Niosh ready to help audit tahfiz schools

PUTRAJAYA: The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) is prepared to audit tahfiz schools by distributing safety audit lists to the schools in the move to ensure that its safety aspects are protected.
Its chairman, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said they would prepare modules and suitable safety plans for the schools to identify probable risks faced.
"The safety audit list will include fire extinguishers, the condition of the classrooms and the position of the furniture. Niosh will also hold awareness campaigns through exhibitions organised at schools to increase understanding and awareness of safety aspects at workplaces or schools," he told reporters after attending the closing ceremony of the 2017 Conference and Exhibition on Occupational Safety and Health (COSH2017) here today.
He was commenting on the High-Level Committee (HLC) meeting of the Tahfiz Schools Special Task Force chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today.
The task force was set up to regulate the safety of tahfiz schools following the fire incident at the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah religious residential centre in Kuala Lumpur last Thursday which claimed 23 lives.
Further commenting, Lee said many were still unaware that schools were considered as workplaces and as such, an Occupational Safety and Health Committee needed to be formed. — Bernama