Department of Occupational Safety and Health

(DOSH)

INCULCATING
SAFETY CULTURE

MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCES

MALAYSIA

DEPARTMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCES MALAYSIA

VISION
TO BE A LEADER OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

MISSION
TO ENSURE SAFETY AND HEALTH AT WORK

Level 2,3&4, Block D3, Parcel D,

Federal Government Administrative Centre.
62503. Putrajaya

Preface
In order for occupational safety and health management to be effective, it must be a
part of both the formal and informal parts of a company. It must be more than an
official program and must be integrated into every aspect of the organizations way
of doing business.

The safety culture should start during the hiring process. Safety is a function of behavior. Work
performance is a function of behavior. Behavior is a function of attitude. Hire the right people -- people
with the right attitude. Therefore, the right behavior is the cornerstone of safety culture.
Management should adopt the safety culture. Divisional and corporate management is held responsible
and accountable for both production and safety -- it is in effect one of the same. In short, a safety
culture should embrace all aspects of your organizations way of doing business. Safety must become
the way of life for all employees at every level of the organization.
Safety culture should be the foundation and framework of OSH program by developing recognition and
investigation techniques that determine and correct root causes of accidents and near-misses, educate
employees through safety training and establish an accountability system that shows leadership in all
aspects of safety.

Dato Ir. Dr. Johari Basri

Director General
Department of Occupational Safety and Health
Malaysia

INCULCATING
SAFETY CULTURE
CONTENTS
What is safety culture
Status
Indicators
Strategies
Challenges
Impact

INCULCATING SAFETY
CULTURE

CHALLENGES
Impact of
Safety Culture

ACTIVITIES UNDER OSHA

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WHAT IS SAFETY CULTURE?

Historical Context
The term safety culture appeared first in a report on the 1986
Chernobyl Disaster

Historical
The beginning of the safety culture period of accident investigation and analysis can be
traced back to the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986 in which a poor safety culture
was identified as a factor contributing to the accident by both the International Atomic
Energy Agency and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
Nuclear Agency (Cox and Flin 1998; Mearns and Flin 1999; Pidgeon 1998).

Since then, safety culture has been discussed in other major accident inquiries and
analyses of system failures, such as the Kings Cross underground fire in London and
the Piper Alpha oil platform explosion in the North Sea (Cox and Flin 1998; Pidgeon
1998), as well as the crash of Continental Express Flight 2574 (Meshkati 1997), the
Columbia Space Shuttle accident (CAIB 2003), and the explosion at the British
Petroleum refinery in Texas City (CSB 2005).

Safety:
Measures and practices undertaken to prevent and minimize
the risk of loss of life, injury and damage to property and
environment

Culture:
Way of life, the customs, beliefs and attitudes that people
in a particular group or organization share

Safety culture:
the product of multiple interactions between people (psychological), jobs
(behavioural) and the organization (situational) in the field of
occupational safety and health

Safety Culture
Definition

10

. the product of the individual and group values, attitudes,

perceptions, competencies and patterns of behavior that
determine the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of, an
organizations safety and health management. (Cooper 2000)

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Safety culture model

Level of safety culture is influenced by three main
Independent variables namely:

Individuals commitment
Managers commitment
Policy commitment

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ILO Safety Culture Model

Safety Culture

Questioning
Attitude
Definition of
Responsibilities

Individuals
Commitment

Definition and
Control of
Safety Practices
Qualification
and Training
Rewards and
Sanction

Rigorous and
Prudent
Approach
Communication

Managers
Commitment

Policy Level
Commitment

Statement of
Safety Policy
Management
Structures
Resources

Audit, Review
and Comparison

Self-Regulation

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Model illustrates the essence of a system based model of culture. It

shows how individual safety awareness can be promoted within the
immediate work group. This awareness, and the work group subculture, shapes individual safety beliefs, attitudes and perceptions
of responsibility and control. This, in turn, drives the
individuals behavior, which is either sanctioned or reinforced (or
supported) by the safety management process.

