Malaysia

Organization responsible for the statistics

Collection: Social Security Organisation (Pertubuhan Keselamatan Sosial), Labour Department and Department of Occupational Safety and Health.

Compilation and publication: Social Security Organisation, Labour Department and Ministry of Human Resources.

Periodicity

Annual.

Source

Reports of occupational accidents submitted by employers to the Social Security Organisation under the Social Security Act 1969, to the Labour Department under the Workmen's Compensation Act 1952 and to the Department of Occupational Safety and Health under the Factories and Machinery Act 1967 and the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994.

Objectives and users

Major users:

Coverage

Persons:

Paid employees, including foreign workers, and self-employed persons.

About 7,000,000 persons are covered by the statistics.

Economic activities:

All economic activities and sectors except the armed forces. Coverage is as follows:

Geographic areas:

The whole country.

The statistics cover only persons working in the country, including foreign workers.

Establishments:

All types and sizes of establishments.

Types of occupational accidents covered

The statistics cover compensated injuries due to all types of occupational accidents, including occupational diseases.

Commuting accidents are included as from 1992.

Concepts and definitions

(Source: Employees' Social Security Act 1969 (Act 4)).

Employment injury:

a personal injury to an employee caused by accident or an occupational disease arising out of and in the course of his employment in an industry to which this Act applies.

Commuting accident:

(accident while travelling)

an accident happening to an insured person while the insured person -

  1. is travelling on a route between his place of residence or stay and his place of work;
  2. is travelling on a journey made for any reason which is directly connected to his employment; or
  3. is travelling on a journey between his place of work and the place where he takes his meal during any authorized recess.

Temporary disablement:

a condition resulting from an employment injury which requires medical treatment and renders an employee, as a result of such injury, temporarily incapable of doing the work which he was doing prior to or at the time of the injury.

Partial disablement:

such disablement of a temporary nature as reduces the earning capacity of a workman in any employment in which he was engaged at the time of the accident resulting in his disablement and, where the disablement is of a permanent nature, such disablement as reduces his earning capacity in every employment which he was able to undertake at the time of the accident, provided that every injury specified in Part II of the First Schedule shall be deemed to result in permanent partial disablement. (Source: Workmen's Compensation Act 1952 (Act 273)).

Permanent total disablement:

such disablement of a permanent nature as disables an employee for all work which he was capable of performing at the time of the accident resulting in such disablement, provided that permanent total disablement shall be deemed to result from every injury specified in Part I of the Second Schedule or from any combination of injuries specified in Part II thereof where the aggregate percentage of the loss of earning capacity, as specified in the said Part II against those injuries, amounts to one hundred per cent or more.

Total disablement:

such disablement whether of a temporary or permanent nature as disables a workman for all work which he was capable of undertaking at the time of the accident resulting in such disablement, provided that permanent total disablement shall be deemed to result from every injury specified in Part II of the First Schedule, or from any combination of injuries resulting from a single accident and specified in Part II of the first Schedule where the aggregate of the losses of earning capacity specified in the said Schedule against these injuries amounts to or exceeds one hundred per cent. (Source: Workmen's Compensation Act 1953 (Act 273)).

Minimum period of absence from work: four days, including the day of the accident.

Maximum period for death to be considered a fatal occupational injury: none.

Types of information compiled

(a) personal characteristics of persons injured: sex, age;

(b) amount of worktime lost;

(c) characteristics of accidents: time of day, day of week, agency of injury, type of accident, location and total number of persons injured;

(d) characteristics of injuries: part of body injured, type of injury, type of illness, extent of disability;

(e) characteristics of employers or workplaces: location, economic activity.

Measurement of worktime lost

Worktime lost is measure in workdays for cases of temporary disablement injuries only.

Temporary absences of less than one day for medical treatment because of an occupational injury are not counted as worktime lost.

Classifications

(a) fatal or non-fatal accidents;

(b) extent of disability:

percentage disability (eleven groups);

(c) economic activity:

agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing; mining and quarrying; manufacturing; electricity, gas and water; construction; commerce; transport; financial institutions and insurance; other services; civil service; activities not adequately defined;

(d) occupation;

(e) type of injury:

location of injury: head (eight groups); neck; trunk (six groups); upper limb (nine groups); multiple locations (five groups); lower limb (nine groups); general injuries (six groups); unspecified location of injuries;

type of injury: fracture; dislocation; sprain or strain; concussions and other internal injuries; amputations and enucleations; other wounds; superficial injuries; contusions and crushings; burns; acute poisonings; effect of weather, exposure and related conditions; asphyxia; effects of electric currents; effects of radiations; multiple injuries of different nature; other unspecified injuries;

type of disease: intestinal infectious diseases; tuberculosis; other bacterial diseases; viral diseases; rickettsioses and other arthropod-borne diseases; venereal diseases; other infectious and parasitic diseases and late effects of infectious and parasitic diseases; malignant neoplasm of lip, cavity and pharynx; malignant neoplasm of digestive organs and peritoneum; malignant neoplasm of respiratory and intrathoracic organs; malignant neoplasm of bone, connective skin and breast; malignant neoplasm of genitourinary organs; malignant neoplasm of other and unspecified sites; malignant neoplasm of lymphatic and haemopoietic tissue; benign neoplasm; carcinoma in situ; other and unspecified neoplasm; endocrine and metabolic diseases; immunity disorders; nutritional deficiencies; diseases of blood and blood forming organs; mental disorders; disease of nervous system; diseases of other paralytic syndromes; disorders of the eye and adnexa; disorders of the ear and mastoid process; rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart diseases; hypertensive diseases; ischaemic heart diseases; diseases of pulmonary circulation and others; cerebro-vascular disease; other diseases of the circulatory system; diseases of the upper respiratory tract; other diseases of the respiratory system; diseases of other parts of the digestive system; diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissues; fractures; intracranial and internal injuries, including nerves; open wounds and injury to blood vessels; poisonings and toxic effects; transport accidents; suicide and self-inflicted injury; homicide and injury purposely inflicted by other persons; old age; other violence;

