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OBJECTIVES:
To describe the discipline and scope of
Occupational Safety and Health
To recount the development of Malaysian OSH
History and OSH Law
To define the basic common terms and concepts
in Occupational Safety and Health.
To state the functions and roles of DOSH and
NIOSH

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THE VICIOUS CIRCLE
(KITARAN KEJAM!)

UNSAFE
ACCIDENT
WORKPLACE

GET DOCTOR
WELL

What can be done to reduce or

eliminate this problem ?
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1. DESCRIBE THE MEANING OF OSH?
2. HOW DO YOU DEFINE OSH?
3. WHAT IS OSH?
• Occupational safety and health (OSH);
• is a cross-disciplinary area concerned
with protecting the safety, health and
welfare of people engaged in work or
employment.
• encompasses the social, mental and
physical well-being of workers, that is the
“whole person”.

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WHY DOES OSH IS A CROSS-
DISCIPLINARY AREA?
Occupational safety and health may
involve interaction among many
cognate disciplines, including;

 occupational medicine,  toxicology

 occupational (or  epidemiology,

industrial) hygiene,  industrial
relations,
 public health, safety
 public policy,
engineering,
 sociology, and
 health physics,
psychology.
 ergonomics,
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WHAT ARE THE AIMS OF OSH?

i. promotion and maintenance of the highest

degree of physical, mental and social well-
being of workers in all occupations;
ii. prevention among workers of adverse effects
on health caused by their working conditions;
iii. protection of workers in their employment
from risks resulting from factors adverse to
health;
iv. placing and maintenance of workers in an
occupational environment adapted to physical
and mental needs;
v. the adaptation of work to humans.

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HOW DO YOU DEFINE SAFETY ?

• is the state of being "safe" (from French

sauf) and the condition of ,
– being protected against:
• physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional,
occupational, psychological, educational or
• other types or consequences of failure, damage, error,
accidents, harm or
• any other event which could be considered non-desirable.

– being protected from :

• the event or from exposure to something that causes health
or economical losses.

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HOW DO YOU DEFINE HEALTH?

• is a state;
– of complete physical, mental and
social well-being
– the absence of disease or
infirmity (physical weakness,
ailment, lack of strength)

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WHAT IS WELFARE?
• It is the quality of life is the degree of
well-being felt by an individual or group
of people.
• It consists of two components:
– physical
• The physical aspect includes such things as health,
diet, and protection against pain and disease.
– psychological
• The psychological aspect includes stress, worry,
pleasure and other positive or negative emotional
states.
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 WHAT IS OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE ?
• is the discipline of ;
– anticipating,
– recognising,
– evaluating and
– controlling health hazards
in the working environment
• with the objective of;
– protecting worker health and well-being and
– safeguarding the community at large.

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WHAT IS ERGONOMICS?
• is the scientific discipline concerned with
– designing according to the human needs,
and
– applies theory, principles, data and methods
to design to optimize human well-being and
overall system performance.
• is study of human capabilities in relationship to
their work demands.

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WHAT ARE THE FOUR BASIC COMPONENTS
OR TYPES OF LAW?

• Act – Akta (Undang-undang tubuh):

– pass by the Parliment
• Regulations –Peraturan:
– Pass by the Parliament
• Order – Arahan:
– Issued by the Minister
• Guidelines – Panduan:
– Issed by Director General (Ketua Pengarah)
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STATUTORY LAW
i. Consist of Acts and Regulations
ii. Formulated by the government
iii.Breaching the law is a criminal offence
iv. Penalty: Monetary and prison sentence
v. Prosecution is only by Government
Servants (e.g. District Attorney) in
Criminal Court.

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COMMON LAW
– Resulted from the decisions of court and
judges in a civil court
– Injured worker/party allow the to sue
the party that is responsible causing the
harm
– Injured worker/party could request a
lawyer for law suit proceedings
– If plaintiff wins, the settlement is through
monetary fines.

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OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH
ACT 1994 (OSHA)
Is a mixture of two main
types/source of laws:
–Statutory Law (Undang-undang Berkanun)

– Common Law

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LAW OF TORT: AN ACTION THAT IS WRONG BUT CAN
BE DEALT WITH IN A CIVIL COURT RATHER THAN A CRIMINAL
COURT

 The legal effect of a wrongful act of one

party causing harm to the person,
property, reputation or economic interest of
another.
 Tort are civil offences.
 Classification of Tort;
•Nuisance (Gangguan)
•Negligence (Kecuaian)
•Defamation (Fitnah)
•Trespassing (Pencerobohan)
Test question:
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What is law of tort and how is it being classified?
THE LAW OF TORT & VICARIOUS
LIABILITY
Tort of Negligence:
The duty owned by an employer to his employees is
that he must take such care as is reasonable for the
safety of his employees.
Vicarious Liability:
Arises where an employee or an agent of the
employer has acted negligently and caused injury to
another employee.

Test question:
Differentiate between term Tort of Negligence
and Vicarious Liability
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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF
OSH MANAGEMENT
• OSH before and during the industrial revolution
• Development in OSH management between the 1930’s
and 1970’s
• Development of self-regulation legislation
• Modern OSH management

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 TEST QUESTIONS
• Lord Robben has been appointed as the chairman for the Royal
Commission on Safety and Health in the United Kingdom to review
the laws and regulations on safety, health and welfare of workers
in a workplace. Identify the features of Lord Robben Style of
legislation.