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HSE: SYSTEM MODEL OF SAFETY CULTURE

Attitude Components
Awareness

Competence
and Safe
Behavior

Responsibility and
Control

INDIVIDUAL

Leadership
and
Support

Reinforcement and
Support from Safety
Management Process

EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

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Safety Culture: the

way forward
1994 - OSHA just started
1994 to 2004 - OSHA after 10 years
2004 to 2014 - OSHA after 20 years
Beyond 2020 - Preventive OSH culture

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Safety Culture: the way forward

2020..beyond
Preventive OSH
culture

Safety for self & others

Safety for compliance
Safety is important
Faultfinding
Lack of training
Objective is not to get
into trouble with
authorities
Poor emergency
preparedness and
response

Safety for self

Safety is priority
Fact finding
Inadequate training
Pride in doing things
right
Inability to deal with
unforeseen emergencies
Safe practices a routine

Safety is a value
System thinking
Adequate training and
collective approach
Professionalism and
very supportive
Confident in emergencies
Proactive risk
identification
Continual improvement

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18

STATUS

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In our country safety culture has been highlighted since the

introduction of the Occupational Safety and Health in 1994. Safety
culture is the best safety performance indicator that can
demonstrate the effectiveness of hazards control to prevent
accidents which not only cause injuries, health problems and deaths
but also damage to properties and environment.
Safety culture in influenced by an employees and employers
perceptions which include attitudes and beliefs regarding safety and
the implementation of safety management system.

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MALAYSIA SCENARIO
Categories of organizations
Multinationals
Big companies
Medium and small enterprise
The occupational safety and health legislation
Self regulations
National competent bodies with OSH implementation
responsibilities
Tripartite role
Recognition and appreciation

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Occupational Safety and Health Act, 1994 (OSHA) is a bless in

developing safer and healthier workplace in Malaysia.
However, in many industries, occupational safety and health (OSH)
is still at compliance levels, not more than that. Only in few
industries that involves with petrochemical or oil and gas are highly
committed to OSH but yet still to comply with the requirement of
their industries, the reality is OSH is still not being our culture.

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OSH Legislative Framework and System

Principle Activities

A comprehensive and integrated system of law to deal with the safety and
health of
- persons at work,
- other persons at work
- and the protection of the public

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Legal Framework
Legal Requirements :
i.
Factories and Machinery Act 1967 and 15 Regulations
ii.
Petroleum (Safety Measures) Act 1984 and
iii.
Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 and 7
Regulations and 2 Orders
to promote safety and health awareness, and
establish effective safety organization and
performance through self - regulation schemes

The long term goal of the Act is to create

a healthy and safe working culture

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SETTING OSH STANDARDS FOR INDUSTRY

TO PROMOTE PREVENTIVE OSH CULTURE

25

There are several national competent bodies with occupational

safety and health (OSH) implementation responsibilities which
includes;
- OSH administration and enforcement
- Competent firms
- Training provider
- Supporting agencies

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National Competent Bodies with OSH Implementation Responsibilities

OSH Administration & Enforcement

Supporting Agency

1. Department of
Occupational Safety and
Health (DOSH)

1. Ministry of Health
2. Department of Labor
3. Social Security Organization
(SOCSO)
4. NGOs

NCOSH, MOHR

Competent Firm

Training Provider

Qualified Company/Person for :

1. Industrial Safety
2. Industrial Hygiene
3. Major Hazard
4. Occupational Health

1. National Institute of
Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH)
2. Construction Industry
Development Board Malaysia
3. Higher Learning Institutions

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Ministry of Human Resources (MOHR) in delivering the duties to

inculcate the safety and health culture in Malaysia adopted the
tripartite concept which involve ;
- Government
- Employer
- Employee
The government is using this platform in formulating the
government policy, legislation, and national programs on
occupational safety and health in the country.,

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Social Dialogue Diagram : Tripartite Concept

Collective bargaining

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INDICATORS

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Indicators Progression of Safety Culture in Malaysia

In this context indicator progression of safety culture in Malaysia is
divided into two main categories namely proactive and reactive
indicators.
Commonly used proactive indicators are:

Number of OSH professionals

Number of training and promotional programs conducted by
DOSH and NIOSH
Research on OSH

Whereas statistics of work related injuries and fatality is been used as

reactive indicator.

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OSH Professional
In 2007, they were 26530 OSH professionals registered
with DOSH. The specialities of these professionals are
varies from handling specific machineries, conducting
special occupational health task to managing health and
safety in the workplace.

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Training and Promotions

To promote safety culture in Malaysia DOSH actively
carried out various types of OSH promotional activities.
Number of DOSH promotional activities is increased
steadily from 782 in 2004 to 1036 in year 2007.
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) is focusing in giving training to employees, OSH
professional and management on OSH. Over period of
2004-2007, NIOSH is conducted 6716 series of OSH
training and 159000 of participants were trained over that
period.

