The Malaysian government quickly reacted to the tragic deaths of six workers at a seafood processing plant from ammonia inhalation this week.
Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Minister Datuk Noh Omar announced that privately owned seafood-unloading facilities and cold-storage warehouses will now be required to obtain safety approval prior to construction.
Operators of existing seafood-unloading facilities and cold-storage warehouses will also be asked to contact Malaysian authorities to carry out safety inspections.
The new regulations will also extend to new vessels fitted with refrigeration units that use ammonia gas.
The six workers, four Malaysian citizens and two Bangladeshi immigrants, died on Tuesday when ammonia gas leaked into a refrigeration unit in Kampang Pasan Bahmir. They were unloading fish from tanks to be processed into fertilizer, and the inhalation caused them to pass out and fall into the tanks.
The minister, who visited the victims’ families, said the plant did not meet safety standards but also admitted that there were no records of the number of privately owned seafood-unloading facilities in Selangor. There are at least 21 such facilities in Kampang Selangor alone.
