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The Significance of Occupational Safety and Health and its Coverage by the Local Newspapers.
Ahmad Naim Zaid
Abstract
This paper attempts to assess the coverage of the vernacular and English newspapers on the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) issues during the month of February 2010. The subjects of study are the Berita Harian and The New Straits Times which are two main print news providers in Malaysia. The study involves quantitative analysis and qualitative analyses of articles related to OSH in general and using the results of the analysis, provide explanation (either by using rational justification or supported by other sources) on the trend of reporting in the newspapers regarding the issue in the study period. In general, news reporting on OSH issues is indeed inadequate relative to number of cases investigated by authorities. Only news which are deemed ‘thrilling’ for the readers are published. The selection bias gives readers a false perception that OSH is not appalling enough or not worthy of attention. This should not be the case as there are so many involved in the workforce and they have to be kept informed on matters like OSH. It is the objective of this study to explain the possible reasons for the lack of coverage of the newspapers on OSH issues.
Introduction
"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper you are misinformed." - Mark Twain
"All I know is what I read in the newspaper. That makes me the most ignorant man alive." - Will Rogers
What both these great writers understood was that when one gets most of one’s news from a single source, one gets only what that source chooses to tell, and only a single interpretation of the news. Since newspapers began there has been controversy about bias in news reporting. The reality is that when a newspaper reporter tells a story, what one reads - down to the word choices - is affected by the opinions and feelings of the author, as well as those of the editor and perhaps even the publisher. The newspaper does not always tell everything that the general public needs to know. The newspaper, as a powerful source of information has for long decided what should be important to tell the readers. Thus, a limited choice of newspapers can make readers ignorant of the facts surrounding issues.
The statistics published by the Labor Ministry shows that workplace accidents, while declining, are still beyond acceptable level. With 19 deaths overall in January 2010 it is a surprise that there has been little reporting done by the print media. The figures from 1977 to 2000 shows an inconsistent trend of fatality cases with the number of deaths from industrial accidents far exceeding the years before (Rampal K.G., et al., 2002). With new technologies comes new hazards and the importance of knowledge on Occupational Safety and Health is ever more critical.
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Occupational health and safety is a cross-disciplinary area concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment. The goal of all occupational health and safety programs is to foster a safe work environment
The reasons for establishing good occupational health and safety standards are frequently identified as:
1. Moral - An employee should not have to risk injury or death at work, nor should others associated with the work environment.
2. Economic - many governments realize that poor occupational health and safety performance results in cost to the State (e.g. through social security payments to the incapacitated, costs for medical treatment, and the loss of the "employability" of the worker). Employing organizations also sustain costs in the event of an incident at work (such as legal fees, fines, compensatory damages, investigation time, lost production, lost goodwill from the workforce, from customers and from the wider community).
3. Legal - Occupational requirements may be reinforced in civil law and/or criminal law; it is accepted that without the extra "encouragement" of potential regulatory action or litigation, many organizations would not act upon their implied moral obligations.
Occupational Safety and Health is a relatively new issue for Malaysian workforce. Many employees are just getting to grip with their rights in this area and the lack of reporting by the print media which is still the main source of news in this country is certainly not helping the cause. This study covered the vernacular newspapers (Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia) as well as the English newspapers (The Star and News Straits Times). It is generally believed that the purpose of a newspaper is to state the facts about what is going on in the world around us. However, media has long been a way of manipulating the minds of the greater population into holding certain values and opinions. The purpose of this study is to examine how much coverage is given on OSH issues by these news providers during the month of February and to analyze quantitatively and qualitatively the news reports.
Understanding the News Reporting: Newspaper Reporting General Tendencies
Prior to analyzing the coverage of newspapers, fittingly there should be an understanding of the nature of newspaper reporting and it roles as well as its general attributes in theoretical and practical perspective. Newspapers are a primary source of research in understanding the culture and ideas of a given community within a historical context. The local press reports the history of the community, day by day, or week by week. Generations have grown up with significant portions of their knowledge derived from, reinforced by, or contradicted in newspapers. Community newspapers, particularly those which reach an interested and involved audience, are in a position to not only reflect the culture of the day, but to ensure its continuity (Brown W. E. et al. , 1997). Newspaper, as a mass media may counter the tendency to morselize1 personal experiences and help legitimize the translation of private interests into collective attitudes (Mutz D. C., 1994). The purpose of the newspaper has always been to keep
1 Isolated personal experience, attitudes or beliefs.2
people informed of events around the world as well as those in our backyard, events that directly and indirectly affect us and the rest of humanity and our planet. There is substantial predictability of news preference patterns when stories are structured along four news dimensions: significance, prominence of principals involved, normality, and reward (Badii et al., 1980).
What is news? News can be defined as anything that interests a large part of the community and has never been brought to its attention before. In other words, news is what people are talking about. News is new. In other words, news is a change in the status quo. But does a change in the status quo guarantee that an event is newsworthy? News is not just a change in the status quo. It is a change of consequence in the status quo. In a very real sense, news also can be defined as what reporters and editors say it is. They are the gatekeepers, allowing the accounts of some events, but not others, to reach the reading public. And there are other factors that sometimes can determine whether an event is news. These include the prejudice of the management, the size of the paper, pressure from advertisers and the news hole, or the space allotted to news.
Still, news professionals agree on at least seven main factors that help them determine if an event has consequence, if it is news. These are:
Impact How many people does the event affect? How seriously does it affect them?
Proximity An event will be more important if is closer to the readers.
An earthquake in a far-off land is not as interesting as one that is close to home
Timeliness Is the event fresh? Is it new? The news must be timely to be of use to
readers.Prominence Names make news, and big names make
big news. Ordinary people are intrigued by the
doings of the rich and famous.Novelty This is the new in news, the unusual.
The "firsts," "lasts" and "onlys" have been the staples of the news business for many years.
Conflict Conflict has been the currency of great literature, drama and movies for all time.
Audience Who is the audience? The answer to that question helps
determine whether an event is news at all, and if it is, where it will be played in the paper.
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The best newspapers are diligent, unbiased, and serve no one but their readers, the general public - not always telling them what they want to know, but what they need to know with the most important element being substance. The strength of a newspaper was to report true facts and not fiction and not dramatize an event to mislead the public. Not to be threatened or bullied into holding back the truth. However, it appears that newspapers do not always hold on to these good qualities of past years. There are times when the balance of writing an article to capture headlines that may not be the truth or only part of the truth is to be printed to get people to buy their papers.
Newspaper features are used throughout the newspaper, but some sections use features more often and very differently from others. The front section, generally containing the spot news of the day from state, national, and international sources, uses features for balance. Features in these sections offer insight into the day's newsmakers and major events. Features are used as sidebars to supplement straight reporting.
