1.Testing Occupational Hazard Self-Evaluation Module (OHSEM) Intervention among Workers of SME (Manufacturing) in Northern Malaysia
Syazwan Syah Zulkifly ; Nor Halim Hasan ; Mohd Rafee Baharudin
Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2023;19(No.5):108-114
Introduction: Workplace accidents have been a persistent problem in Malaysia’s manufacturing industry, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Employee behavior has been identified as a significant contributing factor to these accidents, and research has suggested that improving safety knowledge and attitudes can enhance safety behavior. Despite this, there have been no empirical intervention studies in Malaysia to investigate the
effectiveness of safety intervention programs aimed at improving SME worker safety behavior. Therefore, this study
aimed to assess the efficacy of the Occupational Hazard Self-Evaluation Module (OHSEM) intervention in enhancing
safety knowledge, attitudes, and behavior (KAB) among SME workers in the manufacturing sector. Methods: A quasi-experimental design with control group was utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of the OHSEM intervention. The
intervention was implemented over a 12-week period on production workers in the experimental group, while the
control group received no intervention. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 88 production workers
in both groups before and after the intervention to measure the improvement of safety KAB. Descriptive analysis and
an independent t-test were used to analyse the data. Results: The post-test results showed that safety KAB for the
control group was moderate (mean = 2.11), while the mean score in the experimental group was high (m=4.17). Furthermore, the t-test result revealed a significant difference in safety KAB mean scores between the experimental and
control groups. Conclusion: This study provides empirical evidence on the effectiveness of the OHSEM intervention
in enhancing safety KAB in SMEs in the Malaysian SME (manufacturing) sector.