agent causing disease: diseases caused by agents (diseases caused by chemical agent - 32 groups; diseases caused by physical agents - eight groups; biological agents); diseases by target organ systems (occupational respiratory diseases - ten groups; occupational skin diseases - two groups; occupational musculo-skeletal disorders); occupational cancer (15 groups of agents); others (miners' nystagmus);

(f) cause of accident;

(g) duration of absence from work;

(h) characteristics of workers:

sex, age-group (below 20, the five-year groups up to 69, 70 and over);

(i) characteristics of accidents:

type of accident: fall of persons (two groups); struck by falling objects (four groups); stepping on, striking against or struck by objects (four groups); caught in or between objects (three groups); over-exertion or strenuous movements (four groups); exposure to or contact with extreme temperatures (four groups); exposure to or contact with electricity; exposure to or contact with harmful substances or radiations (three groups); other types of accidents not elsewhere classified (two groups);

agency causing the accident: according to the classification recommended in the Tenth ICLS resolution;

(j) characteristics of employers or workplaces:

region.

Crossclassifications:

  1. economic activity and
  2. type of accident, fatal injury or permanent disability and sex;

Reference period

Year.

An occupational injury is included in the statistics for the period (year) in which the report or claim regarding the injury was submitted to the relevant authority.

The amount of worktime lost is included in the statistics for each of the periods (years) in which worktime lost.

Estimates

Total number of persons injured and worktime lost.

Percentage distribution of persons injured.

Types of rates:

Historical background of the series

The statistics were first compiled in 1970.

Under the Factories and Machinery Act, the compilation of accident statistics was limited to accidents occurring in manufacturing, construction and mining. Since 1994, all economic activities have been covered under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994.

Documentation

Series available:

The following data are published by the Ministry of Human Resources:
  1. number of persons injured, by fatal or disablement, rates of all injuries per thousand workers and rates of fatal injuries per million workers;
  2. number of persons injured and their percentage distribution, by economic activity;
  3. number of persons injured, by:
  4. total compensation paid due to employment injuries.
The following data are published by the Social Security Organisation:
  1. number of registered employers, employees and accidents reported, by region;
  2. number of registered employers and employees, by size of employer;
  3. number of accidents reported (total, commuting accidents, total less commuting accident), rates of accidents reported (total and total less commuting accidents) per 10,000 employees;
  4. number of accidents reported, of which fatal or permanent disability, by sex and:
  5. number of accidents reported, of which fatal or permanent disability, by:
  6. number of persons incapacitated by occupational diseases, by disease;
  7. number of cases of occupational disease reported, of which fatal, by agent causing disease;
  8. permanent disablement cases, by:
  9. fatalities, by age and sex.

Bibliographic references:

The data are published in:

Pertubuhan Keselamatan Sosial (Social Security Organisation): Laporan Tahunan (Annual Report).

Ministry of Human Resources: Labour and Human Resources Statistics (annual).

These publications contain some methodological information.

Not all the data are published; certain confidential information cannot be published. Unpublished data may be made available, in printed form only.

Data published by ILO:

The following data are furnished regularly to the ILO for publication in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics, relating to compensated injuries (including occupational diseases and commuting accidents from 1992 onwards): number of persons fatally injured, number of persons injured with lost workdays, total of these two groups. Up to 1993, these were classified according to major division of economic activity. From 1994 onwards, only the total number of persons injured has been classified according to economic activity. Also from 1994, data have been supplied on the number of workdays lost by persons injured with lost workdays, and on rates of fatal injuries, for all activities together only. The number of persons at risk (total number of persons insured, all activities together only) is also supplied and stored in the LABORSTA database.

Confidentiality:

Certain information cannot be published for reasons of confidentiality.

International standards

The concepts, definitions and methods used by the Social Security organization and Ministry of Human Resources for compiling the statistics are based mostly on the international guidelines.

Method of data collection

Legislation:

Social Security Act 1969, Workmen's Compensation Act 1952, Factories and Machinery Act 1967 and Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994.

All occupational injuries should be reported to the Department of Occupational Safety and Health and the Social Security Organisation. The Factories and Machinery Act specifies that this should be carried out by the quickest means possible. No time limit is laid down in the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

Reporting:

The employer is required to notify the Department of Occupational Safety and Health and the Social Security Organisation. The Factories and Machinery Act stipulates the use of a standard form for this purpose.

Types of data:

The following types of information are included in the form:

  1. information about the injured person;
  2. information about the employer and place of work;
  3. information about the accident.

Changes:

The Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) and the Ministry of Human Resources are currently finalizing a set of regulations developed under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 on the reporting of occupational accidents and diseases, based on the reporting arrangements used by the RIDDOR regulations in force in the United Kingdom and the OSHA system in force in the United States. The new regulations are expected to be introduced in 1998.