OSH

MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION

OCCUPATIONAL
SAFETY
HANDBOOK AND

HEALTH

INTAN HAZLINA BINTI AYOB


COMMERCE DEPARTMENT

POLYTECHNIC of SULTAN HAJI AHMAD SHAH
KUANTAN PAHANG

occupational safety & healt

Publisher

POLYTECHNIC of SULTAN HAJI AHMAD SHAH
SEMAMBU
25350 KUANTAN PAHANG
Copyright © 2019, by Polytechnic of Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior
permission of the publisher.

Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Intan Hazlina Ayob, 1976-

HANDBOOK OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH MODULE /
INTAN HAZLINA BINTI AYOB.
ISBN 978-967-0778-53-2
1. Industrial safety--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
2. Industrial hygiene--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
3. Government publications--Malaysia.
I. , -.
II. Title.
782.42

Printed by:
PERKASA UMMAH ENTERPRISE
B60 Jalan Indera Mahkota 7/1
Bandar Indera Mahkota
25200 Kuantan Pahang

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DEPARTMENT of POLYTECHNIC and COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATION,
MINISTRY of HIGHER EDUCATION MALAYSIA
DIPLOMA PROGRAMME

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY and HEALTH course is designed to
impart understanding of the self-regulatory concepts and provisions
under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). This course
presents the responsibilities of workers in implementing and
complying with the safety procedures at work. Understanding of
notifications of accidents, dangerous occurrence, poisoning and
diseases and liability for offences will be imparted upon students.
This course will also provide an understanding of the key issues in
OSH Management, Incident Prevention, Fire Safety, Hazard
Identification Risk Control and Risk Assessment (HIRARC),
Workplace Environment and Ergonomics and guide the students
gradually into this multi-disciplinary science.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
CLO 1 : Explain briefly Occupational, Safety and Health (OSH)

procedures, regulation and its compliance in Malaysia
( C2 , CLS 1 )

CLO 2 : Initiates incident hazards, risks and safe work practices
in order to maintain health and safe work environment
( A3 , CLS 5 )

CLO 3 : Demonstrate communication skill in group to explain the
factor that can lead to accident in workplace
( A3 , CLS 3b )

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LEARNING OUTCOMES : CLUSTERS TEACHING ASSESSMENT
(LD) METHODS METHODS
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES
(CLO)

CLO 1 : Explain briefly Occupational, CLS 1 Interactive Learning Quiz
Safety and Health (OSH) Theory Test
procedures, regulation and its
compliance in Malaysia
(C2)

CLO 2 : Initiates incident hazards, risks Interactive Learning Case Study 1
and safe work practices in
order to maintain health and CLS 5
safe work environment
(A3) Discussion Case Study 2

CLO 3 : Demonstrate communication CLS 3b Discussion Presentation
skill in group to explain the
factor that can lead to accident
in workplace
(A3)

TEACHING SCHEDULE :

WEEK TOPIC ASSESSMENT

Week 1 - 2 Registration and Orientation Week Theory Test
Week 3 - 4 Topic 1 – INTRODUCTION TO OCCUPATIONAL
Week 5 - 6 Case Study 1
Week 7 - 8 SAFETY and HEALTH LEGISLATION Case Study 2
Week 9 - 11 Topic 2 – OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY and HEALTH
Week 12 - 14 Quiz
Week 15 MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Presentation
Topic 3 – INCIDENTS PREVENYION
Topic 4 – HAZARD IDENTIFICATION, RISK PERCENTAGE
15%
ASSESSMENT and RISK CONTROL 25%
40%
(HIRARC) 20%
Topic 5 – FIRE SAFETY 100%
Topic 6 – WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT and

ERGONOMICS

Revision Week

ASSESSMENT:

CLO ASSESSMENT QUANTITY PROPOSED TOPIC
1 Quiz
2 1 4,5&6
3 Theory Test
Case Study 1 1,2&3

