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Risk Assessment in New OSHA Legislation
By Ir . Teo Eu Jin
As an Engineer our job scope is enormous and mostly involves decision making to a certain degree . Hence , it is pivotal for us to adhere to the rules and guidelines always . Moreover , the “ Board of Engineers Malaysia Code of Conduct of Registered Person ” do emphasise the compliance to the law or regulation whereby any violation needs to be reported to the Employer or appropriate professional bodies , including public authorities ( if relevant ). A quick glance in “ Board of Engineers Malaysia , BEM ” webpage under legislation section , there are many associated Acts and Regulation available ranging from “ Registration of Engineers Act 1967 ( Rev . 2015 )”, “ Uniform Building By - Laws ” to “ Gas Supply Act 1993 ”.
On top of the mentioned local law , there are other related legislation that we Engineers need to be aware notable from the “ Department of Occupational Safety and Health , DOSH ”. In this article , I highlight the new “ Occupational Safety and Health ( Amendment ) Act 2022 ” which will basically consolidate both existing “ Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 ” and “ Factories and Machinery Act 1967 ”. Indeed , there are new sections introduced in this latest piece of legislation . For example , “ Appointment of licensed person ”, “ Duties of principle ”, “ Rights of employee ”, “ Occupational safety and health coordinator ” and “ Occupational safety and health training course ” just to name a few .
The purpose of this article is to articulate the “ Risk Assessment ” clause on Safety and Health in the new Occupational Safety and Health Act ( OSHA ). Even though risk assessment is common to most industrial player in Malaysia , there are some parties that may be new to it , especially Small and Medium Enterprises ( SME ). Generally , risk exist in all workplaces , just that the level of risk exposure differs depending on the job nature and industry . Therefore , both employer and employee need to work together to identify the risk and subsequently take necessary mitigation . There are a few effective risk assessment methods such as “ Job Safety Analysis ” ( JSA ) and “ Hazard Identification , Risk Assessment and Risk Control ” ( HIRARC ) that will be discussed further .
Duty to conduct and implement risk assessment
Section 18a .
( 1 ) Every employer , self-employed person or principal shall conduct a risk assessment in relation to the safety and health risk posed to any person who may be affected by his undertaking at the place of work .
( 2 ) Where a risk assessment indicates that risk control is required to eliminate or reduce the safety and health risk , the employer , self-employed person or principal shall implement such control .
( 3 ) For the purposes of this section , “ risk assessment ” means the process of evaluating the risks to safety and health arising from hazards at work and determining the appropriate measures for risk control .”.
Source : Occupational Safety and Health ( Amendment ) Act 2022
Table 1 : Introduction of Risk Assessment in Occupational Safety and Health ( Amendment ) Act 2022
Job Safety Analysis ( JSA ) which sometimes called Job Hazard Analysis ( JHA ) uses simple
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