Development of Tailor-Made Emergency Response Plan Procedure: Incorporating One Health Aspects into the Occupational Safety and Health of Zoo Negara Malaysia

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Lead Researcher:

Dr. Emilia Zainal Abidin, UPM  

Co-researchers:

Prof. Dr. Noor Hassim Ismail, UKM Dr. Karmegam Karuppiah, UPM Dr. Sarva Mengala Praveena, UPM Dr. Irniza Rasdi, UPM Dr. Sharifah Norkhadijah Syed Ismail, UPM  

Project Summary

Emergency Response Plan (ERP) is an essential element in any organization management. Zoo Negara Malaysia is a unique setting in which its fundamental hazards are distinctively different from other workplaces with significant public access in its premises as workers work closely with wildlife animals. Apart from the common potential emergency such as fire, Zoo Negara is more exposed to physical and biological hazards associated with wildlife animals that live and breeds in captivity. There are currently 160 workers employed in Zoo Negara, notwithstanding adolescents and adults who volunteer at the premise and also the 200-300 visitors daily. Recently, Universiti Putra Malaysia has established collaborative links regarding Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) with Zoo Negara. With recent communication with the management, there are no tailor-made ERP, which takes into account all potential emergencies involving structured risk assessment of possible hazards has been developed. The existing ERP is concerned with animal escape prevention. As such, there is a pressing need for the development of systematic ERP for Zoo Negara which takes into account One Health concept. This study will involve basic OSH methods to develop tailor-made ERP that considered all potential emergencies including zoonosis. The team of researchers will train the representative employees of Zoo Negara which consist of zookeepers, veterinary doctors, nurses and other technical staffs in a series of sessions in this community project. The team of researchers will work together with approximately 120 students under the Bachelor Program of Environmental and Occupational Health for the training program at Zoo Negara. The teams will work on assessing risks from all hazards before developing response plans from the identified potential emergencies. The developed ERP will then be tested (simulated with external agencies) to identify any weaknesses for further correction. The trained Zoo Negara team will then be able to improve the ERP annually. This research will help Zoo Negara ensure the safety and health of all stakeholders and aid-in the compliance of the Malaysian OSH law.