Occupational Safety And Health (Osh) In Smes In Malaysia: A Preliminary Investigation

Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) issues are increasingly receiving attention and found as important in Malaysian Industrial Relations. In an operational analysis report of the OSH Regulations (2000) has found that 80 percent of workplace investigated failed to adhere fully to regulations (Abdul Rahman, 2007). Mass medias are also continuously reporting various accidents at the workplace which results in deaths. As a developing nation, improvements to its workers safety and health issues should go hand in hand with Malaysia economic booming. With the increased number of its small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Malaysia is facing greater challenges to monitor OSH requirements are adhered to in spite of trying to stay competitive and survive with its limited capital or financial resources. After making a comparison of implementation models of OSH of two developed nations namely United States and the United Kingdom, it is concluded that the involvement of various parties including the public in policy making, the development of appropriate infrastructure and human resources, enforcement autonomy, focused job scope within department, appropriate language usage, training inclusive of all forms of diversity at work and appropriate penalty are key success factors at reducing death rates, accidents and lost work days at the workplace for these two countries (Khoo, Kh’ng, Chee et al., 2007). Survey was distributed to SMEs in Malaysia, results were analyzed and findings with regard to the implementation of OSH in workplace are discussed