COMMENT | The construction site disaster that occurred on Saturday morning has struck a raw nerve in society. Within hours, concerned citizens voiced out their anxiety in various ways – some constructive and others critical.

Unfortunately, many have based their judgements on a lot on premature postulations formed by various media outlets and of course, perpetuated by political opportunists.

In tragedies, facts and thorough understanding in its entirety are direly needed. We simply cannot afford to succumb to this unhealthy guessing game and prolonged finger pointing. It is not fair to the victims and detrimental to progress.

On Oct 22, 2017, the Penang Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Dosh) director, Rosdee Yaakob affirmed that the landslide was, in fact, a construction accident.

Reiterating this, Lee Lam Thye who is the current chairperson of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) said, “the incident was an example of how safety measures were being disregarded at construction sites” and added that assessments should have been made immediately, when or if soil erosion have been identified.

Dosh has identified approximately 16,800 construction sites within Malaysia. Based on the occupational accidents report (as of July 2017), there have been 2,430 accidents and 143 fatalities recorded.

Such occupational accidents are most likely due to an almost nonexistent safety culture and noncompliance of the requirements of Occupational Safety and Health Act (Osha) 1994.

According to Dosh, the construction and manufacturing industry accounts for 37 percent and 22 percent of all fatal injuries respectively. Under Osha, construction sites are responsible for ensuring that safe practices onsite are administered.

A number of citizens and members of civil society have made several hasty conclusions by producing sweeping statements like “development at hill land above 250 feet and/or with a slope gradient beyond 25 degrees should not be allowed,” thus implying that the Tanjung Bungah development was a hillslope development, and influencing others to believe that the Penang state government failed to comply with guidelines.

In a recent statement by Tan Yean Chin, current president of the Institution of Engineers, he stated that based on observations, “the Tanjung Bungah Development was not built on a hill slope, rather on the land adjacent to the hill slope,” thus debunking the perception that the project was a hillslope development.

The project involved “slopes with a gradient of about 20 degrees” (Category 2 slope, 15 to 25 degrees) thus categorising it as low land (tanah rendah), not hill land (tanah bukit). Furthermore, the land contour of the project area varied between 18 metres and 40 metres, which is well within acceptable limits.

To date, the Penang state government and Penang Island City Council (MBPP) have taken all necessary steps to facilitate crisis management. MBPP has lodged a police report against the consultant of the affordable housing project and a stop work order was issued immediately, building contractor and consultant experts of the project have been blacklisted and confidential documents have been declassified.

A State Commission of Inquiry (SCI) has been established and will take on the tedious task of determining the causes of failure, study and propose improvements to be implemented, and recommend just punishment to those responsible.

Heading the SCI will be former Bar Council president Yeo Yang Poh, and two other highly esteemed geotechnical experts, Ramli Nazir of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Gue See Sew.

Members of public must be made aware that Penang has stricter hill slope development guidelines compared to the rest of the country, and contrary to what is perceived at the moment, the Penang state government does not allow any developments on hill land above 76 metres – vastly different from the current national guidelines limits, which is set at 300 metres.

It is definitely counterproductive to compare this construction accident to past tragedies like the Highland Towers and the landslides that occur quite frequently in Cameron Highlands.

The current slew of accusations is misleading and deceptive. Moreover, without knowing the right facts, we will not be able to make well-informed decisions or facilitate fairness to uphold social justice and hold those responsible accountable for the innocent lives lost.

There is a difference between fair game and playing games.

Therefore, it would be best for all quarters to refrain from commenting further and allow investigations to be carried out – let justice prevail in all its forms and let the truth be known.

SYERLEENA ABDUL RASHID is DAP Wanita national assistant publicity secretary, Penang DAP assistant publicity secretary, Penang DAP Wanita political education director and Penang Island City Council (MBPP) councillor.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.