The local section of most daily newspapers will often run features on unusual individuals or events of community interest. Certainly local sidebar features are also used.
In lifestyle and living sections, editors devote most of the day's space to a wide variety of feature materials. These stories focus on home how-to-do-it subjects, consumer and shopping ideas, profiles, health and medicine suggestions, child care news, gardening, cooking and food ideas, and much more. In some newspapers, entertainment news is part of lifestyle coverage, but this category of news creates a different set of feature needs for newspapers. Writers specializing in entertainment provide features on individuals, reviews of their performances, and insight into their creative activities.
Sports sections provide feature content to break the routine of game or event stories. Features also supplement spot sports coverage. Regular readers look for features such as profiles on coaches and players, descriptions of facilities, and in-depth analysis of outstanding strategies and performances.
Business sections have experienced growth in many daily newspapers in recent years. Even newspapers that do not have separate business sections -- such as special tabloids on Mondays -- still devote considerable space to business news and features.
Feature material is found occasionally on the opinion or editorial pages also. It is often in the form of a column or other type of opinion essay, but the same general principles of feature writing have been used to write the feature column. These creative columnists and essayists use satire for humor, or write a profile of an individual, or give how-to-do-it advice on a subject.
Newspapers have outlets for magazine-style writing. The Sunday magazine supplements of major daily newspapers depend a great deal on solid feature essay writing of traditional magazine length each week to build regular readership. Feature subjects are wide ranging in nature. From humor columns to portraits of individuals to accounts of historical events to chronologies of conflicts, these articles are the foundations of Sunday magazines. Sunday magazines also include shorter departmentalized features, such as listings of events, reviews of new restaurants, and summaries of new products on the market.
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There are over 30 newspapers and tabloids in Malaysia, published mainly in Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil. The most prominent newspapers include the The Star, New Straits Times, The Sun, Berita Harian, Utusan Malaysia, Sin Chew Jit Poh and Nanyang Siang Pau. Below are the figures of the share of readers for the major newspapers in Malaysia;
LANGUAGE CIRCULATION
Berita Harian Malay 350,000 Utusan Malaysia Malay 240,000China Press Chinese 210,000 New Straits Times English 190,000 Nanyang Siang Pau Chinese 183,800 Malaysian Nanban Tamil NA Major Papers in Petaling Jaya include:
LANGUAGE CIRCULATION
New Life Post (every other week) Chinese 231,000 Sin Chew Jit Poh (daily) Chinese 227,070 The Star (daily) English 220,490
Newspaper circulation in 2002: Source Malaysia Country Report (Media)
Occupational Safety and Health in Malaysia: Where Are We Now, Where We Are Heading
Despite the gradual improvements over the last decade, statistics (see Appendix 2)indicate that the number of workplace accidents are still alarming. In 1990, before the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) was introduced, the workers’ safety did not receive its deserved attention and the number of occupational accidents were very high. Then, in 2002, the figures drop significantly to 81,810 and improved even more to 58,321 in 2006. That is how far we have come in promoting OSH. But these figures should not be considered as absolute. There are still many more businesses not registered with
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DOSH and thus accidents at their sites are not included. This is acknowledged by then Deputy Human Resource Minister Maznah Mazlan in a news report by Bernama on May 28, 2009.
Malaysia put a special emphasis on OSH issues due to its speed of economic development. There is a growing concern about safety and health at work. Until 1994, Malaysia still did not have adequate provisions to sure safety and health of employees at the workplace. They were merely the traditional approach legislation meant for technical aspects and lacked the human aspects of ensuring safety and health at workplaces. Thus, the promulgation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (OSHA)2
has made further provisions for securing the safety, health and welfare of any connection with the activities of the person at work. It is based on the concept of self-regulation whereby the Act places certain duties on employers, employees, self-employed persons, manufacturers, designers and suppliers. It also places emphasis on the prevention of accidents, ill health and injury. This is the main Act which we hope can help to reduce occupational incidents and accidents in the Malaysia. OSHA is mainly enforced by DOSH with the assistance of several main agencies like NIOSH (mostly training) and National Council of Occupational Safety and Health (NCOSH) and many more supporting agencies3.
While the improvement in OSH in Malaysia is admirable, an accident rate of 7 out 1000 workers is still beyond acceptable. The industrial accidents for every 1,000 workers have declined from 15.4 in 1995 to 7.4 in 2003. However, if one compare this rate with that of the developed nation such as Sweden, Japan, South Korea and European countries, there is still big task ahead to get the right figure. According to SOCSO the number of recipients for compensation has increased 36 percent from 182,763 person in 1995 to 247,790 person in 2003. In 2003 alone SOCSO has paid about RM 754 million, a staggering 161 percent increased from RM 289 million in 1995, as compensation for the industrial accidents. For the year 2004 it is estimated that the amount of compensation could reach over RM 800 million payable to over 260,000 recipients (Fong, 2004). Going by the Accident Iceberg Theory, the hidden or indirect costs of an accident is eight to 33 times more than that of its apparent or direct costs (Fong, 2003). Therefore, just imagine the amount of hidden costs that we spent yearly to finance these accidents and diseases. Malaysian government aims to bring down the ratio of occupational mishaps to 3 for every 1,000 workers before the country becomes fully developed. DOSH is carrying out many programs to ensure that OSH becomes a major concern for employers and employees. The signs are positive but still much are to be done.
Safety in the workplace works most effectively with a combination of employer attentiveness and employee responsibility. Costs, both financial and physical, can be decreased and injuries reduced with proper training, employer involvement and company-wide adherence to OSHA rules and guidelines. Ensuring safety is important not only for each individual company and worksite, but for industries and national concerns as well. There is no doubt that Malaysia is well on its way to becoming an industrialized nation by 2020.The challenge is to ensure that we do not pay the price, as experienced by some other countries, of deterioration of our environment and health.The Government has enacted
2 See appendix 4
3 See Appendix 16
reasonable and practicable regulations which industry has accepted as a challenge. At the same time industry has bolstered the Government's efforts with its own initiatives to improve not only the workplace but also the environment. Unresolved issues however still remain. They will have to be tackled by the Government and industry to ensure that the economy grows with a safe and healthy human capital.
