OSHA amendment 2022 Malaysia: what changed for employers

What the OSHA amendment 2022 is

The Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 [Act 514] is Malaysia's main workplace safety law. It sets general duties for employers, the self-employed, designers, manufacturers, suppliers and employees, and it is enforced by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH, or JKKP in Bahasa Malaysia).

Parliament amended it through the Occupational Safety and Health (Amendment) Act 2022 [Act A1648]. Royal Assent was given on 4 March 2022 and the Act was published in the Gazette on 16 March 2022, but it only took effect when the Minister of Human Resources appointed a date. That notice, P.U.(B) 128 dated 2 April 2024, set 1 June 2024 as the commencement date.

The Factories and Machinery (Repeal) Act 2022 [Act 835] came into force on the same day. Many people still say "OSHA 2022", but the law you comply with is the OSH Act 1994 as amended. Plant that used to fall under the old Factories and Machinery Act, such as boilers, pressure vessels and lifting machinery, is now dealt with under OSHA itself: the amendment adds sections on installing prescribed plant, certificates of fitness and licensed persons who can inspect plant.

Who the amended Act applies to

Before the amendment, OSHA applied only to the industries listed in its First Schedule, so many offices, shops, schools and service businesses sat outside it. Section 1 now says the Act applies to all places of work throughout Malaysia, including the public services and statutory authorities.

The new First Schedule leaves out only three kinds of work:

• domestic employment of a domestic servant within the meaning of the Employment Act 1955;
• the armed forces;
• work on board ships governed by the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952 and the Sabah and Sarawak merchant shipping ordinances of 1960.

In practice this means that a 12-person accounting firm, a retail chain, a private clinic or a call centre now has the same general duties as a factory. The size of the duty still depends on what is practicable for that workplace, but "we are not an industry under OSHA" is no longer an answer.

The amendment also updates key definitions. "Employer" and "employee" now follow the contract of service, the old terms "principal employer" and "immediate employer" are gone, and new definitions cover "principal", "contractor", "competent person" and "serious bodily injury" (listed in a new Fourth Schedule, from fractures and amputations to any injury that puts someone in hospital for more than 24 hours).

New employer duties

Risk assessment (section 18B)

Every employer, self-employed person and principal must conduct a risk assessment of the safety and health risks to anyone who may be affected by their undertaking at the place of work, and must implement the controls that the assessment shows are needed. The Act defines risk assessment as evaluating the risks arising from hazards at work and deciding the right measures for risk control. DOSH's long-standing method for this is HIRARC; see our HIRARC guide and free template.

Duties of a principal (section 18A)

A principal, meaning the person who contracts out work to a contractor, must take practicable measures to ensure the safety and health of contractors, subcontractors and their employees while they work under the principal's direction as to how the work is done. The measures listed include safe plant and systems of work, enough time, budget and resources, information, training and supervision, a safe workplace and access, and emergency procedures. For many companies this is the biggest practical change, because it puts contractor safety firmly on the client's side of the table.

Emergency procedures (section 15)

The employer's general duty in section 15 now expressly includes developing and implementing procedures for dealing with emergencies that may arise while employees are at work.

Training required by order (section 31A)

The Minister may, by order in the Gazette, require a class of people to attend a specified OSH training course run by a registered training provider. Where such an order applies, the employer must make sure the person has finished the course before doing that work.

The OSH coordinator requirement

Section 29A requires an employer to appoint one of its employees as an occupational safety and health coordinator if it employs five or more employees at its place of work. It applies to workplaces that are not in a class already required to have a safety and health officer (SHO) under section 29. An employer that has appointed an SHO at that workplace is treated as having complied.

The coordinator's job, in the words of the Act, is to coordinate occupational safety and health issues at the place of work. In a small business that usually means keeping the risk assessment up to date, organising inspections and emergency drills, collecting near-miss reports, keeping training records and being the person DOSH can talk to.

DOSH runs the training side through recognised OSH coordinator training centres. DOSH material published in 2025 describes the course as 11 topics over 21 learning hours across three days, with no more than 30 participants per session, and notes that the coordinator is a trained person rather than a registered competent person: the certificate of attendance from the training centre is the main proof. Failing to appoint a coordinator can lead to a fine of up to RM50,000, up to six months in prison, or both.

Separately, section 30 still requires a safety and health committee where there are 40 or more persons employed at the place of work, or where the Director General directs it. The fine for not setting one up rose from RM5,000 to RM100,000.

New rights for employees

Section 26A gives employees a right to remove themselves from imminent danger. The steps matter:

1. The employee informs the employer or the employer's representative that they have reasonable justification to believe there is an imminent danger at the place of work.
2. If the employer fails to take action to remove the danger, the employee may remove themselves from the danger or the work.
3. An employee who does this is protected against undue consequences and must not be discriminated against.

"Imminent danger" means a serious risk of death or serious bodily injury from any plant, substance, condition, activity, process, practice, procedure or place of work hazard. This is the legal backing for the stop-work culture many sites already promote. Supervisors need to know how to respond when someone raises a concern, which is exactly what the Speak Up & Stop Work lesson rehearses.

Section 27, which protects employees from dismissal or other victimisation for raising safety concerns, now also covers employees who assist a DOSH officer in an inspection or investigation, and the fine for victimisation rose to RM100,000. Employees still have their own duties under section 24 (take reasonable care, cooperate, wear the protective equipment provided, follow instructions), and the fine for breaching them doubled to RM2,000.

New penalties under the amended OSH Act

Most fines in the Act went up by roughly ten times. The table shows the main ones, as set out in Act A1648.

Two other changes raise the stakes for managers. Under the new section 52, when a company commits an offence, a director, compliance officer, partner, manager or similar officer may be charged with it and is deemed guilty if the company is convicted, unless they prove the offence happened without their knowledge or consent and that they took all reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence. Section 52A makes a person liable for offences committed by their employees and agents in the course of their work. Regulations made under OSHA can now carry fines of up to RM500,000.

What to do now: a practical checklist

1. Check scope. If you thought OSHA did not apply to you because you were not a listed industry, assume it now does.
2. Count heads per place of work. Five or more employees and no SHO: appoint and train an OSH coordinator. Forty or more: set up a safety and health committee.
3. Do and record a risk assessment for each work activity, implement the controls and review it when the work changes. The HIRARC template follows the DOSH layout.
4. Map your contractors. List the work you contract out where you direct how it is done, and check you provide safe systems of work, induction, supervision and enough time and budget.
5. Write or refresh emergency procedures and drill them.
6. Make the right to leave danger real. Tell staff how to raise an imminent danger, who must respond and how fast, and make clear nobody will be penalised for using it.
7. Brief managers and directors on personal liability under section 52 and keep evidence of due diligence: risk assessments, inspection records, training records and minutes.
8. Investigate incidents properly and close the actions; the Incident Investigation & Root Cause lesson covers the method.

Regular toolbox talks are a cheap way to show the information, instruction and supervision the Act expects. The WorkQuest2U HSSE Laws & Regulations lesson lets staff walk through these duties in a 3D scene and check their understanding with short questions, which is useful as a refresher alongside formal OSH coordinator training.