - considering their background, language
barrier and lack proper food hygiene
training.
Has the Ministry of Health and food
hygiene training providers considered
this human resource situation when
developing capacity building activities?
We acknowledge the need for general practitioners or doctors to report
food poisoning cases to the Ministry
of Health. Discrepancies in the system
to collect this data may have grave
consequences due to ‘under-reporting’ the true situation of food safety
in Malaysia and its reflection on the
food hygiene practices.
We call on the Ministry of Health especially the Food Safety and Quality
Division, the local governments and
state health departments to work together with the Department of Standard Malaysia to harmonize restaurant grading criteria – which maybe
as diverse as the food we savour.
During this process, safety and health
of workers and consumers must un-
derpin the development of the grading
criteria and implementation.
The MESTI or BESS programme by
the Ministry of Health (MoH) which
outlines the bare necessity for food
hygiene practices need to be complemented with strong and aggressive
enforcement actions.
% Complaints Against Restaurant Operators
1000
those who result in death or even
hospitalisation of their customers who consume food they sold or
prepared. Vendors or food handlers
(restaurant owners) MUST never be
allowed to run food business if the
food they sell result in the death of
their customer!!!
MoH must ensure that the system to
report food safety incident is both accessible and responsive. Otherwise,
we may end up being like “for everyone customer who lodge a complaints
there are 10 who do not”.
With increasing food import bill and
a volatile nature of food security we
believe consumers should seize their
rights to safe and secure food supply
by increasing their voice of their dissatisfaction with the quality of food
sold to them.
Consumers must have ZERO TOLERANCE towards poor hygiene and food
They need to be critical, socially and
environmentally responsible. This en2.6 %
2.6 %
Description of Complaints
Received on Food
(Services and Processed)
200=11 by NCCC (n=860)
56.4 %
Services Quality
38.5 %
Product Safety
Product Quality
(exclude safety)
Customer Service
handling practices in restaurants, catering services and among street food
vendors.
Local government laws need to be
amended to ensure that operating licenses are permanently revoked for
tails being responsible in the sound
management of food waste and curb
food wastage. Food producers and
food manufacturers also need to address wastage and waste. PAGE 5
SELAMATKAH
ANAK ANDA DI
TAMAN
PERMAINAN?
Walaupun tiada statistik rasmi yang lebih menyeluruh,
tetapi tidak dapat dinafikan ramai kanak-kanak pernah
tercedera ketika di taman permainan kanak-kanak. Walaupun ada standard atau panduan untuk rekabentuk dan
pembinaan taman permainan kanak-kanak yang selamat,
namun pematuhannya tidak diwajibkan!!! Walaupun pembinaan taman permainan kanak-kanak adalah di bawah
kawalan kerajaan tempatan, begitu juga penyelenggaraan
taman permainan tersebut.Seperti pembinaan dan penyelenggaraan pelbagai kemudahan awam, ia memerlukan
pengetahuan dan kemahiran teknikal - yang menjadi isu
yang perlu ditangani oleh kebanyakan pihak berkuasa
tempatan (PBT).
Beberapa inisiatif telah diambil oleh (PBT) yang lebih berpengaruh seperti Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur atau
DBKL dan Perbadanan Putrajaya (di bawah Kementerian Wilayah). DBKL mewajibkan semua pembinaan dan
penyelenggaraan taman permainan kanak-kanak harus
mematuhi Malaysian Standard (MS) yang berkaitan. MS
ini dibangun berdasarkan standard Amerika Syarikat iaitu
ASTM.
Bagaimanakah (PBT) lain harus bertindak memastikan
taman permainan kanak-kanak adalah selamat dan memenuhi keperluan aktiviti luaran bagi kanak-kanak? Apakah fungsi Kementerian Perumahan, Kerajaan Tempatan
SAFETY INSIDER SEPTEMBER 2015
dan Kesejahteraan Bandar dalam memastikan PBT menjadikan pematuhan terhadap standard keselamatan taman
permainan kanak-kanak adalah wajib?
Sementara menunggu tindakan selanjutnya daripada pihak PBT berikut adalah beberapa langkah yang anda
sebagai orang dewasa dan ibu bapa boleh ambil untuk
memastikan kanak-kanak bawah jagaan anda selamat di
taman permainan:
SELALU memastikan kanak-kanak senantiasa diawasi
dan ajar mereka menggunakan peralatan di taman permainan dengan selamat.