Research Findings
Quantitative analysis:
NEWS Font size heading
Article size
Picture Page Column location
Case highlight
SOCSO on Trail of 10,000 Traders
Times new roman, 26
medium No 21 (at middle)
National news
1
Charged with murdering maid (muntik case)
Times new roman, 26
big yes 14 prime news
6
2 missing after raid by armed men
Times new roman, 26
big yes 9 prime news
4
5 injured in fire and rescue drill
Times new roman, 26
medium yes 8 prime news
1
Falling excavator kills teen
Times new roman, 26
medium yes 28 National news
1
7
Lee:Teach kids safety early
Cambria (Headings) 26
medium yes 10 (top right)
Prime news
1
TABLE 1: SUMMARY OF QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
During the month of February 2010, there were seven newspaper report reporting news on issues related to OSH. A notable finding is that only News Straits Times have articles on OSH issues during the period of study totaling 14 articles. Out of the 14 articles, 6 reported occupational accident cases, 1 on the importance of OSH education, 6 on a maid murder case by her employer and 1 on SOCSO. Only 2 of the reports were on a big column with none at the front page namely the maid murder case and the ship armed robbery. Generally, the reports are at prime news section or at national news section. Most articles are accompanied by a picture but none seem to be significant or worthy of attention enough to warrant a front page column. No OSH articles are observed from vernacular newspapers. It is an indication of how little attention OSH gets from the media. Even English newspapers report only 6 for the entire month of February. The murder case of Muntik, an Indonesian maid, received quite some coverage by NST with 6 new reports on its trial updates. However, with the maid industry not specified under the OSH Act, the articles are analyzed only due to the fact that it involves the employer as the defendant. Another noteworthy case is the kidnapping of 2 sailors during an armed robbery by pirates which was reported 4 times during the month. However, these cases are more appropriate to be classified as criminal cases rather than cases of occupational accidents. With the exception of the two most covered topics, the others relate directly to OSH but none of them occupy significant columns in the newspaper. The summary of the analysis is as in Table 1.
Qualitative analysis:
NEWS Issues addressed Agency Spoken by
Target group
Purpose issues
SOCSO on Trail of 10,000 Traders
businessmen (employers) have yet to register with SOCSO
SOCSO Roslan Ramli
employers and employees
To remind employers in Terengganu of their duty to register with SOCSO.
Charged with
Abuse of power by employers
employer Nashairi Mohd
employer and
To remind employers about the rights of
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murdering maid (Muntik case)
Nawi employees employee.
2 missing after raid by armed men
Safety at workplace must be tight and secure from security threats.
employer Roy goh employer, employee and marine agency
To expose the activity of pirates, to highlight the need for more safety measures for sailors.
5 injured in fire and rescue drill
Negligence and carelessness.
federal fire and rescue department (employer)
- employer, employee and public
To emphasize the importance of safety measures in dangerous working conditions.
Falling excavator kills teen
Safety and health at workplace must be one thing do first, although is human error.
employer (constructor)
Jason Gerald John
employer, employee and public
To highlight negligence and carelessness as a cause for workplace accidents and the importance of setting up a hazard free work environment.
Lee: Teach kids safety early
OSH education NIOSH Lee Lam Thye, the head of NIOSH
Employer, employee, education institutions
the importance to inculcate awareness on OSH to children from young ages
TABLE 2: SUMMARY OF QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
The most highlighted topic in OSH in the month of February 2010 is the maid murder case. The case is about a murder of an Indonesian maid named Muntik by her employer. While the case’s relation to OSHA is unclear, due to the fact that it involves the employer and the employee, the study found it appropriate to include in this paper. The case was highlighted from the beginning of its reporting and the updates on its trial are ongoing. It serves as a reminder for other employers that the workers have rights and are not to be abused. The case has also stirred a lot of debates and caused some strain in the relations of the two countries (augmenting the existing unease due to other past cases). International
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Labour International (ILO) standards on occupational safety and health under convention No. 161 and accompanying Recommendation No. 171 provide that occupational health services should progressively cover all workers. They should be entrusted with preventive functions and be responsible for advising employers, workers and their representatives on the requirements for establishing and maintaining a safe and healthy working environment which will facilitate optimal physical and mental health and the adaptation of work to the capabilities of workers in the light of their state of physical and mental health.
Then there was the news of kidnapping of 2 sailors by armed robbers identified as pirates. The highlight of this issue was the importance of a more tight security and safety measures in offshore activities and the rising case of robbery by pirates on ships. It shows that not only the big ships are targets and the pirates are so much more sophisticated in their methods these days. OSH measures (specific to marine activities) must be in place to ensure that ships are ready for such contingencies. However, these two cases are more towards criminal cases rather than OSH issues.
Two cases with direct relation to OSH are the firefighter case and the excavator case. The former is about the injuries sustained by 5 firefighters (firemen and a City Hall rescue worker) during a fire and rescue drill. The spokesman in this article was the federal fire and rescue department itself. The article highlights the failure of equipments and inattention as the cause for the accident. The article managed to propagate the importance of safety measures in dangerous working conditions and the need for employees to adhere to safety procedures.
The latter case is about a teen worker killed by a falling excavator. This shows how risky it is to work in construction industry and the figures of accidents4 support this. While the accident was mainly caused by human error, it emphasizes the importance of setting up a hazard free work environment.
Another report was on the SOCSO’s tracking unregistered employers in Terengganu. SOCSO director for state of Kuala Terengganu Roslan Ramli stated that the organization will take stern action against employers that have yet to register with them. The purpose of the report was to remind employers their duties to register with SOCSO so that if their employees are injured during work, they can be compensated and the failure to do so means they are depriving their workers of their benefits if they don’t register with SOCSO. It also shows that there are still many employers failing to do so with 10000 in Terengganu alone.
The last report is on the call by NIOSH chairman, Lee Lam Thye for OSH to be taught from early ages and how important it is to inculcate awareness so that when the children enter the workforce they are fully aware of OSH issues. Lee also launched a website of OSH for children.
Discussions of Findings
4 See appendix 2 and 310
First and foremost it is important to note that from the quantitative analysis there are only 6 reports focusing on workplace accidents. If yearly trend5 is of any measure, then we can expect more of the same every year with only little improvements each year. Thus, referring to January 2010 figures 6 as released by the Ministry of Human Resource (MHR), the paper assume that figures in February not fluctuate too much from in January. Comparatively, the amount of reports regarding occupational accidents is well below the death numbers at workplace reported by newspapers. The lack of coverage is explainable by many hypotheses backed by reliable figures and statements;
1. OSH is not a focal issue during the study period
The most notable limitation of this study is the timeframe which only one month. The period may be too short to come out with enough news findings on OSH issues. This can be another probable explanation for lack of findings regarding issues related to OSH. An analysis of news reporting within a month cannot explain the trend in general. It is probable that the newspapers report more on OSH issues in other months and it just happened that there was not much issues in OSH to be published. However, observations suggest that the trend is very much alike in any other months. Only when there is a case serious enough then there would be news on OSH.
