Occupational Safety & Health (OSH)

It is obvious that employees spend at least 8 hours at their workplace. Thus, the work environment play vital role in prioritising safety and healthy in order to employees perform their best.

Organizations must take steps to prevent accidents and focus to improve health of their employees. OSHA1994 and the Factories and Machinery Act 1967 require employers and employee alike to be responsible for safety at the workplace. There are two authority bodies that holds responsibilities towards employee’s safety in organization, namely;

1. The Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH)- enforcing safety laws
2. The National Institute of Safety and Health (NIOSH) — training and research into related areas.

OSH

The consequences of accidents at work are:

1. Financial costs — incurred on employers (high medical bills, insurance coverage and pay contribution to SOCSO)
2. Losses of output — production will be suspended due to accidents.
3. Lowered morale — dissatisfaction will lead to turnover among workers.
4. Negative publicity — bad image to companies under scrutiny by relevant authorities.

Categorized by their impact or severity:

1. Near miss — no injury but damage to property.
2. Non-fatal — one or two employees requires first-aid.
3. Non-fatal — one or two employees were temporarily disabled.
4. Non-fatal — one or two employees were permanently disable.
5. Fatal — one or two workers were killed.

Potential accidents at work may be caused by technical issues, environmental causes and also high tendency due to human cause that leads to major or minor accidents in organizations. Moreover, accidents may occurs where there is;

1. Production machinery
2. Walkways and areas where people climb
3. Use of hand tools
4. Use of electricity
5. Use toxic or boiling liquids

In such situation, injured staff should be the focus of special attention by Human Resource (HR) staffs and line management. Besides, one of the common causes of accidents at work is the failure of workers to use the safety equipment provided to them, due to many reasons and generally due to lack of experience in handling tools and equipments. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is the most basic tools that includes safety helmets, goggles, gloves and safety shoes to help keep workers safe at site/ workplace.

In a nutshell, everyone in the organization should play vital role in taking responsibilities towards each of the individual while handling tools and equipments, slippery floor and ex cetera.

OSH