Asia Pacific Environmental and Occupational Health Journal

Objective: This is a conceptual paper to suggest the arrangements of adequate first aid services in case of injury or illness by integrating the existing guidelines of occupational safety and health (OSH) in Malaysia.

Discussion: The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994, provides the legislative framework to promote, stimu- late and encourage high standards of safety and health at work. Due to the self-regulation schemes applied under this act, OSH relevant guidelines have been introduced to tackle different OSH issues at the workplace. Two of the guidelines dis- cusses in this paper are Guidelines for Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control (HIRARC) (2008) and Guidelines on First-Aid in the Workplace (2004). The gaps exist as how to complementary two existing guidelines to en- hance the first aid assessment at the workplace.

Conclusion: In summary, this paper recommends on the necessary to conduct a comprehensive workplace first aid assess- ment and suggests to a detailed curriculum which could help the first aider at the workplace competencies to provide care while considering the workplace hazards.

Keywords: Gaps; Workplace first aid; Guidelines; HIRARC; OSH issues