2. OSHA implementation in Malaysia is a success
In 2001 61% of the workplaces have OSH policies, 83% of workplaces have safety and health committees, 86% of major installation have health and safety management system, 38% of non-major installations have health and safety management systems and 71% of Chemical Industry Council (CICM) members have “responsible care” programs. Since the introduction of Safety Induction for Construction Workers (SICW) was implemented in 1999, there are 240,000 green card holders up to 2001. There have also an increasing number of OSH competent persons as required by OSHA 1994. As of 2001, there are about 1200 Safety and Health Officer (SHO), 30 noise competent persons, 81 chemical health risk assessors and 124 occupational health doctors. The number of OSH practitioner will be increasing in the coming years. That is a statement by DOSH7, referring to its effort in promoting OSH and the enforcer of Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994 (Act 514). (Zoe Phoon, 2001)
DOSH has also increased the frequency of inspection under the Inspection and Audit Program for the small and medium sized industries from 2002 until 2006. Each year, there will be about 2500 to 3400 small and medium sized industries scheduled to be inspected. This is due to the fact that around 90% of the private business establishments in Malaysia are from the small and medium sized industries. Up to June 30, 2002, there are 3,340 notices of improvement/ prohibition being issued and 49 has been
5 Refer appendix 2
6 Refer appendix 3
7 Department of Safety and Health (refer appendix 1)11
prosecuted in court (Fong Chan Onn, 2007). Under the supervision of the MHR, institution providing various OSH services could be the driving force to enhance the implementation of OSHA 1994. These institutions are DOSH; SOCSO; Workers and Environmental Health Unit, Ministry of Health; NIOSH; Universities; Society of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Malaysia Medical Association (MMA); Malaysian Society for Occupational Safety and Health (MSOSH); Malaysian Occupational Health Nurses Association (MOHNA);OSH Department in Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC); Various consumer and environmental groups such as Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) and Consumer Association of Penang (CAP).
Despite the efforts and subsequent improvements, statistics (refer appendix 2 and 3) show that the figures of workplace accidents suggest that more have to be done. Under-recognition of occupational diseases is reported by data collected by the Information and Documentation System (IDS) Unit of the Ministry of Health, on the total probable occupational diseases among hospital admissions for the years 1999-2003. This data indicates that, on the average, about 103 cases of probable occupational disease occur for every 10,000 hospital admissions - about 1% of all admissions. (Hashim SB et al, 2005)Meanwhile the improvements are estimable. The number and rate of work-related accidents reported to SOCSO from 1995-2004 shows a decrease in the work-related accident rate from 15.4 accidents per 1,000 workers in 1995 to 6.7 accidents per 1,000 workers in 2004.(NIOSH, 2005). A summary of trends involving occupational accidents is as below;
Number of total cases reported: 2003 (81,003), 2004 (77,742), 2005 (70,690), 2006 (68,008), 2007 (56,339) – decreasing trend
Number of death: 2003 (907), 2004 (1073), 2005 (1291), 2006 (1292), 2007 (755) – increasing from year 2003 to 2006 and a sudden decline in 2007
Number of disablement: 2003 (16765), 2004 (17546), 2005 (18744), 2006 (18257), 2007 (9555) – increasing from year 2003 to 2005, slight decrease in 2006 and a sudden decrease in 2007
Highest accident rate from manufacturing sector, followed by Wholesale and Retail Trade, Repair of Motor Vehicles, Motorcycles and Personal and Household, Agriculture,Forestry, Hunting and Fishing, construction, Financial Intermediation and, Transport, Storage and Communication.
Source: Labour Department of Peninsular, Sabah, Sarawak and Social Security Organization (SOCSO), Ministry of Human Resources(see Appendix 2)
The annual total reported cases shows a decreasing trend but the death toll shows a yearly augment with the exception of a sudden decline in 2007. The number of disabled from occupational accident causes shows that the trend is increasing until 2006 and in 2007 there was a sharp decline. From the statistics above, the most notable point is that the year 2007 marks an improvement in OSH results. The cause is not clearly stated but it is a complement for the effort of all relevant agencies. With yearly data for 2008 and 2009 unavailable, to conclude that OSHA implementation in Malaysia is success is premature. In January, due to occupational accidents, there were 15 cases of permanent disability reported, 19 deaths, and 144 cases involving non-permanent disability as investigated by the MHR. The
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number is still relatively very high. Statistics revealed that rapidly industrializing countries reported high fatal accident rates at the workplace, and annually it was estimated that fatality rates for every 100,000 workers in countries like Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea were between 12 and 17 cases, while the figure for Malaysia stood at 12. Accidents at the workplace in developed countries like Japan, Canada and Australia were, however, much lower at three fatalities per 100,000 workers (Bernama, 2001). Infrastructure construction and industrialization bring new situations to surface. There are more challenges to overcome, new risks to eliminate and more hazards to be identified and dealt with. Thus, to explain the lack of coverage by local newspapers on OSH issues by hypothesizing that OSHA is already a success is not acceptable.
3. Employers did not report on cases
SMEs are at least 90 percent of all businesses in Malaysia. They are the major employer in this country. Because of age-old practices, financial reasons or perhaps due to ignorance, the managers of SMEs do not place as much importance to the health of their workforce or the safety considerations of their operations. They seem to think that OSH practices and legal compliance are only for the Multinationals. They thus do not consider OSH practices and issues important enough to warrant their attention. It is no surprise therefore that the SOCSO industrial injury figures reveal that most of the recorded accidents occur in SMEs. Statistics also indicated that 80-90 percent of the accidents reported to SOCSO involved small and medium size industries (SMIs) (Zaliha Hj Hussin et al). The recorded workplace accidents are only the tip of the iceberg - there are many more that go unrecorded (MOSHPA, 2009). The numbers of work-related diseases are small compared to occupational accidents, and may reflect underreporting due to failure to recognize the work-relatedness of medical diagnoses, non-reporting of diagnosed occupational diseases to the appropriate agencies or failure to capture occupational morbidities occurring among workers in small and medium-sized enterprises and the informal economy (Hashim S.B. et al, 2005). Employers may be reluctant to report on cases unless the cases are too obvious to hide due to several reasons;
1. Fearing legal consequences that may follow
2. The effect of reports on the organization’s image
3. The cost involved upon reporting
4. The impact on project implementation and its timeline
There are still many firms not registered with SOCSO and DOSH as reported by NST on February 25, 2010 and Bernama in 2009. The accidents that went unreported could be higher bearing in mind that 80 per cent of Malaysian construction workers (NSTP, 2002) are foreigner where some of them might have worked without or with expired work permits. There are still a large number of employers failing to comply to the OSHA that requires them to report on an accident case to DOSH within 7 days of occurrence. According to records of 2008, only 1500 cases were reported to DOSH compared to 54134 cases handled by SOCSO (Harian Metro,2009). Research in United Kingdom (UK) by Health and Safety
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Executives(HSE) has shown that the accidents reporting level in construction industry is only at 55 per cent (Mohd Saidin Misnan et al, 2008)). If even the relevant authorities have no data on the unregistered firms, the press cannot be expected to know more. However, with the recorded case reaching more than 50,000 every year, it is still a surprise that the print media let most go unnoticed.
