Mental Health No Longer A Side Issue At The Workplace - DOSH

PETALING JAYA, May 14 (Bernama) -- Employers must shift their occupational safety and health (OSH) approach to prioritise employees' mental and psychological well-being instead of focusing solely on physical protection.

Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) deputy director-general (Occupational Health), Ahmad Jailani Mansor, said workers' mental well-being cannot be seen as a secondary issue and must be elevated to a core pillar of a holistic OSH framework.

“We are witnessing a significant paradigm shift from purely physical protection, such as safety helmets and boots, to comprehensive protection that includes employees' mental and psychological well-being.

“Mental health is an invisible hazard or a silent danger in the workplace. It is easy to detect a broken machine or an accident, but we cannot see a distressed soul or an overburdened mind,” he said.

He said this in his keynote address at the opening of the MEF OSH Conference 2026, with the theme ‘Breaking the Silence: Mental Health Matters at Work’, here today. It was organised by the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF).

Also present was MEF president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman.

Ahmad Jailani said DOSH developed the Psychosocial Risk Assessment and Management at the Workplace (PRiSMA) 2024 guidelines as a national benchmark and systematic approach to help employers identify, assess, and manage psychosocial risks more effectively.

He said effective implementation of PRiSMA requires Psychosocial Trained Personnel (PTP) to conduct risk assessments and recommend interventions.

“The primary focus of PRiSMA is prevention, involving improving the work environment by managing workloads, ensuring role clarity, and addressing burnout before employees are affected,” he said.

He added that occupational health is also a central pillar under the National Occupational Safety and Health Master Plan 2026-2030 (OSHMP 2030), which aims to foster a culture of prevention in OSH aspects at the workplace.

According to him, the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 now includes psychological health, making psychosocial risk assessment a statutory responsibility and a legal requirement for employers under Section 18B of the Act.

“Addressing mental health issues is not just a moral responsibility but also a smart business investment because employees' mental well-being helps reduce presenteeism, where employees are present but unproductive, and lowers absenteeism rates,” he said.

-- BERNAMA