KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources is looking to improve the level of health and safety across workplaces in the country through the amendment to the Occupational Safety and Health Act 2022, which will take effect on 1 June.

During the World Day for Safety and Health event on 28 April, HR minister, Steven Sim Chee Keong, announced that he has signed the gazette to help speed up the implementation and adoption of the amendment after being delayed for nearly two years.

“So within 100 days (at the helm of the ministry), I have signed the gazette for the new amendment to take effect,” Sim said.

The Malaysian Parliament passed the amendment to the Occupational Safety and Health Act 2022 on 16 Mar 2022.

Keeping workers in Malaysia safe

To help keep all workers in the country safe, Sim explained that employers must provide an analysis of various risks in their workplaces, as well as appoint a health safety coordinator, in accordance with the OSHA 2022 amendment.

“Companies with five or more employees must appoint a co-ordinator... the enforcement of this act is highly anticipated by the occupational health and safety practitioner sector,” the HR minister said.

“Coordinators are a new thing and with the presence of these trained people, we hope the workplace environment will be safer.”

As part of the enforcement of the OSHA 2022 amendment, a total of 13,000 workers will participate in the Occupational Mental Health First Aid training program across Malaysia this year.

Sim said as many as 4,000 employees have already undergone training since the program’s launch in February 2023.

The HR Ministry hopes that the program will help improve occupational safety and health practices in workplaces, with Sim pointing out that mental health issues are a focus of the office as well.

As many as 2,500 health and safety professionals took part in the World Day for Safety and Health celebration. Each attendee recited the integrity pledge, resulting in the The Largest Integrity Pledge by OSH Practitioners in Malaysia’ according to the country’s Book of Records.

Launching a national HR framework

At last week’s Labour Day celebration, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced the launch of the National Human Resources Policy Framework (NHRPF). Consisting of three cores and 11 strategies, the new program was designed to address key workforce and HR issues in the country.

“This framework addresses crucial issues related to workers, such as fair compensation, job welfare, labour union movements, job mismatches, and foreign labour,” Sim said.

The HR minister explained that the natioframework will serve as a guide in helping policymakers create a comprehensive national HR policy for the 13th Malaysia Plan.

One of the first projects of the NHRPF is to increase the wages of Malaysian workers through the Progressive Wage Policy. The program is set to be launched in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy in June.

To provide funding for the project, Sim said the Madani government has already allocated MYR 50 million (US$10.5 million). The hope is that the new program will help benefit more than 1 million workers in Malaysia.