4. Selective bias in news reporting
The most important nature of new reporting is that it reports only news that can attract readers (Deuze M., 2005). Newspapers report news that is deemed worthy of attention. Some news like the maid issue receive more attention than the others. An issue like the murder of Muntik (a maid) involves the diplomatic relationship between Malaysia and Indonesia. It also entails many perceptions on both sides towards another. With Indonesia only next door and so many of their labors working in Malaysia, a case of abuse like the Muntik case can strain the relationship. Thus, the media plays the role to show that Malaysia is doing all it can for justice to prevail in this case and thus help to cool down the already heated bond.
Accidents like the fallen excavator case and the armed robbery on a sailor boat received attention due to the casualty and kidnapping involved. This shows that the media waits for an issue serious enough to be reported. They do not cover all. It is understood that the criteria for news to be published is as discussed in the previous section. At times the newspapers themselves should not be held accountable alone for being selective as the readers mostly want to read ‘catchy’ and ‘hot’ news only. The newspapers, being a form of business, are only satisfying wants and demands of the readers.
Conclusions and Suggestions
From the findings and discussions, we can conclude that OSH has not been given its due attention by the newspapers. Even the media at large has not done enough in reporting on OSH issues. The print media, still the preference of Malaysian for information can and should do a lot more to make known the hazards at workplace and to promote OSH among employers and employees.
While the study is limited by the time frame of one month, observations suggest that news reporting on OSH is very much the same in any other months. This applies to most newspapers who normally report only news that can catch the attention of readers. It is true that news is new and accidents at workplace can be repetition. Nevertheless, news reporting is not just about new developments; it is also about disseminating information and truth. The newspapers need to serve as a compliment to the efforts of DOSH, NIOSH, SOCSO etc as the chief information centre. People do not browse DOSH’s website everyday but the read newspapers almost daily. People are also much less attracted to OSH journal articles than newspapers. What the study have found and observations from everyday readings is that newspapers want ‘hot’ topics and a topic can only be ‘hot’ in OSH if it involve the large companies or it accidents involve severe injuries or casualties. People do not go to work to get hurt and even one casualty is one too many. Newspapers need to cover more on OSH issues if not all by covering cases of
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occupational accidents and complement OSH promotion by OSH agencies by continuously highlighting its importance. News is news when it has consequences and repetition is the most effective way of promotion. All in all there has to be depth and continuity in news reporting on OSH issues for the campaign for a safer and healthier workplace to be effective.
Reference
Abdul Rahim Abdul Hamid, Muhd Zaimi Abd Majid , Bachan Singh (2008), Causes Of Accidents At Construction Sites Malaysian Journal of Civil Engineering 20(2) : 242 - 259 (2008)
Abdul Rahim Abdul Hamid, Muhd Zaimi Abd Majid, Bachan Singh, Causes of Accidents at
Construction Sites, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
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New Straits Times, 10-23-2004, Proposal to make OSH elective varsity subject
Occupational Safety and Health 1994, (Act 514)
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APPENDIX 1 - Department/Agencies Related to Human Resource Management
Department:
Manpower DepartmentJabatan Tenaga Manusia (JTM), dahulunya dikenali sebagai Jabatan Tenaga Rakyat (JTR) telah ditubuhkan pada tahun 1967. Pertukaran nama berkenaan adalah disebabkan oleh fungsinya yang difokuskan kepada aktiviti program latihan kemahiran sahaja. Pertukaran nama ini berlaku pada awal tahun 2000. Diawal penubuhan JTR, ia berfungsi sebagai pusat melatih tenaga mahir untuk pasaran industri tempatan, mengumpul maklumat buruh, dan menempatkan pencari-pencari pekerjaan disektor swasta.
Department of Skills DevelopmentJabatan Pembangunan Kemahiran sebelum ini dikenali dengan nama Majlis Latihan Vokasional Kebangsaan adalah salah satu agensi di bawah Kementerian Sumber Manusia yang dipertanggungjawabkan untuk menyelaras dan memantau latihan kemahiran dan membangunkan kerjaya dalam bidang kemahiran selaras dengan berkuatkuasanya Akta Pembangunan Kemahiran Kebangsaan 2006 (Akta 652) mulai pada 1 September 2006.
DEPARTMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH (DOSH)The OSHA is enforced by DOSH, a government department under the Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia. DOSH will ensure that employers, self-employed persons and all employees practice a good working culture and comply with existing legislation, guidelines and codes of practice through its enforcement and promotional activities.
Specifically, DOSH’s policies are formulated with the following objectives:• To prepare and preserve a workplace with a safe and healthy working system;• To ensure that all staff are provided with the relevant information, instruction, training and supervision regarding methods to carry out their duties in a safe manner and without causing any risk to health;• To investigate all accidents, diseases, poisonous and/or dangerous occurrences, and to have action taken to ensure that these occurrences will not be repeated;• To comply with all the requirements of legislations related to safety and health as stated in the Occupational Safety And Health Act 1994, as well as regulations and codes of practice which have been approved;• To provide basic welfare facilities to all workers; and
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• To revise and improve on this policy whenever necessary.
To ensure that the objectives of this policy are fully met, a safety and health officer is appointed in every state office for the purpose of coordinating and discharging the planned activities related to safety and health.
Labour Department (Peninsular Malaysia)Jabatan Tenaga Kerja telah ditubuhkan pada tahun 1912 dan merupakan salah sebuah daripada sembilan buah Jabatan dan agensi yang terletak di bawah bidang kuasa Kementerian Sumber Manusia. Sebelum tahun 1960an, objektif Jabatan ialah Menjaga kepentingan dan kebajikan pekerja di sektor perladangan dan lombong.
Labour Department (Sabah)The Department of Labour, Sabah was established during the British North Borneo Company's administration in the year 1880s. It was recognised as "The Labour Protectorate” to meet the demand for the importation of immigrant workers from China into the country. When the requirement for such foreign labour force was shifted to migrant workers from Java, Indonesia, this Department was then known as "The Protector for Labour”.
