OSHA 1994

AND FMA 1967

Chapter 4 (cont.)
OSHA 1994
The aims of this Act are
to secure the safety, health and welfare of persons at work
against risks to safety or health arising out of the activities of
persons at work
to protect person at a place of work other than persons at
work against risks to safety or health arising out of the
activities of persons at work
to promote an occupational environment for persons at work
which is adapted to their physiological and psychological
needs
 to provide the means whereby the associated occupational
safety and health legislation may be progressively replaced
by a system of regulations and approved industry codes of
practice operating in combination with the provisions of this
Act designed to maintain or improve the standards of safety
and health.
IMPORTANCE OF THE ACT
The Act is necessary to overcome the limitations of
the Factories and Machinery Act 1967 (FMA 1967)
in the following aspects:
Scope of Application
Prescriptive Provisions

Approach
Scope of Application
The scope of FMA 1967 only covers 24 percent of
the total labor workforce (i.e. 6.8 million in year
1980) nationwide. Those protected are workers in
the sectors defined as a factory namely:
Manufacturing

Mining and Quarrying

Construction
 Prescriptive Provisions
The Factories and Machinery Act 1967 (FMA 1967)
provides prescriptive provisions, of which, over time,
became irrelevant.
The provisions provide in detail the necessary actions to
be taken to prevent occurrence of accidents.
For example, the provision requires all machinery parts
to be strictly guarded according to the specifications
stated under the Factories and Machinery (Fencing of
Machinery and Safety) Regulations 1970.
 Approach
The approach of the Act was based on the traditional
method of using a checklist system.
The checklist system puts emphasis on workers, system
of work, machineries and working environment by
preventing accidents and industrial diseases.
This approach gave the impression that the
responsibility of occupational safety and health purely
lies in government controls, resulting in industries
becoming too dependent on the government
regulations.
 At the same time, accident statistic in other sectors
were high not covered under the FMA 1967
recorded alarming rates, especially fatality and
permanent disability cases.
This urged the government to draft an additional
piece of law in order to control these activities.
PHILOSOPHY AND PRINCIPLES
The philosophy and principles of this Act differs
from the prescriptive nature of the Factories and
Machinery Act.
The Act address the responsibility to ensure a safe
and healthy workplace lies with those who create
the risk and those who work with the risk.
This philosophy advocates three main principles:
Selfregulation
Consultation
Worker cooperation and participation
 The provision of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 are
based on the self-regulation scheme. Its primary responsibility is to
ensure safety and health of work lies with those who create the
risks and those who work with the risks.
Through self-regulating scheme that is designed to suit the
particular industry or organization, this Act also aims to establish
effective safety and health organization and performance.
The concept of self-regulation encourages cooperation, consultation
and participation of employees and management in efforts to
upgrade the standards of safety and health at the workplace.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 is enforced by the
Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), a
government department under the Ministry of Human Resources
Malaysia.
 FACTORIES AND MACHINERY ACT 1967
(ACT 139)
The Factories and Machinery Act was enacted in
1967 as Act 64. It was revised on 1st April 1974
and amended to the Laws of Malaysia Act 139.
The objectives of the Act:
To provide control on factories to secure safety, health
and welfare of person therein
For the purpose of registration and inspection of
machinery and for matters connected therewith
 Application
OSHA 1994 supersedes the FMA 1967 in the event of
any conflict
FMA 1967 applies to mainly factories and construction
sites
FMA and OSHA enabling act (give power to minister
to gazette detail regulations)
Contains some general provision on safety, health and
welfare
 Application
FMA-limited to manufacturing industry, mining and
quarrying and construction
do not contain detail provisions on specific matters
Detail provisions are stipulated under the regulations
 Arrangement
FMA 1967 divided into 6 parts:
Part 1: Preliminary
Part 2: Safety, health and welfare
Part 3: Persons-in-charge and certificates of competency
Part 4: Notification of accidents, dangerous occurrence and
dangerous diseases
Part 5: Notice of occupation of factory and registration and
use of machinery
Part 6: General
Part 1: Preliminary
Definition of a factory:

