Employers who caused a loss of life in an accident at the workplace due to their recklessness or negligence should be punished with a mandatory jail sentence.

The Occupational Safety And Health Act, which stipulated that the company be fined not more than RM50,000 or a possible imprisonment of not exceeding two years, is "grossly inadequate", argued an opposition leader today.

"Money fines to replace loss of life is inadequate compared to imprisonment," said DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

"As such, employers who cause death due to their negligence should be punished with an imprisonment tenure of not less than two years but not more than 10 years just like the Road Transport Act."

According to Lim, section 41 of the Road Transport Act where any person causing death by reckless or dangerous driving shall be punished with a mandatory imprisonment of not less than two years but not more than 10 years, and a fine not less than RM5,000 and not more than RM20,000.

It is only by increasing the penalties under the Occupational Safety And Health Act that would honour the memory of Dr Liew Boon Horng's tragic accident, said Lim.

Liew, 35, head of Ethos Consulting, was killed last Friday in a freak accident where a two-tonne concrete mould fell on his car while he was being driven back to his office.

His wife and his driver were both seriously injured in the accident, which was at a construction site in Sri Hartamas where Liew's office is located.

Liew, who was widely regarded as an up-and-coming businessman, had close links to some of the key young leaders in government, in particular Umno deputy Youth chief and son-in-law of the prime minister, Khairy Jamaluddin.

His four-year-old consulting company has been advising the government on guidelines and strategy for the implementation of key performance index for government-linked companies.

Heavy price to pay

In the wake of the tragedy, Department of Occupational Health and Safety (DOSH) director-general Abu Bakar Che Man conceded that at least 30 percent of construction sites have safety ratings of "unsatisfactory or lower".

DAP's Lim said that such a situation was "shocking".

"To ensure that such developers are serious about work safety practices, the penalty provisions should be increased to make them realise that they have a heavy price to pay if they fail to comply," he said.

Meanwhile, another opposition leader had asked Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to explain why the errant company was not punished despite receiving seven stop-work orders from DOSH.

"This accident raises two questions. First, did the construction company improve its safety measures after the warnings. If it did, why were the stop-work orders issued seven times? Second, if the company had failed to remedy the situation, did any government department take effective action apart from issuing the stop-work orders?" asked PKR vice-president R Sivarasa, who is also labour lawyer.