Labour Department (Sarawak)The Department of Labour, Sarawak (JTKSWK) was established by the State Government of Sarawak on 26th July 1960 with staff strength of 6 persons. Labour Office, Kuching was set up 9 years later followed by the other 10 Labour Offices.Under the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report 1962, the Director of Labour Sarawak is directly responsible to the Minister of Human Resources through the Secretary General on the administration of labour matters in Sarawak.With the formation of Malaysia on 16th September 1963, Department of Labour Sarawak was placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Human Resources, or Ministry of Labour as it was known at that time.
Trade Union AffairsJHEKS dahulunya dikenali sebagai Pejabat Pendaftaran Kesatuan Sekerja telah ditubuhkan dalam bulan Julai 1946 untuk menguatkuasakan Enakmen Kesatuan Sekerja 1940. Di bawah enakmen ini, sebuah kesatuan sekerja yang ditubuhkan diwajibkan memohon untuk pendaftaran kepada Pendaftar Kesatuan Sekerja. Pendaftaran kesatuan sekerja bermula dalam tahun 1947 dan pada penghujung tahun tersebut sebanyak 298 kesatuan sekerja telah didaftarkan dengan jumlah keanggotaannya seramai 195,113 orang.
Industrial Relation DepartmentThe Department of Industrial Relations malaysia was established on the 21'st Disember 1972. Prior to that it was a division of the department of Labour and Industrial Relations. The Department of Industrial Relations has since remained as one of the many organisations under the Ministry of Human Resources.
Industrial CourtThe Industrial Court was established in 1940 under the Industrial Court of Inquiry Rules but it did not function due to the Japanese Occupation. During the Emergency period, trade union activities were carried out illegally as many trade union leaders were influenced by communist subversive elements.
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National Human Resources InstituteIn order to attract foreign direct investment, the government realized that today’s global competitiveness has to be addressed through effective human resources management. The function on of NIHR is the strategic thrust under Third Industrial Master Plan 2005-2010 to focus the objective to ensure that the Ministry of Human Resources (MOHR) will have an integrated comprehensive database. The system, comprising of the aspects of development and management of human resources as well as monitoring the trend and needs of human resources. Collected data collected will be use to facilitate the systematic planning of human resources, recruitment of expatriates by industry as well as to minimize shortage and mismatching of labour and required skills.
Statutory Bodies and Companies:
Social Security Organisation (SOCSO)The Social Security Organization is an organization set up to administer, enforce and implement the Employees' Social Security Act, 1969 and the Employees' Social Security (General) Regulations 1971. The Social Security Organization provides social security protection by social insurance including medical and cash benefits, provision of artificial aids and rehabilitation to employees to reduce the sufferings and to provide financial guarantees and protection to the family. SOCSO is the abbreviation for Social Security Organization. It is commonly known in the Malay term as PERKESO or Pertubuhan Keselamatan Sosial.
Human Resource Development BerhadIn the quest to attain the status of a developed country by the year 2020, greater emphasis must be given to the retraining and skills upgrading of the workforce. This is necessary not only to increase the knowledge and skill intensity of the workforce, but also to equip them with specialised and up-to-date skills as production techniques become increasingly automated and businesses competitive. Retraining and skills upgrading is also of paramount importance to enhance the quality of the workforce so that it is versatile and adaptable to the changing technological and business environment.
National Institute Of Occupational Safety and Healthy (NIOSH)December 1, 1992 marked a new era in the promotion of Occupational Safety and Health in Malaysia. On this day the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) was launched, after careful preparation and commitment from all parties to improve the safety and health of workers at the workplace in Malaysia. In the words of the Minister of Human Resources, Malaysia, NIOSH would be a "critical catalyst" in the promotion of occupational safety and health that would also serve as the "backbone" to create a "self-regulating occupational safety and health culture" in Malaysia. NIOSH was set up by the government in 1992 to be the leading centre of excellence in OSH, to spearhead the safety and health culture in the workplace.
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Skill Development Fund CorporationTabung Pembangunan Kemahiran (TPK) mula beroperasi pada 2001 sebagai satu kumpulan wang amanah untuk membiayai pelatih-pelatih kursus Sijil Kemahiran Malaysia (SKM) dari pusat-pusat latihan awam dan swasta yang programnya ditauliahkan oleh Jabatan Pembangunan Kemahiran (JPK). Tujuan penubuhan TPK ialah untuk menyediakan pinjaman bagi latihan kemahiran agar memenuhi keperluan tenaga kerja mahir negara.
Advisory Council:
National Labour Advisory CouncilMajlis Penasihat Buruh Kebangsaan adalah forum tripatit bagi membincangkan hal-hal berkaitan buruh dan isu-isu tenaga kerja termasuk polisi perburuhan dan perundangan untuk mencadangkan pandangan-pandangan kepada YAB. Menteri Sumber Manusia berhubung suasana keharmonian perhubungan perusahaan bagi meningkatkan produktiviti pekerja.
National Council for Occupational Safety and HealthThe National Council of Occupational Safety and Health (NCOSH) is the highest forum in the Ministry of Human Resources where tripartite discussions are held about issues related to the direction, national policy and the implementation of occupational safety and health in Malaysia. NCOSH was formed by the Ministry of Human Resources in 1995 under Section 8 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (Act 514), as a product of the Government continual efforts to make safe and healthy work practices as a part of Malaysian culture. Furthermore, its purpose is to improve level of awareness of occupational safety and health and to ensure the safety of all workplaces in Malaysia. To become the prime mover in steering the nation through tripartism, forming a safe and healthy work culture as well as raising Malaysians' quality of life.
NCOSH carries out its functions by conducting discussions, studies and investigations, and subsequently presenting suggestions to the Ministry of Human Resources on matters related to Act 514 in particular the following matters:
i. Changes deemed appropriate for occupational safety and health legislation;
ii. Administration and enforcement of occupational safety and health legislation;
iii. Open communication between management and employees regarding workers safety, health and welfare;
iv. Adequate control methods for industrial chemicals in the workplace;
v. Work-related death and accident statistic analysis;
vi. Issues dealing with the safety, health and welfare of woman, the handicapped and other groups in the community;
vii. Encouraging the development and acceptance of an industrial codes of practice related to workers' safety, health and welfare;
viii. Development of rehabilitation plans and facilities to help those injured in the workplace.
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Wages CouncilThe Wages Council was established under Section 3, Wages Council Act, 1947. The purpose of this Council is to regulate on the minimum remuneration and conditions of employment of certain categories of workers.
