MRSA1043

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
LECTURER: DR. ROZHAN SHARIF MOHAMED RADZI
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH OF FOREIGN WORKERS
• GROUP 4 MEMBERS
• MOHD RIZZAL ABD GHANI (MRS171020)
• T.NANTHAKUMARAN A/L THULASY (MRS171030)
• MOHD FAIZAL BIN ABDUL KARIM (MRS171051)
• MOHD HAMIZI MD AYOB (MRS171021)
• AHMAD NORHISHAM BIN DAILI (MRS 171048)
 GROUP MEMBERS

5. HISHAM 3. FAIZAL
2. NANTHA 4. HAMIZI

1. RIZZAL

2
 SCOPE
INTRODUCTION

OH RISKS FOR FOREIGN WORKERS

OH CHALLENGES FACED BY FOREIGN WORKERS

RECOMMENDATION

CONCLUSION

3
 INTRODUCTION
1. Foreign workers are all over the world and this phenomenon is faced by many
developing countries, for example,. they are from Myanmar, Bangladeshi, Vietnamese,
Nepalese, Pakistanis, Filipina and also Indonesia.
2. Define as : Foreign workers is being defined as a person who employed in a
country on a temporary basis to which the person is not a citizen.

• Source: Malaysian Employers Federation based on 30 Sept 2018

 OH RISKS FOR FOREIGN
WORKERS
• Foreign worker health is increasingly important for companies following the UN‘s
endorsement of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the
identification of migrant workers as a group specifically requiring protection related to
health.
• They are identified as a specific group of individuals requiring protection, or specific
procedures to promote and protect migrant worker health.
• Often engaged in 3-D jobs dirty, dangerous, and demanding.
• Less pay, for longer hours, and in worse conditions than do non migrants and are often
subject to human rights violations, abuse, human trafficking, and violence.
• This situation is critical for foreign workers who lack work authorization and are at risk
for losing their jobs and put them at increased risk for occupational fatalities and
injuries.

• Source: BSR- Migration Linkages, January 16, 2012

 OH challenges of
FOREIGN WORKERS
1. Foreign workers employed in natural resources, construction and maintenance; agriculture; and
production, transportation, and material movement: industries that much higher rates of injury
compared with other industries. This likely is driven by some of the following:

• Poor health systems.

• Involve dirty, dangerous, and degrading work (3D industries)
• Take jobs in informal, lightly regulated sectors of labor-intensive industries.

2. Jobs are temporary work where health regulations rarely not monitored.
• Language barriers can prevent them lack access to hospital.
• Due to a fear of being expelled from employment, foreign workers to tolerate harsh working and
living conditions longer.
• To keep generating income enables them to pay back debts incurred during migration, foreign
workers sometimes tolerate overpriced, crowded, and substandard housing and living conditions.
 OH challenges of
FOREIGN WORKERS
ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE

• Foreign workers often lack access to health care owing to

their precarious employment, poverty, lack of documentation,
or limited knowledge of the health insurance system .
• Difficulty getting to clinics or medical providers, as may live
in isolated, rural areas and lack reliable or safe
transportation to medical.
• Long working hours, with no paid time off, impossible for
workers to access health clinics during standard operating
hours.
 OCCUPATIONAL
HAZARD
PHYSICAL
HAZARD

ERGONOMIC CHEMICAL
HAZARD HAZARD

WORK
ORGANIZATION
HAZARD

PSYCHOSOCIAL BIOLOGICAL
HAZARD HAZARD
 OCCUPATIONAL
PHYSICAL HAZARD HAZARD
Temperature

1. Foreign workers employed in natural resources, construction, and maintenance often work
outside and are subject to extreme weather exposure, which can increase their risk of lightning
strikes, sun exposure, heat-related illness.
2. Example, heat-related illness of high ambient temperatures for workers in construction where
construction workers are four times more likely than workers in other industries.

CHEMICAL HAZARD

Liquids

1. Exposure to dangerous chemicals is common in many of the industries in which foreign work.
2. Example, workers employed as housekeepers in residences or in hotels are exposed to
hazardous chemicals in cleaning agents that can lead to dermatitis, respiratory diseases, and
cancer.
 OCCUPATIONAL
HAZARD
BIOLOGICAL HAZARD

1. Biological hazards, refer to biological substances that pose a threat to the health of living
organisms, primarily that of humans. This can include samples of a microorganism, virus or
toxin (from a biological source) that can affect human health.
2. The worker work at agriculture industry expose with biological hazard direct.
Example: - bite from a snake or poison animal.
- Contact with poisonous plants which will cause an allergic skin reaction-
poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac.
 OCCUPATIONAL
HAZARD
PSYCHOSOCIAL HAZARD

Mental Health on Foreign Workers

1. Unsettled feelings on the part of migrants can be caused by the following factors such as feelings
of isolation and helpless, difficulties related to acculturation and communication difficulties.
2. Due of family responsibilities many foreign workers tend to significant mental strain and possible
mental illness. In some cases, these problems have led to severe depression and even suicide.

ERGONOMIC HAZARD

Musculoskeletal Disorders

1. Hotel housekeeping potential for muscle strain related to body position, repetitive motion, fast-
paced work, and heavy lifting of cleaning equipment, such as industrial-strength vacuum
cleaners.
2. Workers employed in construction are subject to hazards from work involving high elevations,
large cutting tools, and heavy lifting.
 recommendation
Although foreign workers are at an increased risk for occupational illnesses and injuries, recent innovations have
begun to mitigate some of these risks and reduce the disparities between immigrant and native-born workers

1. Improved Safety Trainings

Owing to language barriers, safety information in English or Malay the use of flyers or worksheets is not
adequate in multicultural work settings. Safety trainings should incorporate methods such as pictograms,
illustrations, and hands-on exercises.

2. Policy Changes
Proposed standards include policies to protect against forced labor or trafficking, wages are regularly and directly
paid to the worker, protecting social security benefits, promoting written employment contracts, and ensuring a
mechanism for workers to register violations of fair practices.

3. Fair Recruitment Policies

Workers traveling to a foreign country are often required to pay high recruitment fees to the agency or person
assisting them in migration. It can be difficult for the migrant to determine whether the recruiting agency is a
legitimate organization or one that preys on the vulnerability of the migrant.
 conclusion
1. Governments should implement and enforce safety and health policies for all workers
regardless of immigration status and can offer immigration reform to reduce the fears of
deportation related to personal injury or to reporting health and safety violations.

2. Industry must ensure that they work with authorized recruitment agencies, which provide legal
protection for workers, implement written contracts, provide medical insurance and information
on workers’ compensation benefits, ensure sanitary living conditions, and follow safety and
health regulations.
Thank You