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35

Research on OSH
Realizing on the importance of conducting
research on OSH, currently DOSH in collaboration
with OSH professionals and higher learning
institutions is conducting various researches on
OSH. Findings from these researches will be taken
into consideration in making national OSH policy
and programs.

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Current OSH Research

O OSH Profile Report
O Formulate National OSH Policy
O Female Sprayer Chemical Handling
O Ergonomic Issues on VDU
O Study on Impact of OSH Legislation
O

Determination of PEL for Chemical Hazardous

to Health

O Ergonomic Issue on Back Pain Injury

O

Measuring Safety and Health Culture Related

to Rate of Accident

O Exposure to Organic Solvent

O Evaluation of Local Exhaust Ventilation System

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Work related injuries and fatalities

Rate of reported work related injuries in this country
reduce significantly from 13 per 1000 workers in 1996 to
6.1 per 1000 workers in 2007. However after showing of
steady reduction of work related fatality rate from 15.5 per
100000 workers in 1996 to 9.5 per 100000 workers in 2002,
rate of work related fatality increased steadily to 12.9 per
100000 workers in 2004 before marginally reduced to 12.4
per 100000 workers in 2007. The increased rate of work
related fatality in this country over period of 2002-2005
cause concerned to the government.

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STRATEGIES

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STRATEGIES TO INCULCATE SAFETY CULTURE

Development of regulations and standards
Legislations, standards, policies, codes of practices and guidelines
pertaining to occupational safety, health and welfare are regularly reviewed
via tripartite process.

Strategic Enforcement
DOSH has been enforcing legislations pertaining to OSH in Malaysia to
ensure safety, health and welfare of workers.

Increasing the number of OSH practitioners

DOSH has been accrediting and registering individual for their competency
in specific fields.

44

DOSH STRATEGY

45

OSH : The way forward

OSH ownership- Dosh 2005-2010

Self regulation- DOSH 2011-2015 Preventive

OSH culture- DOSH 2016-2020

46

OSH : the way forward.

47

48

CHALLENGES

49

There are three main categories of industries in Malaysia,

multinational enterprise and big corporations (MNE), small and
medium enterprise (SME) and self employed. Generally MNE
organizations having higher status of OSH compared with SME
and self employed organizations.
Various challenges need to be overcome before preventive OSH
culture become parts of daily life.

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CHALLENGES


OSH MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

 SME AND INFORMAL SECTOR

 NEW TECHNOLOGIES
NANO

 EMERGING ISSUE
ASBESTOS
AGEING POPULATION

 SOCIAL MEDIA

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Impact of Safety Culture

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Impact of Safety Culture

The existence of safety culture in the organization can contribute to profit by
minimizing loss and adding the capital value of an organization. Companies
that invest consistently in safety realize positive bottom line results, reduced
absenteeism, lower turnover rates, higher productivity, increased employee
moral and positive brand image. Study conducted, found that the typical
costs associated with accidents include:
Loss of production
Time and costs due to repair plant and equipment
Legal costs
Increased insurance premium
Medical expenses
Absenteeism
Lower moral of employee leading to poor productivity
Unsatisfactory employee relations
Low level of motivation
Therefore the available evidence indicates that an effective safety culture is
an essential element of any business strategy, as it has so many positive
effects on other area of business performance.

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Impact of Safety Culture

Quality
Better work methods
Reduced absenteeism
Improved organizational performance
Product quality
Reliability
Organization structure and processes
Reduced human error probabilities
Improved of better monitoring and
feedback systems
Competitiveness
Lead to development
Positively impacts on employees
commitment
Loyalty to the organization
Profitability
Contribute to profit by minimizing loss
Decrease in lost-time accident
Reduced compensation cost

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Conclusion
Principle of safety culture, now become more and more popular and being put
into practice around the world. Recent experience indicates that the long-term
management of safety calls for approaches goes beyond simple adherence to
rules and regulations. Continual improvement in the level of safety requires the
development of comprehensive safety culture at all level of organization with
visible and consistent leadership from senior management.
Actually safety culture cannot be develops over a short period of time. It takes
the commitment of all involved and is develops over time. Developing safety
culture is long process of change because it involves human, the most
intelligent creature and the most difficult to change.

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Acknowledgement
Zabidi Dato Md. Adib
Dr Majahar Abd. Rahman
Ir. Mohd Rosdee Yaacob
Ir. Abdul Aziz Salim
Husdin Che Amat
Nazruddin Mat Ali
Noorazman Soud Noor
Noor Azia Muhammad

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