Training Institute:
Japan-Malaysia Technical Institute (JMTI)Sejak tahun 1990, Malaysia telah mengalami pertumbuhan ekonomi ekoran kejayaan polisi kerajaan dalam menarik pelaburan luar. Pertumbuhan yang pesat ini mewujudkan bidang-bidang industri baru, sekaligus meningkatkan keperluan tenaga kerja berkemahiran tinggi. Dalam Rancangan Malaysia Ketujuh (1996-2000), Malaysia telah bergerak ke arah industri berteknologi tinggi. Justeru itu struktur industri mesti disemak untuk mengukuhkan sektor pembuatan negara dan menarik lebih banyak pelaburan dari luar.
Advanced Technology Training Center (ADTEC)
1. ADTEC Alor GajahPUSAT LATIHAN TEKNOLOGI TINGGI ADTEC MELAKA BANDAR VENDOR TABOH NANING ALOR GAJAH 78000 MELAKA
2. ADTEC Batu PahatPusat Latihan Teknologi Tinggi (ADTEC) Batu Pahat merupakan salah satu daripada 26 buah Institusi Latihan Jabatan Tenaga Manusia (ILJTM) yang dikendalikan oleh Jabatan Tenaga Manusia, Kementerian Sumber Manusia. Pusat Latihan Teknologi Tinggi (Advanced Technology Training Center) atau lebih dikenali dengan nama ringkasnya ADTEC ditubuhkan bagi memenuhi keperluan tenaga kerja mahir dengan menyediakan latihan vokasional di peringkat tinggi dengan pengkhususan dalam bidang-bidang yang berteknologi tinggi dan terkini sejajar dengan keperluan perkembangan teknologi di sektor pembuatan.
3. ADTEC KulimADTEC Kulim merupakan salah sebuah daripada institut latihan di bawah pentadbiran Jabatan Tenaga Manusia (KSM). Ianya ditubuhkan pada tahun 2000 di bawah Rancangan Malaysia Ketujuh (RMK-7) dan telah dirasmikan pembukaannnya oleh YAB Dato' Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi, Perdana Menteri Malaysia pada 11 Januari 2003.
4. ADTEC Shah AlamADTEC Shah Alam is a training institution committed to produce highly-skilled manpower to meet the demands of the industry. There are nine technical courses on offer at ADTEC Shah
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Alam. ADTEC Shah Alam’s trainees comprise of school-leavers and graduates of other skills-training institutes who wish to pursue and enhance their technical knowledge and skills.
Industrial Training Institute (ILP)
APPENDIX 2 - Workplace Accident Statistics 2003 -2007 (Source: SOCSO website)
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APPENDIX 3 - Workplace Accident Statistics 2010 (Source: Ministry of Human Resource website)
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APPENDIX 4 - THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT (OSHA) 1994 (ACT 514)
The OSHA provides the legislative framework to promote, stimulate and encourage high standards of safety and health at work. The aim is to promote safety and health awareness, and establish effective safety organization and performance through self-regulation schemes designed to suit the particular industry or organization. The long-term goal of the Act is to create a healthy and safe working culture among all Malaysian employees and employers.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act is an Act which provides the legislative framework to secure the safety, health and welfare among all Malaysian workforce and to protect others against risks to safety or health in connection with the activities of persons at work.
This Act was gazetted on 24th February 1994 and may be cited as the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994. This Act is a practical tool superimposed on existing safety and health legislation.
The aims of this Act are
1. to secure the safety, health and welfare of persons at work against risks to safety or health arising out of the activities of persons at work
2. to protect person at a place of work other than persons at work against risks to safety or health arising out of the activities of persons at work
3. to promote an occupational environment for persons at work which is adapted to their physiological and psychological needs
4. to provide the means whereby the associated occupational safety and health legislation may be progressively replaced by a system of regulations and approved industry codes of practice operating in combination with the provisions of this Act designed to maintain or improve the standards of safety and health.
The provision of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 are based on the self-regulation scheme. Its primary responsibility is to ensure safety and health of work lies with those who create the risks and those who work with the risks.
Through self-regulating scheme that is designed to suit the particular industry or organization, this Act also aims to establish effective safety and health organization and performance.
The concept of self-regulation encourages cooperation, consultation and participation of employees and management in efforts to upgrade the standards of safety and health at the workplace.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 is enforced by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), a government department under the Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia.
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Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) will ensure through enforcement and promotional works that employers, self-employed persons, manufacturers, designers, importers, suppliers and employees always practise safe and health work culture, and always comply with existing legislation, guidelines and codes of practice.
Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) will also formulate and review legislation, policies, guidelines and codes of practice pertaining to occupational safety, health and welfare as a basis in ensuring safety and health at work.
Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) is also the secretariat to National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, a council established under section 8 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994.
The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health shall have power to do all things expedient or reasonably necessary for or incidental to the carrying out of the objects of this Act.
The OSHA is applicable throughout Malaysia in the following industries:1. Manufacturing 2. Mining and Quarrying 3. Construction 4. Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 5. Utilities(a) Electricity;(b) Gas; (c) Water; and (d) Sanitary Services 6. Transport, Storage and Communication 7. Wholesale and Retail Trades 8. Hotels and Restaurants 9. Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Business Services 10. Public Services and Statutory Authorities
The OSHA is a relatively young legislation in Malaysia compared to other acts and regulations. In view of the constraints in the OSH legislation, SMEs are still struggling to meet the minimum requirements for safety and health at the workplace. The OSHA currently rests with the concept of self-regulation among SMEs. A responsible employer is one who takes charge to work with the risks he or she has created by applying relevant preventive measures to control safety and health risks. This is clearly displayed if an employer who requires an employee to undertake a risky task applies what is required of him by law to provide the necessary training to enable the employee to perform his duties safely. The employee on the other hand must do his or her part in following instructions to work safely.
Since its enactment in 1994, OSHA has been successful in reducing the rate of accidents per 1,000 workers but the OSHA has only been effective to a certain extent in tackling traditional OSH problems while fatality rate still remains high. Injuries from the use of machinery and diseases contracted from the exposure to chemicals and solvents are still rampant amongst SMEs. These traditional OSH problems
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are still best controlled using traditional strategies such as risk assessment, technical preventive measures, inspection and auditing as well as training.
IMPORTANT DUTIES OF EMPLOYERS UNDER OSHAIt is the responsibility of the company to take steps to protect its workers’ safety and health. Part IV of the OSHA states that it is the duty of every employer to ensure the safety, health and welfare of his workers at work. The employer is also responsible for preparing a written statement of his general policy on the safety and health at work of his employees and the organization and arrangements in force for carrying out that policy, and to bring the statement and any revision of it to the notice of all of his employees.
Under Section 30 of the OSHA, employers who have 40 workers or above, or as directed by the Director General, must establish a safety and health committee at their workplace. The committee's main function is to review the measures taken to ensure the safety and health of workers at the workplace and investigate any related matters arising.
