# OSHA 1994 employer duties after the 2022 amendment

> Since 1 June 2024 the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 covers essentially every workplace in Malaysia, and an employer with five or more employees must appoint an occupational safety and health coordinator.

- Category: employment
- Language: en
- Status: published
- Updated: 2026-07-20
- Canonical: https://negaraku.md/en/employment/osha-employer-duties-malaysia

---

Ask a Malaysian SME whether OSHA applies to it and the answer is usually no — that is a
factory statute, and we run an office. That answer was defensible until **1 June 2024**.
It has been wrong ever since, and the duty most of those employers are now in breach of
costs up to RM50,000: appointing a safety and health coordinator once you have five
people.

## What changed on 1 June 2024

The Occupational Safety and Health (Amendment) Act 2022 [Act A1648] brought the bulk of
its provisions into force on **1 June 2024**, including the rewritten First Schedule.

Section 1(2) now reads that the Act *shall apply to all places of work throughout
Malaysia including in the public services and statutory authorities*, subject to
subsection (3). Subsection (3) points at the First Schedule, which after the amendment
contains exactly three non-applications:

1. **Domestic employment**, in relation to a person who employs another or is employed as
   a domestic servant within the meaning of the Employment Act 1955
2. **The armed forces**
3. **Work on board ships** governed by the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952, the Sabah
   Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1960 or the Sarawak Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1960

Everything else is in. Offices, clinics, shops, restaurants, warehouses, co-working
spaces, professional firms, schools, government departments.

Section 2(2) reinforces the reach: where any other written law on occupational safety and
health conflicts with OSHA, **OSHA prevails** and the conflicting provision is construed
as superseded.

## The duty most SMEs do not know exists

**Section 29A(1).** An employer whose place of work is *not* included in any class
specified by the Minister under s.29(1) **shall appoint one of his employees to act as an
occupational safety and health coordinator if he employs five or more employees at his
place of work.**

Four features are worth pinning down:

- The threshold is **five employees at the place of work**, not five across the company.
- The coordinator must be **one of the employer's own employees**. This is not an
  outsourced role.
- The purpose is defined narrowly by s.29A(2): coordinating occupational safety and
  health issues at the place of work.
- Section 29A(3) deems compliance where a **safety and health officer** has already been
  appointed at that place of work under s.29.

Section 29A(4) sets the penalty at a fine **not exceeding RM50,000** or imprisonment not
exceeding **six months**, or both.

## The three headcount thresholds

| Employees at the place of work | Duty | Provision | Penalty |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 or more | General duties, written policy, risk assessment | ss.15, 16, 18B | up to RM500,000 / 2 years (s.19) |
| **5 or more** | Appoint an **OSH coordinator** | s.29A | up to RM50,000 / 6 months |
| **40 or more** | Establish a **safety and health committee** | s.30 | up to RM100,000 / 1 year |

A safety and health **officer** under s.29 is a separate requirement, triggered not by
headcount but by the Minister specifying a class or description of place of work by order
in the Gazette. Where s.29 applies, the officer must be a competent person, is appointed
exclusively for the safety role, and may serve only one place of work at a time unless the
Director General permits otherwise.

## The general duties, and the two new ones

**Section 15(1)** is the core obligation: to ensure, so far as is practicable, the safety,
health and welfare at work of all employees. Section 15(2) lists the particulars — safe
plant and systems of work; arrangements for the use, handling, storage and transport of
plant and substances; information, instruction, training and supervision; safe premises
with safe access and egress; a safe working environment with adequate welfare facilities;
and **procedures for dealing with emergencies**.

**Section 16** requires a written statement of general policy on safety and health,
revised as often as appropriate, together with the organisation and arrangements for
carrying it out, brought to the notice of all employees.

**Section 17** extends duties to persons who are not employees. **Section 18** covers
occupiers of a place of work.

Two provisions inserted by the 2022 amendment change the picture for anyone who uses
contractors:

**Section 18A** imposes duties on a **principal** in relation to contractors,
subcontractors and persons working under the principal's direction — including the
allocation of *sufficient time, budget and other resources*, which is an unusual and
pointed piece of drafting.

**Section 18B** requires every employer, self-employed person and principal to **conduct a
risk assessment** of the safety and health risks posed by the undertaking, and to
implement risk control where the assessment shows it is required. Section 18B(3) defines
risk assessment as the process of evaluating risks arising from hazards at work and
determining appropriate control measures.

Breach of any of ss.15 to 18B carries the s.19 penalty: a fine **not exceeding
RM500,000**, or imprisonment not exceeding **two years**, or both.

## Accident notification

Section 32(1) requires an employer to notify the nearest occupational safety and health
office of any accident, dangerous occurrence, occupational poisoning or occupational
disease which has occurred **or is likely to occur** at the place of work. Section 32(2)
imposes a parallel duty on medical practitioners attending a patient believed to be
suffering from a prescribed occupational disease or poisoning.

The section itself sets no period — the periods and forms are prescribed by the
notification regulations made under the Act, which could not be retrieved from DOSH at the
time of writing. Confirm the current period and form with your nearest DOSH office rather
than relying on a figure repeated online.

Section 33 lets the Director General direct an inquiry, with assessors who have their own
power to enter and inspect premises.

## Common mistakes

**Believing OSHA is limited to listed industries.** That was the pre-2024 position and it
is the single most common error in this area.

**Outsourcing the coordinator role.** Section 29A(1) says *one of his employees*.

**Counting the threshold company-wide.** Both s.29A and s.30 are drafted by reference to
the **place of work**.

**Treating a contractor's safety as the contractor's problem.** Sections 17, 18A and 18B
say otherwise, and s.18A(2)(b) expressly reaches budget and time allocation.

**Skipping the written policy because the business is small.** Section 16 applies except
in such cases as may be prescribed, and the s.19 penalty is the largest in this article.

**Assuming the old penalty figures.** The 2022 amendment raised several tenfold or more —
s.30 moved from RM5,000 to RM100,000, and s.19 to RM500,000.

## What's next

Count the people at each place of work today. At five or more, appoint the coordinator in
writing and record the appointment; at forty or more, constitute the committee. Then
document one risk assessment per place of work under s.18B, because that is the duty an
inspector will ask to see first. For which regulator handles what, see the
[labour law map](/en/employment/labour-law-map-malaysia).

## Sources

- Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (Act 514), updated text of reprint as at 1 June 2024 — https://dosh.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Occupational-Safety-and-Health-Act-1994-Act-514_Reprint-Version-1.6.2024_English.pdf (Department of Occupational Safety and Health)
- Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (Act 514) Reprint Version (1.6.2024) — download page — https://dosh.gov.my/en/sdm_downloads/occupational-safety-and-health-act-1994-act-514_reprint-version-1-6-2024/ (Department of Occupational Safety and Health)
- Employment Act 1955 (Act 265), updated text as at 1 January 2023 — https://jtksm.mohr.gov.my/sites/default/files/2023-11/Akta%20Kerja%201955%20(Akta%20265)_0.pdf (Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Semenanjung Malaysia)

---
Source of truth: https://github.com/negaraku-md/NegaraKu.md
License: CC BY-SA 4.0