Presentation 2 4
5

16

Total

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Occupational Safety and Health HandBook is written for students
who are pursuing diploma courses in multi programmes. Although
most of the readers will not specialize in Safety and Health
Management, perhaps some will become sufficiently interested to
major in this subject. This is a key subject not just for engineering
students but for everyone because most of us become employees
at some part of our lives. Familiarity with the contents of Safety and
Health Management enables the reader to understand safety and
health rights in the workplace.
The HandBook content is designed in line with the latest syllabus
prescribed in Malaysian Polytechnics (MOHE) & it covers essential
parts of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) legislation
& its requirements. The content in brief consist of seven chapters
cover Introduction to Safety and Health Legislation, Occupational
Safety and Health Management System, Incidents Prevention,
Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control (HIRARC),
Fire Safety, Workplace Environment and Ergonomics & First Aid.
This HandBook provides a summary which consists of key points to
assist readers learn in each topic. In addition, this HandBook is
written approach based on local guidelines & implementation of
Occupational Safety and Health in Malaysia.

Intan Hazlina binti Ayob

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Course Outline 2
Preface 4
TOPIC
1 INTRODUCTION TO OCCUPATIONAL 7

SAFETY and HEALTH LEGISLATION 26
2 OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY and HEALTH 36

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 49
3 INCIDENTS PREVENTION 56
4 HAZARDS IDENTIFICATION, RISK ASSESSMENT 68
79
and RISK CONTROL (HIRARC) 90
5 FIRE SAFETY
6 WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT and ERGONOMICS
7 FIRST AID & CPR
Reference

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OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY & HEALTH Legislation

The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994 was
legislated on 25th February 1994, enacted by Duli Yang Maha Mulia
Seri Paduka Baginda Yang diPertuan Agong with the advice &
consent of Dewan Negara & Dewan Rakyat in the assembled
parliament. The act also known as Act 514 is a guideline used by
public / private companies in preparing & promoting safety & health
policies in the workplace, with the intent to ensure the safety, health
& welfare of all persons at all places of work.

OSHA 1994 was promulgated based on the self-regulation
concept; with the primary responsibility of ensuring safety & health
at the workplace lying with those who create the risks & work with
the risks. This act provides for a consultative process at the policy
level with the establishment of the National Council for
Occupational Safety and Health. The consultative process extends
to where safety & health programmes are implemented with both
employer & employee representatives as members of the safety &
health committee. In addition, the act cultivates safety & health
awareness among employers & employees by giving the guidelines
to promote, prompt & encourage a high standard of Occupational
Safety and Health Act (OSH) at the workplace.

OSH legislation helps to ensure that everyone, especially
employers & employees become more responsible in creating a
safe working environment. OSHA 1994 provides general duties for
the employer, a self-employed person, the designer, the

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manufacturer & the supplier, the provisions of appointing officers &
the establishment of National Council, policy development & the
preparation of occupational safety & health measures, enforcement,
the role of investigators & the liabilities of the offense.

There are seven regulations under OSHA 1994 enforced by
the Department of Occupational Safety and Health Malaysia
(DOSH) as follows:
↔ Employers’ Safety and Health General Policy Statements

(exception) Regulations 1995
↔ Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1996
↔ Safety and Health Committee Regulations 1996
↔ Safety and Health Officer Regulations 1997
↔ Use and Standards of Exposure of Chemicals Hazardous to

Health Regulations 2000
↔ Notification of Accident, Dangerous Occurrence, Occupational

Poisoning & Occupational Disease Regulations 2004
↔ Classification, Labelling & Safety Data Sheet of Hazardous

Chemicals (CLASS) Regulations 2013

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IMPORTANCE of SAFETY at the WORKPLACE

Human loss & suffering of any injury is immeasurable. In order to
prevent accidents & injuries from occurring, a safety culture should
be implemented by the management & employees. Accidents are
the direct result of unsafe activities & conditions, both of which can
be controlled by the management. It should be noted that a safe &
healthy working environment can help avoid any serious accidents
which will cause injury, disability, illness / death at the workplace.
The management is responsible for the establishment &
maintenance of a safe working environment, into which workers
must fit & cooperate.

