KUALA LUMPUR – More than 150 road accidents involving food-delivery riders on motorcycles were recorded from March to June last year, according to the Social Security Organisation (Socso).
Its Prevention, Medical and Rehabilitation Division head Dr Azlan Darus said the expansion of the gig economy and ride-hailing services during the Covid-19 pandemic plays a factor in the increase in crashes involving e-hailing riders.
“The number has been increasing and, by the end of the year, more and more crashes were happening and for these reasons, work-related safety is an important issue that needs to be tackled in terms of protection, and also prevention,” he told the “Vision Zero Webinar Series: Work-Related Road Safety” today.
The webinar was jointly organised by Socso and the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) as part of their initiative under Vision Zero Malaysia.
In his keynote speech, Dr Azlan said commuting accidents had increased almost 83% in the past 10 years from 20,810 road crashes in 2009 to 38,142 in 2019, and fatalities were three times higher than those caused by industrial accidents last year.
He said Socso studies showed that more than 55% of accidents involving employees occurred within 5km of their workplaces, and 65% of commuting crashes involved young people under the age of 40, of whom 80% were men.
“Most of the accidents occurred because of fatigue and rushing to reach the destination on time and, each year, more than RM1 billion in compensation was provided for injuries and death due to road crashes.
“However, the impact of crashes goes deeper. Beyond the monetary aspect of compensation, it triggers psychological and social impacts on family and society,” he said.
Meanwhile, Socso CEO Datuk Seri Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed, in his welcoming remarks, said in an effort to strengthen social security protection for self-employed individuals, including gig workers, facing the Covid-19 pandemic, Socso has devised three contribution-matching self-employed social protection programmes under the government’s economic stimulus packages.
The initiatives, which come under the provisions of the Self-Employment Social Security Act 2017, are PenjanaGig, SPS Lindung and SPS Prihatin Wanita.
“These programmes provide protection for self-employed insured persons against employment injuries, including occupational diseases and accidents during work-related activities,” he said. – Bernama, June 24, 2021
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