KUALA LUMPUR: At least 10,000 employees from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will have the opportunity to get free occupational health and safety training starting in February, says Steven Sim.
The Human Resources Minister said the training is part of its new Occupational Safety and Health Coordinator (OSH-C) training program that will begin training courses sometime next month.
Organised by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh), Sim said interested SMEs will be able to begin registering their employees for the programme beginning next week.
He noted that the programme would help SMEs, who might be financially strained, to comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Act (Osha) (Amendment) 2022.
“As we know, the Osha Act requires employers with five or more employees to appoint or employ a trained and registered OSH-C.
“Smaller SMEs might not have the resources to meet this requirement which is why we have launched this programme to give free training for up to 10,000 representatives from SMEs.
“This is in line with our goal of ensuring every workplace, no matter how small, is safe for all who work there,” he said in a press conference after soft launching the Asean Safety and Health Workers Summit at KLCC on Tuesday (Jan 21).
He added that any SMEs interested in joining may contact Niosh through various media channels, helplines or visiting Niosh offices.
Sim also announced the world’s first-ever financial institution safety passport would be implemented sometime later this year.
Developed by Niosh in collaboration with several local banks, he said the passport would not become mandatory for all financial institutions to follow.
However, Sim said the ministry would provide incentives to encourage adoption by as many financial institutions as possible.
“While many deem financial institutions as low safety risk workplaces, they too have many potential workplace hazards from something as basic as the use of cleaning liquid.
“Participating financial institutions will then require all their workers who enter their premises to have this safety passport.
“This will strengthen the health and safety of the financial industry workforce to be on par with other industries which have already implemented safety passports,” he said.
Speaking on the planned minimum wage increase to RM1,700 that will come into force in February, Sim revealed that 80% of the 4.3 million workers in Malaysia with salaries below RM1,700 were indeed Malaysians and not foreigners.
