High demand for shot-firers
Published on: Sunday, October 22, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: Successful completion of the RM12.6 billion Pan Borneo Highway will depend on the availability of an expertise not many people know about. "we need various specialists and one of the skilled workforce needed is shot-firers or blasters," said Shahelmy Yahya, CEO of a Borneo Highway Sdn Bhd.A shot-firers refresher course was recently held and attended by members of the SQOA.
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Sabah Quarry owners Association (SQOA) President Datuk Ringo Wong explained that courses, workshops or seminars related to shot-firers is crucial to ensure members are updated from time to time and upgraded with latest information, current technology and other related information pertaining to their specialised work."We recently conducted training courses and seminars such as Shot-firer Refreshers Course. Its aim is to bring awareness in terms of technical knowledge, health and safety when handling explosives. Other important factor is good work ethics and responsibilities, environment impacts and compliance to laws and security," he said Ringo.
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He urged members of the public who are interested to be shot-firers to contact any of the SQOA members for further details on the profession. He said the salary of a shot-firer is lucrative and still not many people are taking up the profession yet.He said quarries are the backbone of construction. Without quarries, it would be impossible to carry out any development in a country. Shot-firers are the specialists behind the job.
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"This is a specialist task. We want to continue creating awareness and upgrading knowledge in regards to this matter to the members.He said more workshops, training to be carried out by the association to introduce and to prepare more new younger Malaysians who are interested to have this career for more comprehensive and detailed scope of work.He said once the person is qualified and obtained the licences to be shot-firers, their names would automatically be listed in the international police and any movement that brings suspicion (either committed in or outside the country) the person would be remanded for questioning."For an example, if there is bombing incident, lets say in Bali, and it so happens one of our members is there (on holiday), the authorities have the right to bring the person for further investigation. This is because of the nature of the job as a shot-firer."He however, assured that although the profession seems to look challenging, the income is very high. Thus, he encouraged the younger generation to apply accordingly."Having a career as a shot-firer or blaster, the pay is very lucrative. However, it comes with heavy responsibility." Meanwhile, the first shot-firer in Malaysia (1994), Mustafa Lip, who was one of the trainers at the recent refreshers course held in Kota Kinabalu, said that he was one of the first Malaysians sent to United Kingdom (UK) for the course.When he came back from UK with certificate, he immediately designed courses based on the knowledge and experiences he gathered while away."After I got back from UK attending the course in 1994, I initiated programmes in Malaysia designing courses that suited the needs of the existing shot-firers at that time. He was then at that time attached with the Geoscience and Mineral department as deputy director general in the nation capital.Today, Mustafa, 66 is retired but still offers his services as a trainer. He stated that as of to date, he had conducted a lot of courses and had trained more than 1,000 students in this respect. He said once a person is licensed to be shot-firer, his name would automatically be in the list of international police. Blasters or shot-firers' jobs is very specialised and its working environment is quite challenging such as working under hot sun due to the nature of the job. He also stressed that safety is the utmost priority when performing the task.He insisted that the explosives must not go to the wrong hands or there would be disastrous incidences waiting to happen.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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