An accident can be defined as an undesired event which results in
physical harm / property damage (Hughes & Ferrett, 2007). Safety and
health prevents people from being harmed at work by controlling the
risks & providing a satisfactory working environment. These things are
reasonably & ethically important but there is more to it than that. Safety
& health in the workplace can increase productivity, reduce staff turnover
& promote lower staff absence due to sickness.

Successful safety & health management can lead to significant
cost savings, as well as a good accident record. Some companies have
become well-known for the success of their safety management
systems. Accident prevention is cost-effective. Safety & health
programmes help to reduce compensation costs because accidents &
loss are minimized. Damages to plant, downtime, destruction to the
factory & environment can impose drawbacks in the business. A single

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incident can ruin a small enterprise & the absence of just one person for
self-employed people can cause major problems to the business.

Safety in the workplace promotes a quality lifestyle, better work
methods & improves organizational performance. Proper risk
assessment of work activities helps to reduce any associated risks.
Risks is the chance / probability of loss & an evaluation of the potential
for failure. It is the probability that a hazard will result in an accident with
definable negative occurrences.

Employees need safety training to develop skills, to be aware
of the need to develop a safe environment & to comply with safe
systems of work. Sufficient protection for health, safety & welfare in
the organization will increase the motivation to work & enhance
employees’ commitment / loyalty towards the organization.

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STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS

Legislative framework plays a significant role in ensuring the
development of the safety & health culture in Malaysia. OSHA 1994
is a mixture of criminal law, set out in statutes & known as statute
law & common law. Statute law is the written law of a country,
consisting of Acts of Parliament, regulations / orders made within
the parameters of the Acts. These acts are part of a framework of
principles in the areas / issues involved. Regulations & orders
support the acts, which can be written after the acts were
introduced. Common law is judge-declared law & evolves over the
years as a result of decisions by courts & judges.

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Four basic general elements in legal framework related to OSHA 1994:

 The Act
general rules which are dependent upon Parliament’s approval & the
King’s consent

 The Regulation
details of an act & endorsed by Minister

 Industry Code of Practice (ICOP)
any code, standard, rule & specification to support the Acts &
regulations. it serves as a guideline for the general requirement &
enables legislation to be kept up-to-date through content revision

 Guidelines
documents that present opinions on good practice which have no legal
force

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ROLES of SAFETY & HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS in MALAYSIA

 ensure the safety, health & welfare of people at work from
arising hazards in all activities at the workplace

 investigate all accidents, poisonous / dangerous occurrences
in the workplace

 administer & enforce the legislation related to occupational
safety & health of the country

 study & review the legislation & OSHA 1994 policies whenever
necessary

 provide advisory service & information to all agencies about
the management & technical aspects of occupational safety &
health

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 provide training & consultation services to disseminate
information & to conduct research in the field of occupational
safety & health

 provide social security protection by social insurance,
including medical & cash benefits

 give provision of artificial aids & rehabilitation to employees in
order to reduce suffering

 provide financial guarantee & protection to the worker’s family

topic 1 : https://youtu.be/topix1osh

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PRINCIPLES of OSHMS

It is a basic duty for an employer to follow the Malaysian
Occupational Safety & Health standard OSH-MS-1722:2011. This
establishment is a requirement adapted from the International
Labour Organization components (ILO-OSH 2001) & based on the
quality management system elements of the Deming Wheel (Plan,
Do, Check & Act).

The primary components of OSH-MS1722 are policy,
organizing, planning & implementation, evaluation & action for
improvement.

