Occupational Safety and Health in Malaysia: What Every SME Needs to Know After the 2024 Amendments

01Introduction of OSH

For many years, a lot of business owners treated occupational safety and health (OSH) as a factory problem. If you ran an office, a clinic, a tuition centre or a retail outlet, the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (OSHA) felt like someone else's law.

That changed on 1 June 2024. With the Occupational Safety and Health (Amendment) Act 2022 now in force, OSHA applies to almost every place of work in Malaysia, the obligations on employers are wider, and the maximum fine for a general duty breach is now ten times higher than before.

In this article, we set out the current OSH framework, the key duties that now apply to you, the penalties for non-compliance, and the practical steps we recommend for SMEs.

02
The legal framework at a glance

The principal legislation is OSHA, as amended by the Occupational Safety and Health (Amendment) Act 2022, which came into force on 1 June 2024. The regulator is the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH, or JKKP), under the Ministry of Human Resources.

On the same date, the Factories and Machinery Act 1967 was repealed and its requirements were brought under OSHA. Two subsidiary instruments took effect alongside the amendments:
• Occupational Safety and Health (Plant Requiring Certificate of Fitness) Regulations 2024 [P.U.(A) 99/2024]
• Occupational Safety and Health (Licensed Person) Order 2024 [P.U.(A) 100/2024]

OSHA continues to be supported by a body of regulations, orders, codes of practice and DOSH guidelines, including the Guidelines for Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control (HIRARC) and the Occupational Safety and Health (Notification of Accident, Dangerous Occurrence, Occupational Poisoning and Occupational Disease) Regulations 2004 (NADOPOD).

03Who is covered

Before the amendments, OSHA applied only to industries listed in the First Schedule, such as manufacturing, construction and hotels. The amended First Schedule now extends OSHA to all places of work in Malaysia, including the public services and statutory authorities.

The remaining exclusions are narrow: domestic employment, the armed forces, and work on board ships governed by the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952 and its Sabah and Sarawak equivalents.

In practice, this means private schools and colleges, private hospitals and clinics, fitness centres, co-working spaces, professional firms and ordinary commercial offices are all within scope. If you have employees, you should assume OSHA applies to you.

04Key duties under the amended Act

General duty of employers (Section 15)
You must ensure, so far as is practicable, the safety, health and welfare at work of all your employees. This covers safe plant and systems of work, safe handling and storage of substances, information, instruction, training and supervision, and a safe working environment. Section 15(2)(f) now expressly requires you to develop and implement procedures for dealing with emergencies.

Duties of principals (Section 18A)
This is a new provision. If you engage contractors or subcontractors, you as the principal must, so far as is practicable, protect the safety and health of those contractors, their subcontractors and their employees while they work under your direction. This includes providing information, instruction, training, supervision and emergency procedures. You must also take necessary measures to protect other persons affected by your activities at the workplace.

Risk assessment (Section 18B)
Employers, self-employed persons and principals must now conduct a risk assessment of the safety and health risks arising from their work activities, and implement the control measures identified. DOSH's HIRARC Guidelines remain the reference methodology: classify work activities, identify hazards, assess risk by likelihood and severity, and decide on controls.

OSH Coordinator (Section 29A)
If you employ five or more employees and you are not already required to appoint a Safety and Health Officer under Section 29, you must appoint one of your employees as an OSH Coordinator. DOSH expects the coordinator to complete a course run by DOSH or a DOSH-registered training provider. The coordinator assists you with safety measures, workplace inspections, risk assessment and accident notification records.

The 3-day OSH Coordinator course. The Act itself does not prescribe the training. In practice, DOSH requires the nominee to complete the OSH Coordinator (OSH-C) course, a 3-day programme run by DOSH or a DOSH-registered training provider, before the nominee is recognised as a trained person.

The syllabus is designed for SMEs. It covers basic OSH management, the role of DOSH, chemical management, occupational diseases, work-related road safety, HIRARC with a practical exercise, material storage and handling, workstation design, machine safety and workplace facilities.

Training providers usually require 100% attendance before they issue the certificate. The course is generally claimable under HRD Corp for registered employers, provided the grant is approved before the course starts.

We recommend you plan for this early. Set aside three working days for your nominee, choose a provider on DOSH's register, and keep the certificate on file as evidence that you have complied with Section 29A. If your coordinator resigns, you will need to train a replacement.

Safety and health committee (Section 30)
Where 40 or more persons are employed at a place of work, you must establish a safety and health committee at that workplace.

Employee's right to remove from imminent danger (Section 26A)
An employee who has a justifiable reason to believe there is imminent danger, meaning a serious risk of death or serious bodily injury, may remove themselves from the workplace, provided they have informed the employer and the employer has failed to take action. The employee is protected from undue consequences and discrimination for doing so.

Accident and occurrence notification
Accidents, dangerous occurrences, occupational poisoning and occupational diseases must be notified to DOSH under NADOPOD, using the prescribed JKKP forms, and records must be kept.

05Penalties and personal liability

The amendments significantly increased the financial exposure for non-compliance.
If you are an employer, a self-employed person or a principal and you breach your general duties, you now face a fine of up to RM500,000, imprisonment of up to 2 years, or both. Before 1 June 2024, the maximum fine was RM50,000.

For manufacturers, designers, importers and suppliers, the maximum fine has risen from RM20,000 to RM200,000.

Failing to appoint an OSH Coordinator under Section 29A is a new offence. It carries a fine of up to RM50,000, imprisonment of up to 6 months, or both.
The revised penalties do not apply retrospectively to offences committed before 1 June 2024.

Just as important is Section 52. Where a body corporate commits an offence, its directors, compliance officers, partners, managers, secretaries and similar officers may be held jointly and severally liable. The burden then falls on the individual to prove that the offence was committed without their knowledge or consent, and that they exercised all due diligence to prevent it. In other words, OSH is now a board-level risk, not only an operations issue.

06Practical steps for SMEs

If you have not reviewed your OSH position since the amendments, we recommend you start with the following:
1. Confirm that OSHA applies to each of your places of work, including branches and separate premises.
2. Count your employees at each place of work against the 5-employee (OSH Coordinator) and 40-employee (safety and health committee) thresholds.
3. Appoint and train an OSH Coordinator where required, and document the appointment.
4. Prepare a written OSH policy and conduct a documented risk assessment using the HIRARC approach.
5. Develop an emergency response plan covering reporting, evacuation routes, assembly points and contact lists, and run periodic drills.
6. Review contractor arrangements so that your duties as a principal under Section 18A are reflected in your onboarding, briefings and contracts.
7. Set up a simple process for NADOPOD notifications and record keeping.
8. Table OSH as a standing item at management or board meetings, so that directors can demonstrate due diligence.

For technical safety matters, such as machinery requiring a Certificate of Fitness or industrial hygiene, you should engage a DOSH-registered competent person.