Pastikan peralatan di taman permainan dalam keadaan
baik tanpa unjuran tajam atau sempadan kasar dan bergerigi
Pastikan sambungan utuh dan tidak lusuh
Permukaan plastik atau logam sama rata dan tidak usang
Semua peralatan dipasang dengan teguh dan tiada bahagian yang longgar dan dipasang dengan teguh pada
lantai
Pakaian kanak-kanak mesti bebas daripada tali dan tu-
dung yang labuh, tanpa jaket. Pakaian yang labuh mudah tersangkut dan membahayakan keselamatan kanakkanak
Jangan menggunakan peralatan di taman permainan
dengan tali lompat
Pastikan kanak-kanak tidak bergaul dengan orang yang
tidak dikenali
Pastikan anda dan kanak-kanak bawah jagaan anda tidak
mengotorkan taman
dengan sampah sarap
Pastikan tiada kawasan air betakung
sekitar taman permainan tersebut
Apabila balik ke rumah pastikan kanakkanak tersebut mencuci tangan dengan
sabun.
Untuk maklumat lanjut laporan ‘The Star’
juga boleh membantu;
atau untuk sebarang
pertanyaan
tentang
standard keselamatan
taman
permainan kanak-kanak sila
hubungi Jabatan Standard Malaysia di talian
0 3-8318 0002.
PAGE 6
SAFETY INSIDER SEPTEMBER 2015
Alkaline water is being vigorously marketed in Malaysia
and many parts of the world such as US, Singapore, Japan,
Korea etc for its purported health benefits. Alkaline water
is claimed to impart health benefits such as energizing,
hydrating the body more effectively than regular water,
improving taste of food when used in cooking, helping the
body absorb nutrients more effectively and so on.
The idea of drinking alkaline water was never seriously
considered until the late 1940’s when Japanese scientists
were in search of a solution to the severe drug shortages
of the post-war period. The researchers initially found that
electrically ionized alkaline water with a pH greater than
8.5 to 9.0 was a potential solution for those who suffers
Gastric Hyperacidity and other primarily digestive conditions. Medical research conducted in Japan shows that alkaline water is NOT medicine, but it can have a positive
effect on digestive health. Japanese doctors routinely prescribe daily consumption of alkaline ionized water for mild
cases of digestive upset.
Many of these “water ionizers” devices appear to have their
origins in Japan and Korea, two countries whose populations seem to be particularly vulnerable to being taken in
by pseudoscientific water-treatment schemes. The cost of
the electrical devices can be consider to be overpriced as
some well-known brand could reach up to MYR 12,000.00.
So far there is NO official statement being made on the
claims that alkaline water could heal chronic or mild diseases other than the use as antacid (to lower acidity level
in digestive system) by some countries’ hospital nor do
there are statement on the high acidity of illness like cancer, diabetes etc.
The new
elixir of
life :
alkaline
water
Based on our observation different source of marketing
scheme would state that cancer is acidic (for alkaline water) while other would state cancer have high pH (for Hydrogen / Oxygenated water). Considering the popularity of
the (alkaline) water and because it is not officially proven
as baseless or further from truth, we recommend a few
considerations to take before deciding to drink alkaline
water:
Do NOT believe the marketing tactics 100%
There are an excess of testimonials and so-called scientific
studies on the Internet claiming alkaline water will cure
your every illnesses and health related problems. Be careful of marketing tricks, baseless scientific validity and also
the usage of scientific jargon which further complicates
information provided to consumers.
Most water ‘alkalizers’ are being marketed by multi-level
marketing (MLM) companies with less than perfect ethics.
They sell the machine at a very expensive price to consumers (up to RM XXXXXX based on our research so far),
for which they get a good discount if they sign up as a
representatives or member, and once they become part of
the MLM, they are in a position not to change their minds
about its benefits (especially because they are going to sell
PAGE 7
the units) even after realizing that
the so-called product no longer give
the ‘experienced miracle’.
Videos and website that are full with
testimonials are gaining more views
each day, but do remember the more
view and review on the comment
section does not mean that it is true
especially with no sources to validate
these comments.
Knowing the cause of what
ails you
Determining whether you need to
take alkaline water or will it really
help you is very important. If you
think your body pH is unbalanced,
it is better to investigate the underlying cause by doing a medical
check-up. Human bodies naturally
maintain blood pH within a range
based on organ types (each organ
have their own unique pH range).