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The conceptual sub-elements in OSHMS

elements Sub-elements
Policy
 OSH policy
 employee involvement

Organizing  responsibility
 competency
 documentation
 communication

Planning & Implementation  initial review
 objective & programme
 HIRARC
 ERF
 management of change
 procurement
 contracting

Evaluation  performance & monitoring
 incident investigation
 audit
 management review

Action for Improvement  correction & prevention action
 continual improvement

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Section 30 OSH 1994

30. Establishment of safety and health committee at place of work

(1) Every employer shall establish a safety and health committee at
the place of work in accordance with this section if-
(a) there are forty or more persons employed at the place of work;
or (b) the Director General directs the establishment of such a
committee at the place of work

(2) The composition of a safety and health committee established
under subsection (1), the election or appointment of persons to the
committee, the powers of the members of the committee and any
other matter relating to the establishment or procedure of the
committee shall be as prescribed

(3) Every employer shall consult the safety and health committee
with a view to the making and maintenance of arrangements which
will enable him and his employees to co-operate effectively in
promoting and developing measures to ensure the safety and
health at the place of work of the employees, and in checking the
effectiveness of such measures

(4) A person who contravenes the provisions of this section shall be
guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not
exceeding five thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding six months or to both

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Safety & Health Committee Composition

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A good safety committee must be proactive & well-organized. They
need to conduct specific safety & health agendas for the
organization.

Chairman

➢ schedules monthly meetings, arranges time, date & place
➢ develops safety & health agendas for meetings
➢ conducts monthly meetings
➢ helps members to arrive at a consensus on the solution
➢ ensures all members are involved; everyone has the opportunity to

share facts & ideas

Secretary

➢ records meeting minutes
➢ distributes minutes to representatives
➢ posts minutes for all employees to review
➢ maintains & manages the safety & health committee file
➢ points out items that require discussion & follow up by the committee
➢ keeps minutes & agendas for at least three years

Committee Representatives

➢ report employees’ safety & health concerns to the committee
➢ report collection of accidents, near-miss incidents & unsafe workplace

environment to the committee
➢ suggest items to include in the monthly meeting agenda
➢ encourage employees to report workplace hazards & suggest to

control them

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➢ establish procedures for conducting workplace inspections & give
recommendations to management to control hazards

➢ help management evaluate the company’s safety & health programme
& suggest improvement activities

➢ establish better investigation procedures for any causes of accidents
& near-miss incidents in the workplace
The role of the committee is like an advisory body. The

committee cannot be held responsible for violations of the
occupational safety & health act.

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Section 16 OSH 1994

16. Duty to formulate safety and health policy. Except in such cases
as may be prescribed, it be the duty of every employer and every
self-employed person to prepare and as often as may be
appropriate revise a written statement of his general policy with
respect to the safety and health at work of his employees and the
organisation and arrangements for the time being in force for
carrying out that policy, and to bring the statement and any revision
of it to the notice of all of his employees

topic 2 : https://youtu.be/topix2osh

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The origin of accident prevention & industrial safety can be traced back to Herbert
W. Heinrich’s book, Industrial Accident Prevention (1931). This book became the
first major reference on understanding accidents. As an official to Travelers
Insurance Company, Heinrich had the opportunity to study 75 000 reports of
industrial accidents. In his analysis, Heinrich concludes:

↔ 88% of industrial accidents are caused by unsafe acts of workers
↔ 10% of industrial accidents happen due to unsafe conditions
↔ 2% are unavoidable (act of God)

With this understanding, Heinrich summarizes ten statements about industrial
accidents, called ‘axioms of industrial safety’. He developed a five-element singular
sequential linear causation trend of accidents called the ‘Domino Theory’ (Geotsch,
2008).

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Thirty years after the birth of the Domino Theory, Bird’s Loss Causation
Model became the first updated model, presented by Bird & Loftus (Bird &
Germain, 1996). Frank E. Bird Jr. developed a clearer relation model
between the undesired event & its consequences using Management
System as the main control towards Immediate & Basic cause, also known
as the ‘root’ cause (Hosseinian & Torghabeh, 2012; Bird & Germain, 1996).
Bird’s Loss Causation Model was modified & perfected by the International
Loss Control Institute, which was named The International Loss Control
Institute (ILCI) Loss Causation Model.

Bird’s International Loss Control showed an accident sequence was
more manageable & controllable. A major weakness with the Domino
Theory was the fact that it relied on the concept of a single cause leading to
an incident. Unfortunately, an incident is rarely the product of a single

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cause, rather it is the result of several factors that occurred simultaneously
/ randomly to produce the incident / loss.

