KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 — The Occupational Safety and Health (Amendment) Bill 2020 is not only aimed at improving the safety, health and welfare of workers but also to protect them from the safety and health risks while working.
Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan, when tabling the bill for the second reading in the Dewan Rakyat today, said it was also to ensure that the country’s labour laws including those related to occupational safety and health, were in line with the provisions in the universal instruments, particularly the Occupational Safety and Health Convention 1981 (C155).
The bill to amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (Act 514) contains 55 clauses including the addition of 27 new sections, removal of two sections and amending 35 existing sections.
“In amending Act 514, the ministry had been holding several engagement sessions since 2011 with the relevant government agencies, stakeholders, industries and other interested parties.
“The proposed amendments were also discussed at the Labour Laws Amendment Technical Committee Meeting under the National Labour Advisory Council and National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, comprising representatives of the employers’ associations and workers’ unions,” said Saravanan.
He said that one more act pertaining to occupational safety and health enforced by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health was the Factories and Machinery Act 1967 (Act 139).
“Act 139 uses the prescriptive approach which is no longer in tune with the ever-developing technologies currently.
“Hence, in line with the proposed amendments to Act 514, the Human Resource Ministry decided to scrap Act 139 and to include its provisions pertaining to machinery inspection in the proposed amended Act 514,” he added.
