A study on the enforcement strategy for safety and health compliance in manufacturing sector in Malaysia

Abstract

Safety and health aspect should always be part of manufacturing system so that every stage of the manufacturing process and activities will expose no risk to more than a millions workers involved in this sector. In Malaysia, manufacturing sector is under the jurisdiction of Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (OSHA) and Factory and Machinery Act 1967 (FMA) which are enforced by the Department of Occupational and Health (DOSH). The objective of the study is to study the enforcement strategy carried out by DOSH officers whether it is persuasive, punitive or combination of both. Persuasion and punishment refer to the type of action taken by the enforcement officers against the errand employers. Making remarks in a log book, giving out directive letters and issuing notices (Notice of Prohibition, NOI and Notice of Improvement, NOP) are considered persuasive whilst opening an investigation paper (IP) for the purpose of offering compound and bringing the matter to court are considered punitive. The study depends on DOSH's statistic i.e. OSH enforcement activities and action taken by its officers against errand employers during enforcement activities. The statistic shows that DOSH use both persuasion and punishment strategies during occupational safety and health (OSH) enforcement activities, but the use of persuasion is too glaring i.e. as much as 98.5% from the total number of actions taken against errand employers.