• List some of the features of “Robben style” of OSH legislation.

• Lord Robben, Chairman of the Royal Safety Commission in the UK,

found that OSH law need to be revised. What are the main points
of his justification on why OSH law should be revised so that it is
‘self regulatory’.

• List some of the features of “Robben style” of OSH legislation.

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF
OSH MANAGEMENT-UK
• Lord Robens, Chairman of a Royal Safety
Commission Report noted that:
i. there was too many OSH legislation,
ii. was fragmented,
iii. limited in coverage (specific hazards &
workplace),
iv. out of date and difficult to update,
v. Inflexible (prescriptive),
vi. People thought that safety was what government
inspectors enforced

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF
OSH MANAGEMENT-UK
• Features of “Robens style” legislation:
– General duties of care by:
• Employer, employee, self-employed person,
manufacturer, designer, supplier
• Duty of employer to make the workplace safe
– Consultation with employees through Safety
Committees
– Safety Officer as advisor and coordinator
– Improvement and prohibition notices

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF
OSH MANAGEMENT: MALAYSIA
• Lord Robens recommend “Self regulation”
• Report resulted in the Health and Safety of
Workers At Work Act in the UK in 1974
• Similar legislation was enacted in Australia in
1984
• Enacted in Malaysia in 1994 after the 1992
Bright Sparkler accident in Sungai Buloh.

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CATEGORIES OF THE LAW AT PRESENT:

FIRST CATEGORY
To control industrial activity or specific chemical
substances:
 Mineral Enactment
 Atomic Energy Licensing Act 1984
 Pesticides Act 1974
 Petroleum Act (Safety Procedures) 1984
 Electricity Supply Act 1990

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 CATEGORIES OF THE LAW AT PRESENT:

SECOND CATEGORY

Basic and General Laws:

 Factories and Machinery Act 1967
 Occupational Safety and Health
Act 1994

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PERIODICLE THEME IN SAFETY

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TEST QUESTIONS
Define and provide and example for each;
a. Hazard:
b. Risk:
c. Danger:

Based on the example of a glass bottle of concentrated

acid placed at a corner of laboratory bench, identify the
hazard, risk and danger associated with this situation.

Define and provide an example for each in the case of a

construction worker crossing a wooden plank while
working on a bridge maintenance project.

Define the terms below and identify appropriately each

type of hazard, risk and danger for the scenario of a glass
bottle of concentrated sulphuric acid placed at a corner of
a student’s desk
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BASIC TERMS & CONCEPTS
The Golden Words

Hazard
Risk
Danger
Accident
Near miss
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 OSH GOLDEN WORDS!
HAZARD:
• Anything that can cause harm (e.g.
chemicals, electricity, working from a ladder. etc)

RISK:
• Is the chance, likelihood or probability
of harm actually being done

DANGER:
• Is the relative exposure to hazard. It
may show the magnitude of the risk or
hazard.
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 TYPE OF MACHINERY HAZARDS

• Cutting(Memotong ) • Friction and Abrasion

(Mengeser dan
• Shearing(Mericih) melelas )
• Stabbing and • Crushing (Meremuk )
Puncturing (Menusuk • Drawing In (Menarik
dan Menembus ) ke dalam )
• Impact (Hentaman) • Ejection (Lentingan)
• Entanglement • Release of Potential
Energy
(Membelit ) (Membebaskan
tenaga berpotensi )

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TEST QUESTIONS

• Hazards can be classified into physical, biological,

chemical, ergonomically and psychosocial. Could you
list ONLY the physical hazards associated with
machineries?
• Provide at least 10 examples of machinery hazards.

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ENFORCEMENT DEPARTMENT

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FUNCTIONS OF DOSH
• To study and review the policies and legislations of OSH
• To enforce the following legislations :
a) Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 and its regulations.
b) Factories and Machinery Act 1967 and its regulations.
c) Part of Petroleum Act 1984 (Safety Measures) and its regulations. 
• To conduct research and technical analysis on issues
related to OSH at the workplace.
• To carry out promotional and publicity programs to
employers, workers and the general public to foster and
increase the awareness of OSH.
• To become a secretariat for the National Council of OSH

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SERVICE PROVIDER

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CORE FUNCTIONS

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OSH PRACTIONERS

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COMPETENCY CERTIFICATE

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TRAINER’S PROGRAMME

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SAFETY PASSPORT

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SOCSO (PERKESO)

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FUNCTIONS OF SOCSO
• Registration of employers and
employees
• Collection of contribution from
employers and employees
• Payment of benefits to workers
and/or their dependents when tragedy
strikes
• Provision of physical and vocational
rehabilitation benefits
• Promotion of awareness of
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TEST QUESTIONS
• What are the differences between the role of
National Institute of Occupation Safety
(NIOSH) in Bangi and the Department of
Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) in
Putra Jaya.
• What are the differences between the role of
National Institute of Occupation Safety
(NIOSH) in Bangi and the Department of
Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) in
Putra Jaya.

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