TOPIC I: LECTURE 1

Introduction to OSH

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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 industrial)  epidemiology,
hygiene,  industrial relations,
 public health, safety engineering,  public policy,
 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 17
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 melelas )
• Shearing(Mericih)
• Crushing (Meremuk )
• Stabbing and • Drawing In (Menarik ke
Puncturing (Menusuk dalam )
dan Menembus ) • Ejection (Lentingan)
• Impact (Hentaman) • Release of Potential
Energy (Membebaskan
• Entanglement
tenaga berpotensi )
(Membelit )

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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

Training in OSH

OSH Consultation

Research & Development in OSH

Information Dissemination in OSH

Examination for Competency Certificate

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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 occupational
safety and health

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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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