NIOSH Safety and Health Officer (SHO) - Occupational Safety and Health Legislation (Malaysia) key terms

Malaysia's principal occupational safety and health statute, in force since 1994, imposing general duties on employers, employees, designers, manufacturers and suppliers, and empowering inspectors to enforce compliance through notices and prosecution.

Core obligation requiring every employer to ensure, so far as is practicable, the safety, health and welfare at work of all employees, covering plant, systems of work, information, training and supervision, without displacing employees' own duties.

The statutory test of reasonable practicability used in Malaysian OSH law: duty holders must weigh the magnitude of the risk against the cost, time and difficulty of the measures needed to control it.

Duty on every employee to take reasonable care of their own and others' safety, cooperate with the employer's safety arrangements, and use protective equipment and safety devices provided without interfering with them.

Document that every employer with five or more employees must prepare, keep revised and bring to employees' attention, setting out the organisation's safety and health arrangements and objectives.

Older statute regulating factories and machinery through registration, certification of fitness and detailed safety regulations; remaining provisions are progressively replaced as newer OSH regulations take effect.

Under the Factories and Machinery Act 1967, broadly defined premises where persons are employed in manual labour for a trade or process, or where machinery is used, together with the yard and appurtenances.

The person who occupies or has control of a factory or premises and who carries the registration, certification and safety obligations attached to that site, even where another party owns the property.

Certificate issued by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health for a factory or item of machinery, confirming it is fit for use subject to stated conditions and normally valid for a limited period before renewal.

An engineer or practitioner registered with the Department of Occupational Safety and Health to inspect and certify specified machinery, such as boilers and pressure vessels, and to perform statutory examinations reserved to such persons.

A closed container designed to hold liquids or gases at pressure above atmospheric, which under the Factories and Machinery Act 1967 requires registration and periodic examination by a competent person.

A workplace safety practitioner appointed under the Occupational Safety and Health (Safety and Health Officer) Regulations 1997 to advise the employer and implement safety and health programmes in industries covered by the regulations.

A joint employer-employee body required at workplaces with forty or more employees, meeting regularly to monitor safety measures, review incidents and recommend improvements to the employer.

The Occupational Safety and Health (Use and Standards of Exposure of Chemicals Hazardous to Health) Regulations 2000, requiring employers to assess and control employee exposure through risk assessment, monitoring, medical surveillance, training and records.

A structured assessment, carried out by a DOSH-registered assessor, of the health risks arising from hazardous chemicals in a workplace, forming the basis of the control programme required under USECHH 2000.

The maximum airborne concentration of a chemical substance to which most workers may be exposed over a stated reference period without adverse health effects, used to judge whether controls are adequate.

The Occupational Safety and Health (Notification of Accident, Dangerous Occurrence, Occupational Poisoning and Occupational Disease) Regulations 2004, obliging employers to notify DOSH of specified events and submit investigation reports within statutory deadlines.

A specified incident that could have caused serious injury or death but did not, such as a boiler explosion or scaffold collapse, and which must be notified even where no one was hurt.

The government department under the Ministry of Human Resources that enforces occupational safety and health legislation, registers competent persons and assessors, and approves safety and health training providers.

Statute governing minimum terms of employment in Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan, covering wages, hours, leave and termination, and providing for the reporting of workplace accidents causing injury.

The Social Security Organisation, which administers employment injury and invalidity schemes funded by employer and employee contributions and pays benefits to insured workers injured at work or while commuting.

SOCSO scheme covering accidents arising out of and in the course of employment, commuting accidents and prescribed occupational diseases, providing medical care, temporary and permanent disablement payments and dependants' benefits.

SOCSO benefit paid to an insured worker who becomes permanently incapable of working owing to injury or disease that need not be work-related, subject to qualifying contributions and medical assessment.

An authorised officer who may enter and inspect premises, take samples and photographs, require production of documents, question persons, and issue statutory notices or recommend prosecution for breaches.

Written direction from an inspector requiring a duty holder to remedy a contravention of safety and health law within a stated period, with a right of appeal against the notice.

Notice served where an activity involves a risk of serious personal injury, requiring the activity to stop immediately or after a stated time until the danger has been removed.

An administrative mechanism found in several Malaysian safety statutes by which an alleged offender may settle an offence by paying a prescribed sum instead of being taken to court.

Right of a person aggrieved by a notice or decision of an inspector to apply to the Minister responsible for occupational safety and health for review within the period fixed by statute.

Malaysia's principal pollution control statute, regulating emissions, effluent and scheduled wastes from prescribed premises and applied alongside OSH law where industrial activity harms the environment.

Categories of hazardous waste listed in the Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 2005, subject to cradle-to-grave control through licensing, storage, labelling, consignment notes and approved disposal.

A formal assessment of the likely environmental impacts of prescribed activities, required for approval under the Environmental Quality Act 1974 and often influencing the layout and siting of major facilities.

Statute establishing Malaysia's Fire and Rescue Department and requiring owners of designated premises to provide fire safety measures, obtain fire certificates and cooperate with fire investigations.

Certificate issued by the Fire and Rescue Department confirming that designated premises meet the required fire precautions, renewable at prescribed intervals and subject to inspection and conditions.

The ILO Occupational Safety and Health Convention 1981, which requires ratifying states to adopt a preventive national OSH policy, workplace-level duties and tripartite consultation, and which serves as a benchmark for Malaysian law reform.

ILO guidelines defining a voluntary occupational safety and health management system built on policy, organising, planning and implementation, evaluation, and action for improvement, adaptable to national conditions and workplace size.

The Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention 2006, requiring ratifying states to promote continuous improvement of OSH through national policy, systems and programmes and a preventive safety culture.

Ranking of risk controls from elimination, substitution and engineering measures through administrative controls down to personal protective equipment, with preference given to measures that remove risk at its source.

The principle that government, employer and worker representatives jointly shape and review safety and health policy and enforcement, reflected in national consultative bodies and workplace safety committees.