Occupational diseases are one of the major health problems related to workplace hazards. However, the epidemiological data for this problem is scarce especially among Small and Medium Industry (SMI) workers. These workers are vulnerable to occupational health problem due to lack of knowledge and implementation of health and safety in the workplace. In Malaysia, most of the SMI workers have limited coverage for basic occupational health services which may worsen their health. Thus, this article aims to provide a review on the burden of occupational health problems among them. The electronic and library searches were used to extract the information from both published and unpublished articles that were not limited to any year of publication until 2017. One hundred and ninety-six published articles and 198 unpublished articles were retrieved from the database. Only 19 published articles and 25 unpublished articles met the eligibility criteria. Prevalence data of occupational diseases/poisoning, including overall and body specific (musculoskeletal disorders) was extracted in raw data from the eligible studies. Prevalent statistics on occupational musculoskeletal diseases (1.3% - 97.6%), noise-induced hearing loss (29.4% - 73.3%), occupational skin diseases (10.5% - 84.3%), respiratory (1.9% - 92.2%) and occupational poisoning (14.9% - 17.7%) among the working population is different within published papers compared to unpublished ones. In Malaysia, there are no specific statistic that give a true picture of the burden of occupational diseases in the SMI. However, this review concludes that musculoskeletal diseases are significant occupational problems among SMI workers.

Rip currents are one of the coastal hazards that put Malaysian beachgoers in a risky position. Most of the drowning accidents that occur at beaches worldwide are closely associated with this phenomenon. Research on rip currents is needed to build an effective measuring tool to overcome these issues. However, to date, research on rip currents is mainly focused on its physical aspects, commonly concentrating on the processes that influence and relate to the rips' generation. As an effort to minimize the negative consequences exerted by the rips, there is an urgent need to enhance the rip-related research in the social sciences field. Comprehensive research that includes all fields might produce more beneficial and reliable information. Therefore, this study intends to examine the level of public understanding of rip currents and beach safety knowledge of the Teluk Cempedak Beach. A questionnaire comprising 5 sections and 31 questions was developed as the primary tool in this study. A total of 60 beachgoers have been surveyed for this preliminary study through a questionnaire to investigate their demographic profile, frequency of visiting the beach, swimming ability, and their knowledge of rip currents and beach safety. The results show that the beachgoers have poor knowledge of rip currents. Conversely, they are observed to have higher beach safety knowledge. Also, the findings help in filling the research gaps of this study in terms of the instrument used for the data collection procedure. Above all, an extension of this study may contribute to the development of beneficial tools in assessing public knowledge on beach safety and rip currents throughout Malaysian beaches.

Introduction: Smartphone addiction is becoming a global concern affecting every part of society, including healthcare professionals. This study aimed to identify the prevalence of risk of smartphone addiction and its associated factors among medical and dental students in a public university in Malaysia. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among pre-clinical medical and dental students using convenience sampling. Questions regarding sociodemographic profile and responses to the Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version (SAS-SV) and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Score questionnaire (DASS-21) were collected. Multiple logistic regression testing was used to analyse the factors associated with smartphone addiction. Results: We invited 409 pre-clinical medical and dental students to participate voluntarily, resulting in a response rate of 80.2%. The prevalence of high-risk smartphone addiction among the participants was 47.9%. Male participants, participants who used smartphones mainly for social media, and participants with depressive symptoms were more likely to have a high risk of smartphone addiction. Medical students, participants who spent less than 3 hours per day on a smartphone, and participants who used smartphones for education-related activities were less likely to have a high risk of smartphone addiction. Conclusion: Smartphone addiction prevalence among pre-clinical medical and dental students was high. Therefore, the authorities should overcome this problem by implementing early measures.

The objectives of occupational health services (OHS) are to create a healthy and safe working environment, prevent work-related diseases, optimise employees’ functional capacity and promote health. According to the literature, global accessibility to OHS has not shown much improvement and even worsened in certain countries. The main challenges come from the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). To respond to these global challenges, the basic occupational health services (BOHS) guideline was published under the purview of the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization. The guideline describes BOHS as part of the infrastructure called the occupational safety and health system, an essential element that ensures the high service coverage and sustainability of the programme. The BOHS guideline was introduced in Malaysia by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health with a focus on SMEs, but its accessibility is low. A gap analysis was conducted between the current BOHS in Malaysia and the published international guideline. The important challenges identified that contributes to the low BOHS accessibility in Malaysia is the weakness in the BOHS infrastructure and OHS system provision. The proposed BOHS infrastructure model is meant to increase accessibility and to provide fair and equitable health services for Malaysians.

Mortality estimation due to work-related illness has reached up to 2.4 million each year. The current coverage of occupational health services (OHS) in Malaysia is still low. Occupational health doctors (OHDs) are one of the essential personnel to ensure proper execution of OHS. This study was conducted to explore the experiences and views of OHDs on the challenges in implementing OHS in Malaysia. Four focus group discussions were conducted with OHDs (N = 23) from four different states in Malaysia in 2016. Another five OHDs participated in in-depth interviews to implement the identified codes or themes. The discussions were recorded and transcribed verbatim. NVivo version 11.0 was used to facilitate data analysis. The data were analysed following the thematic analysis guidelines. Three themes were identified from the discussions: difficulties in diagnosing occupational diseases and poisoning; poor practices, attitudes, and commitment by both workers and employers; and non-compliance with laws and regulations related to the industries. The common challenges discussed by the participants were the lack of knowledge and skills among OHDs, and the shortage of standard procedures, leading to difficulties to screen occupational diseases. The poor cooperation and behaviour from the industries also hindered OHDs when performing their services. This study suggests better training and provision of standard tools or guideline to assist OHDs in making occupational disease diagnoses, increasing OHS awareness among the industries, and enacting OHS as part of the laws and regulations with adequate enforcement.