In Local News / By Mick Chan / 28 February 2020 5:07 pm / 8 comments

Highway operator PLUS Malaysia is the first in Malaysia to receive the ISO 39001:2012 Road Safety Traffic Management System (RTSMS) standard by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), after being the first Asia Pacific highway to receive the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award last December.

Managing director of PLUS, Datuk Azman Ismail received the certification from NIOSH chairman, Alice Lau Kiong Yieng in conjunction with the recently-held OSH Unity and Sustainability programme. The highway operator has rolled out a series of short- and long-term initiatives for the improvement of road safety by reducing the severity of road crashes, with the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) being used as the benchmark for road improvement, it said.

The human factor is a key element in preventable mishaps, and to that end PLUS has collaborated with NIOSH for the co-development of the Expressway Operations Safety Passport (EOSP) programme to prevent human errors, especially amongst highway workers. The EOSP certification is mandatory for all roadside workers on PLUS highways before they are allowed to enter their work zones, the highway operator said.

The strategic collaboration between PLUS and the authorities has reaped the rewards, the highway operator yielding the lowest accident rates (2.4%) compared to other roads and highways around the country. PLUS has also employed modern technology for the enhancement of its highway operations and services, applied to its highway patrol vehicles, traffic monitoring centre and the upskilling of its employees’ digital capabilities.

With 1.7 million users served daily with a staff count of 4,000, PLUS leverages on the 3E (engineering, education and enforcement) approach towards managing safety on its highways since 2017, according to the highway operator.