Employers in Malaysia required to report cases immediately to DOSH

As reported in Sinar Harian, employers in Malaysia are required to report immediately to Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) on applicable cases of employees and events that happened during work. This is to avoid getting fined for hiding facts on the case. 

In fact, data should be collected and analysed to provide a strategic plan for  enforcing legislation related to the government's efforts to deal with issues related to safety and health at work.

Noting that it is the responsibility of employers, practitioners and medical officers to promptly report cases for further investigations, Datuk Ir. Mohtar Musri, director general, DOSH said: "The report on the accident, dangerous occurrence, occupational poisoning and occupational diseases should be reported to DOSH as stipulated in section 32 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1994.”

Additionally, he urged DOSH to intensify and diversify programmes for the purpose of raising awareness and interest in reporting accidents and occupational diseases.

He also highlighted that the state accident rate for 2015 is 2.81 per 1,000 employees - showing a decrease of 9.35% as compared to 2014 where it was 10.3 per 1,000 employees.

According to him, DOSH has also been running around 258,487 inspections of workplaces and machinery last year. He said: "Based on these, a total of 24,631 notices were issued; 1,176 were issued compound offenses and 406 cases of alleged offenses related to safety and health at work.”

He encouraged employers and employees to be committed to both the increased level of occupational safety and health in the workplace.

"The media are also urged to play a role in educating the public in relation to safety and health of workers by providing information that is more positive, accurate and efficient," he concluded.

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