An employer must also notify the nearest occupational safety and health office of any accident, dangerous occurrence, occupational poisoning or occupational disease which has occurred or is likely to occur at the workplace.
The two main OSH Acts1. Factories and Machinery Act 1967 (Act 139)3. Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (Act 514)
The Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 Arrangement of Sections
Part I – Preliminary
1. Short title and application. 2. Prevailing laws. 3. Interpretation. 4. Objects of the Act.
Part II - Appointment Of Officers
5. Appointment of Officers.6. Appointment of independent inspecting body. 7. Certificate of authorization
Part III - National Council For Occupational Safety And Health
8. Establishment of the Council. 9. Membership of the Council. 10. Second Schedule to apply.
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11. Powers and functions of the Council. 12. Appointment of secretary to the Council. 13. Committees. 14. Annual report.
Part IV - General Duties of Employers and Self-Employed Persons
15. General duties of employers and self-employed persons to their employees. 16. Duty to formulate safety and health policy. 17. General duties of employers and self-employed persons to persons other than their employees. 18. Duties of an occupier of a place of work to persons other than his employees.19. Penalty for an offence under section 15. 16. 17 or 18
Part V - General Duties of Designers, Manufacturers and Suppliers
20. General duties of manufacturers, etc. as regards plant for use at work. 21. General duties of manufacturers, etc. as regards substances for use at work. 22. Explanations to sections 20 and 21. 23. Penalty for an offence under section 20 or 21.
Part VI - General Duties of Employees
24. General duties of employees at work. 25. Duty not to interfere with or misuse things provided pursuant to certain provisions. 26. Duty not to charge employees for things done or provided . 27. Discrimination against employee, etc.
Part VII - Safety and Health Organizations
28. Medical surveillance. 29. Safety and health officer 30. Establishment of safety and health committee at place of work. 31. Functions of safety and health committee.
Part VIII - Notification of Accidents, Dangerous Occurrence, Occupational Poisoning and Occupational Diseases, and Inquiry
32. Notification of accidents, dangerous occurrence, occupational poisoning and occupational diseases, and inquiry. 33. Director General may direct inquiry to be held. 34. Power of occupational safety and health officer at inquiry.
Part IX - Prohibition Against use of Plant or Substance
35. Power to prohibit the use of plant or substance 36. Aggrieved person may appeal
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Part X - Industry Codes of Practice
37. Approval of industry codes of practice. 38. Use of industry codes of practice in proceedings.
Part XI - Enforcement and Investigation
39. Powers of entry, inspection, examination, seizure, etc. 40. Entry into premises with search warrant and power of seizure. 41. Entry into premises without search warrant and power of seizure.42. Power of forceful entry and service on occupier of signed copy of list of things seized from premises. 43. Further provisions in relation to inspection. 44. Power of investigation. 45. Power to examine witnesses. 46. Employer, etc., to assist officer. 47. Offenses in relation to inspection. 48. Improvement notice and prohibition notice. 49. Penalty for failure to comply with notice. 50. Aggrieved person may appeal.
Part XII - Liability for Offenses
51. General penalty. 52. Offenses committed by body corporate. 53. Offenses committed by trade union.54. Offenses committed by agent. 55. Defence. 56. Body corporate or trade union liable to fine. 57. Aiding and abetting. 58. Safeguards against further personal liability. 59. Civil liability not affected by Parts IV, V and VI. 60. Onus of proving limits of what is practicable. 61. Prosecutions. 62. Compounding of offenses.
Part XIII – Appeals
63. Appeal committees. 64. Powers of appeal committee. 65. Decision of appeal committee.
Part XIV – Regulations
66. Regulations.
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Part XV – Miscellaneous
67. Duty to keep secret.
Schedules
Introduction
The Occupational Safety and Health, OSH Act 1994 (Act 514) was gazetted on February 24, 1994. The legislation requires all employers with more than five employees to formulate a written Safety and Health Policy of their workplaces. The Act sets out the responsibilities of the employers and employees in maintaining a safe and healthy working environment. The Act also provides for the Malaysian Minister to issue regulations to implement the Act more precisely. Regulations that have been issued are namely:
· Employers Safety and Health General Policy Statements (exception) Reg.1995· OSH (Safety and Health Committee) Regulations 1996· Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1997· OSH (Classification, Packaging and Labelling of Hazardous Chemicals) reg.1997· Prohibition of use of Substance Order 1999.OSH (Use and Standards of Exposure of Chemicals Hazardous to Healths)Regulations 2000
Objective Of The OSH ActThe Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 is an Act to make further provisions for securing that safety, health and welfare of persons at work, for protecting others against risks to safety or health in connection with the activities of persons at work, to establish the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, and for matters connected with it.
OSH PolicyAccording to Section 16 of OSH Act, except in such cases as may be prescribed, it shall be the duty of every employer and every self-employed person to prepare and as often as may be appropriate revise a written statement of his general policy with respect to the safety and health at work of his employees and the organizations and arrangements for the time being in force for carrying out that policy and to bring the statement and any revision of it to the notice of all of his employees. The OSH policy demonstrates the company's concern, commitment and attempts to ensure safety and health of the employees. It acts as a basis for developing and implementing programmes for securing safety and health at the workplace.
The OSH CommitteeAccording to the section 30 of the OSH Act, every employer who has more than 40 workers or as directed by the Director General, must establish a safety and health committee at their workplace.
The objective of the committee is to foster cooperation and consultation between management and workers in identifying, evaluating and controlling hazards at workplaces. It is also an effective channel of communication to exchange ideas to solve problems relating to occupational safety and health.
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Feedback from workers will greatly assist employers to promote and provide a safe and healthy work environment.
The membership of the committee consist of a chairman, a secretary, representatives of employers and representatives of employees. The functions of the committee are as followed:· Keep under review the measures taken to ensure the safety and health of persons at the workplace.· Investigate any matters at the workplace that is considered is not safe or is a risk to health and which has been brought to the attention of the employer.· Investigate any matters which has been brought to the attention of the employer.· Attempt to resolve any matter that is not safe or risky and if it is unable to do so, request the Director General of the Department of Occupational Safety and Health to carry out an inspection.· Other functions as maybe prescribed.
The above information on OSH Act 1994, is just a part of the contents. The contents of the Act are as followed:· OSH (Employers' Safety and Health General Policy Statements) (exception) Regulations 1995· OSH (Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards) Regulations 1996.· OSH (Safety and Health Committee) Regulations 1996· OSH (Classification, Packaging and Labelling of Hazardous Chemicals) Regulations 1997.· OSH (Safety and Health Officer) Regulations 1997.· OSH (Prohibition of Use of Substance) Order 1999.· OSH (Use and standards of Exposure of Chemicals Hazardous to Healths) Regulations 2000.
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