The updated model reflects on real-life situations where
communication & management is used as a powerful tool to prevent
accidents, compared to the element of ‘Social Environment & Ancestry’ in
Heinrich’s model; which is very hard to change / control. Bird suggested
management system to the event & the outcome of accident causation
(either good / bad) depend on the quality of the system. ‘Fault of Person’
also sounded more to blaming a person of the wrongdoing rather than
finding the cause. This element / event was also conceptualized into basic
causes.

Therefore, Bird’s also conceptualized replacing “Ancestry-Social
Environment’ with the ‘Management System’ & ‘Fault of Person’ with ‘Basic
Causes’.
There are two main concepts introduced in The International Loss Control
Institute Loss Causation Model (ILCI) based on Bird’s Loss Causation
Model:

↔ The influence of management & managerial error found
happening of near misses / accidents are caused by lack of
management control towards their worker.

↔ Loss as the result of an accident which not only represent
injuries, but also represents damages due to production
losses, property damage / wastage of other assets.

In this updated model, like Heinrich’s Domino Model, Bird’s Loss
Causation Model still believed in a domino-based sequence of events that
leads up to an eventual loss.

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INCIDENT PREVENTION COSTS (Ice-Berg Theory)
Design Costs

Most incident prevention programmes will have high initial
expenditure such as designing a protection system for moving
parts. But in the long run, these protection designs save lives. Most
of the design costs are one-off but can be used for a long duration.

The designs are developed based on HIRARC reports, job
analysis reports, need analysis reports & even from accident
investigation reports. The outcome of accidents, near misses & also
complaints are good feedback for incident prevention. For example,
reports analysis is obtained from complaints about machine
operation hazards & injury reports. This information is used to
develop solution designs. In addition, buying machines with safety
features helps to safeguard workers from injury.

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Operational Costs

Incidents prevention programmes are initiated by employers &
safety committee members. Incident prevention programmes
include safety training, new safety practice information & open day
OSH to create awareness of safety in the workplace.

Incident prevention could increase benefits at the ration of 3:1.
In other words, GBP£1 spent on incident prevention gains the
owner GBP£3 (Ikpe, Hammon & Oloke, 2012). Based on research
findings, incident prevention is worth the money spent. In return, it
actually increases the profit of the company by lowering the incident
expenses allocated. In other words, when fewer incidents occur, the
profit of the company will increase. Apart from decreasing the cost
of injuries, incident prevention also safeguards future needs, such
as investing in environmental preservation, recycling & using
renewable energy & minimizing the use of hazardous chemicals to
ensure the workers are only exposed to minimum occupational
hazards.

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Future Costs

The purpose of incident prevention is accident intervention. It
lowers the costs of injuries, illness, loss of property & time.
According to Bird & Germain (1985), the ILCI Loss Causation Model
estimates that for every dollar of direct loss, the indirect costs may
be six to fifty-three times as much which can be eliminated if
incident prevention is properly applied & implemented. This
condition can be seen as the ice-berg concept where the tip of the
ice-berg is direct cost & the bottom of the ice-berg submerged is an
indirect cost.

Direct & indirect costs of injury & illness are deducted directly
out of profit; conversely, when dollars are saved from accidents, the
organization realizes increased profits. Apart from decreasing direct
& indirect costs, incident prevention could also increase benefits by
decreasing accident rates.

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Apart from direct & indirect losses, Ikep et. al. (2012), Fellow
(2004) & Tang (2002) explained that benefits will increase with
prevention costs because accident costs have decreased
dramatically.

Research in civil construction work conducted by Ikep et. al.
(2012) showed that paying for incident prevention is not a loss.
They found that the ratio between cost spent on incident prevention
to the benefits gained by employer is 1:3, as explained in
operational costs.

As such, incident prevention is able to safeguard future costs
by keeping accident costs low & increasing benefits instead.

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topic 3 : https://youtu.be/topix3osh

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