Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Enforcement Officers’ Perception Towards Imposing Punitive Action Against Errand Employers in Manufacturing Sector in Kelantan

Abstract

Compliance to occupational safety and health (OSH) laws in Malaysia is enforced by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), Ministry of Human Resource. The acts involved are Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (OSHA) and Factory and Machinery Act 1967 (FMA). Actions taken against employers who breached the laws are either persuasive or punitive. Persuasive and punitive refer to the type of action taken by the enforcement officers against the errand employers. Making remarks in a log book, giving out directive letters and issuing notices (Notice of Prohibition, NOI and Notice of Improvement, NOP) are considered persuasive whilst opening an investigation paper (IP) for the purpose of offering compound and bringing the matter to court are considered punitive. From the statistics, it is clear that the OSH enforcement officers use more persuasive strategy compared to punitive strategy. The objective of the study is to study the perception of OSH enforcement officers towards imposing punitive action against errand employers. The study used questionnaires developed after a thorough literature review on enforcement factors. The questionnaires were distributed to selected population i.e. DOSH Kelantan’s officers. The data was analysed using SPSS version 25 software. The study shows that generally the respondents are in favour of imposing punitive actions against errand employers and the most paramount factors in doing so is the knowledge, understanding and expertise in conducting investigation and preparing investigation paper (IP).