Maintaining Good Occupational Safety and Health Practices in Organisations: A Review

This article highlights some of the causes and costs for not maintaining good occupational safety and health (OSH) practices and suggests some preventive measures to overcome the challenges. The aim is to encourage employers and employees to do all they can to put safety first to minimise financial and personal losses resulting from the permanent disability, mental and emotional stresses, as well as the deaths of employees. After implementing the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (OSHA) for nearly 20 years, much more could be done to enforce the law. The rate of non-compliance need to be reduced and more organisations should be encouraged to provide safer work environment, and to ultimately adopt the more enduring safety culture to minimise the total number of occupational accidents and illnesses in Malaysia.