There must be premises and its boundaries can be defined;

Within the premises there is manual labor doing process

The process must involve the making, altering, repairing,

ornamenting, finishing, cleaning, washing, breaking up
demolition or adapting for sale any article; and Part I
building operations, hoisting machine, machinery, steam
The processes must be for trading.
 Factory may be defined as any premises or part of
a premises where trade for the purposes of gain to
any business, where 5 or more persons employed.
Factory covers all places of work using machinery
including building operations and works of
engineering construction.
Part 2: Safety, Health and Welfare
Key points:

Premises must be structurally sound with safe access to

work areas, materials and goods must be safely
stacked (Section 10)
Machinery must be of sound construction and
dangerous parts must be fenced(Section 14, 15, 16)
Employees must not misuse safety and health
equipment(Section 20)
Employees not to endanger himself or other person
 Premises must be kept in clean state, with adequate
work space, ventilation, lighting and toilets (Section 22)
Persons must be supplied with adequate facilities for
clothing, storage, drinking, water, first aid and washing
facilities (Section 25)
Employees must be trained on the safety of machinery
(Section 26)
Part 3: Persons-in-charge and Certificates of
Competency
Key points:
Machinery operators must be adequately trained
or under the supervision of a trained person
(Section 26);
Young persons (< 16 years) must not operate
machinery (Section 28)
Part 4: Notification of Accidents, Dangerous Occurrence and
Dangerous Diseases
The occupier must notify the nearest inspector of accidents
and diseases. Accidents include:
Loss of life;
Injury to a person who loses more than 4 days work (loss time
injury LTI);
Serious damage to machinery or other property (Section 31).

Inspectors may investigate accidents and dangerous

occurrence and hold enquiries into more serious cases
(Section 33)
Part 5: Notice of Occupation of Factory and Registration and Use of
Machinery
NotifyDepartment of Occupational Safety ad Health (DOSH) within
3 months of the intended start date (Section 34)
Building operations must be notified if last more than 6
weeks(Section 35)
Changes to the use of factory or machinery must be notified to
DOSH
Fills a standard form together with (a) layout plan of the factory; (b)
list of products to be manufactured; (c) list of machines to be used;
(d) list of chemicals, toxic or flammable substances to be used, and
(e) detail flow chart of the processes.
Part 6: General
General penalty RM2,000.00
Certain sections is RM5,000.00 (Section 51)

Or imprisonment not exceeding 2 years

Or both
 Schedules
Schedule 1 Defines dangerous occurrencesto machinery
that need to be notified

Schedule 2 Describes the types of injury that may be

classified as serious bodily injury

Schedule 3 Lists notifiable industrial diseases

Regulations under the Act
Factories and Machinery (Certificates of Competency Examinations)
Regulations, 1970
Factories and Machinery (Electric Passenger and Goods Lift) Regulations,
1970
Factories and Machinery (Fencing of Machinery and Safety) Regulations,
1970
Factories and Machinery (Notification of Fitness and Inspections)
Regulations, 1970
Factories and Machinery (Person-In-Charge) Regulations, 1970
Factories and Machinery (Safety, Health and Welfare) Regulations, 1970
Factories and Machinery (Steam Boiler and Unfired Pressure Vessel)
Regulations, 1970
 Factories and Machinery (Administration) Regulations, 1970
Factories and Machinery (Compounding of Offences) Rules,
1978
Factories and Machinery (Compounding of Offences)
Regulations, 1978
Factories and Machineries (Lead) Regulations, 1984
Factories and Machineries (Asbestos Process) Regulations,
1986
Factories and Machinery (Building Operations and Works of
Engineering Construction) (Safety) Regulations, 1986
Factories and Machinery (Noise Exposure) Regulations,1989
Factories and Machinery (Mineral Dust) Regulations, 1989