Consuming alkaline water instead of
normal water entirely can be potentially harmful to human bodies. Gastric fluid inside our stomach has an
overwhelmingly low pH and ordinary
drinking water (neutral pH or slightly acidic) will not have much effect.
Enzymes that digest functional group
in food (protein, carbohydrate etc) in
the stomach require a low pH in order to function properly. There are
research done on patients with gastrointestinal symptoms (chronic diarrhoea, constipation, abnormal fermentation in intestines, indigestion,
acid indigestion, etc.) and verified
the normalization of bowel movements after given a specific amount
of alkaline water (could function as
an antacid) but so far there are no
proven research on its effectiveness
to heal other diseases.
Don’t fall for the easy way
out
Most people want the best health
without the sacrifices needed to
achieve it - safely. Everyone loves
the idea of a quick fix and no fuss.
Simply drinking alkaline water or
reduced water or alkaline ionized
water to correct years of poor nutrition, zero exercise and chronic dehydration is not the right thing to do.
SAFETY INSIDER SEPTEMBER 2015
There are simple things that can be
done to maintain a naturally healthy
pH in human body such as eating
more fruits and vegetables, practicing
deep breathing and drinking plenty of
pure hydrating water which will enable
the body to more easily remove toxins
and acid metabolic wastes.
The hype of antioxidant
The negative nature of alkaline water are being claim to inhibit oxidizing
process which cause aging etc. and
consumers are usually shown of this
matter using an Oxidizing-Reducing
Potential (ORP) meters. ORP meters
showing negative number are reducing agent and usually have higher pH
and claim to be rich in antioxidant.
Then again until a credible evidence
of its effect to prolong life expectancy
is available, it is better and cheaper to
consume food with naturally rich antioxidants. The same goes for antioxidant-added-processed food or drinks
and supplements. Antioxidant supplements represent a USD500 million
dollar industry that continues to grow
each day. Antioxidants are added to
breakfast cereals, sports bars, energy drinks, and other processed foods,
and promoted as additives that can
prevent heart disease, cancer, cataracts, memory loss, and a host of other conditions. Consumers must know
that, these kind of effects will only be
recognized as true with a long term
study and not in few weeks or months
of intake. Credible scientific evidence
should be sought rather than testimonials from various users.
Alkaline water contain
more oxygen than normal
water
There are claim that oxygen produced
during electrolysis to produce alkaline water revitalises the body. Normal or pure water are readily made
up of bonding oxygen and hydrogen
atom, during electrolysis of water the
ion are separated and alkaline water
have more hydroxide ion while acidic
water have more hydrogen ion. Naturally when exposed to air these ions
will start bonding back to form water
molecules. Also in pure water only a
minute amount will undergo the elec-
trolysis process. The amount of oxygen that water can hold are limited
and the digestive system could not
absorb all of it. Most of the oxygen
we get comes mainly from breathing.
Placebo effect
Studies have shown that placebos
can relieve the symptoms in about
40 percent of those who suffer from
chronic ailments. The placebo effect
is the measurable, observable, or felt
improvement in health or behaviour
not attributable to a medication or
invasive treatment that has been
administered. Alkaline water might
work by suppressing some genes
that normally act to inhibit cell proliferation and tumour growth or suppress some organisms whose normal
function is to remove substances to
which one’s body is allergic or otherwise harmful. Then again, the effectiveness of medical treatment or
alternative medical treatment would
only be known after a long term research.
The relation to Japan in
general
From promotional video and websites
for alkaline water, there are frequent
references made in general like how
alkaline water are being used in
hospitals which is approved by the
Japanese Ministry of Health and
FDA. While it is possible that alkaline water ‘health benefits’ was once
upon a time a hype in Japan (around
1954) the concern of their Ministry
of Health at that time was only on
safety of the equipment(electrical
factor). (Japanese Ministry of Merchandise Trade Report on Consumer
Complaints – 1992). Fast forward up
to 2015, there are so far NO press
release or statement from the Japan
Ministry of Health or any other relevant agencies regarding the matter.
Up until now the long-term health
effects of drinking alkaline ionized
water has been poorly understood,
even by its advocates. This is why it
is so important that people do their
own independent research when told
of wonder cure for something. Especially when it comes to health.