The law on occupational safety and health of foreign workers in Malaysia

Cross border migration has a long history in Malaysia especially in the 21st century where labour migration is on the increase. There is also an increase in the number of cases that make headlines in the international media platform involving Malaysia dispensing vigilante justice when it comes to treating the migrant workers without any regard for the law. The purpose of this research is to analyse some of the relevant legislations which protect migrant workers in Malaysia especially in the aspects of workers Occupational Safety and Health (OSH). The aim of this study is to look into some areas of law which have the objective of achieving a safer workplace for all workers, especially for migrant workers. Migrant workers are the ones who will likely be affected due to unsafe conditions at workplace which could inflict injuries and illnesses from the nature of their work. Few areas of law such as the Occupational Safety and Health Act l 994 (OSHA l 994) and the 1985 ILO Convention and Occupational Safety and Health Master Plan for Malaysia 2015 (OSH-MP 2015) are the main areas that were looked into in this study. The researcher also included studies and discussions on other areas such as the Workmen's Compensation Act 1952, the Employees' Social Security Act 1969 (SOCSO), the Employment Act 1955 and the Immigration Act l 959/63 to complement suggestions for further improvement of the law. This is a qualitative study involving the analysis of data collected from in-depth interviews from two categories of respondents; employers and the migrant workers, library research on the area of law and case study. The findings show that the current legislation especially the OSHA 1994 and other related laws are insufficient to protect the safety and health of migrant workers in Malaysia. The majority of the employers and migrant workers are also not aware about the current legislation especially the OSHA 1994 and other related laws regarding the protection of safety and health of migrant workers at workplace. This study is important and beneficial to employers engaging migrant workers because it will then lead to the growth of profits of the employers when the amount of remedy and compensation paid for their injury is reduced. As a recommendation for future research, there are suggestions which cover other areas that can be improved in OSHA 1994 after examining all provisions which are relevant and taking the guidelines from other developed countries such as the United States of America