Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Malaysia)

The Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), under the Ministry of Human Resources, has been assigned the responsibility of administrating and enforcing legislation related to occupational safety and health (OSH) to ensure that safety, health and welfare of people at work as well as others are protected from hazards resulting from occupational activities in the various sectors which include manufacturing; mining and quarrying; construction; agriculture, forestry and fishing; utilities (gas, electricity, water and sanitary services); transport, storage and communication; wholesale and retail trades; hotels and restaurants; finance, insurance, real estate and business services; public services and statutory authorities.

The department has taken all necessary actions to ensure excellent delivery system and has achieved MS ISO 9001:2000 certification from the Certification Body accredited by Department of Standards Malaysia. Therefore, it is committed to improve its service to customers through the effective management of its ISO system. The department carries out enforcement activities on industries governed by the three legislations which are Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994, Factories and Machinery Act 1967; and Petroleum Act (Safety Measure) 1984.

The National Occupational Safety and Health Excellence Award, which is the highest appreciation by the government of malaysia, is aimed at giving credit and recognition to organizations which have a good record of achievements for occupational safety and health management at the workplace through the safety and health program audit. Audit is used as a tool for benchmarking a firm’s safety and health efforts against accepted standards which outlined in the MS 1722:Part 1:2005 OSH MS (Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems – Requirements). This standard was developed by Department of Standards Malaysia and with other agencies collaboration. It provides a means of measuring both documentation and implementation of the safety and health program.