INTRODUCTION TO OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT 1994

1. Introduction An employer is under an obligation to provide a safe working environment for his workers. Under every contract of employment, there is an implied term that that the employer will ensure safety at the workplace for his employee.

2. The philosophy of OSHA is: “The responsibility to ensure safety and health at the workplace lies with those who create the risk and with those who work with the risks.”

3. Objectives of OSHA 1994 (Section 4 of OSHA 1994) 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 persons at work other than persons at work against risk to safety or health arising out of the activities of persons at work.

4. Duties of Employer under OSHA

5. 1) General duties of employers with regard to health and safety Section 15 (1) of OSHA spells out the general obligations of the employer in relation to occupational safety and health.

6. 2) Safety Training (Section 15 (2) of OSHA) An employer is required under the law to give appropriate information and training to their worker so that they will know how to work in a safe manner.

7. 3) Duty to formulate safety and health policy (Section 16) Section 16 of OSHA expressly required an employer to prepare a written statement of his safety and health policy and to make known to his employee. OSHA 1994 does not provides any specific guideline as to how the policy should be formulated or how it should be communicated to the employees. It an absolute discretion of the employers.

8. History This law is known as Occupational Safety and Health 1994 (hereinafter referred to as OSHA) and was gazette on the 24 February 1994. Before the introduction of OSHA, the aspect of occupational safety and health of workforces was covered by the Factory and Machinery Act 1967.

9. Duties of Employee under OSHA Part IV of OSHA laid down the general duties of employees in relation to safety and health. Section 24 of OSHA requires employees to take reasonable care of the safety and health of himself and other who might possibly be affected by his work or conduct.

10. Failure of the employee to comply with the requirement under Section 24 of OSHA is amounting to an offence and upon conviction shall be liable for a fine not exceeding one thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both.

11. Notification of Accidents, Dangerous Occurrences, Occupational Poisoning and Diseases Section 32 of OSHA requires a management or employer to notify the nearest occupational safety and health office of any accident, dangerous, occurrence , occupational poisoning and diseases which have occurred or likely to have occurred in the work place.

12. The management is required to send a report of employees who suffer or likely to suffer occupational disease to the nearest Department of Occupational Safety and Health office in an approved form with 7 days. (Section 7 (1) OSHA) If there is an existence of infectious disease at the work place, the management must notify about the disease to the nearest Medical Officer of Health. This requirement stipulated under Section 7 of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Disease Act 1988.