To ensure that individuals entering the country are in good health, the government has implemented the Foreign Workers’ Medical Examination Monitoring Agency, commonly known as FOMEMA.
Employees are a company’s most important asset and investment thus when an employee gets sick or injured at the workplace, getting them back to health is a priority.
However, ensuring employees do not get sick in the first place is always the primary goal for a healthy workforce.
Employers are held responsible to ensure the safety and health of employees including foreign workers.
How do you do this? By using occupational health services that offer health screening services such as FOMEMA.
Today, we will share with you what you need to know about how to provide a healthy workplace for your foreign employees.
What is Occupational Health?
In 2021 alone, the number of work-related injury or illness amounted to 21,534 cases.
Occupational health conditions are sometimes brought into work by an employee or made worse or contributed to by the work environment.
In addressing this, occupational health is entirely focused on helping businesses keep their workplace safe and healthy.
Occupational health is designed to protect employees from potential risks and hazards during work, giving aid with everything from injury prevention to injury care.
Employing occupational health services is key to reducing overall health costs, improving productivity and ensuring a safe workplace.
Importance of Occupational Health Services
Occupational health services mainly benefits employees as they can work with less worry regarding workplace-related health issues, but there are other benefits too, such as:
1. Regulatory Compliance
The Malaysian government introduced Occupational Safety and Health Act 2022 (OSHA) with the goal of promoting occupational health and safety in the country.
Foreign workers in Malaysia mainly work in the manufacturing, services, plantation and construction sectors, all of which apply to the OSHA.
Every company registered in Malaysia must comply with the laws implemented by the government thus using occupational health services can improve your regulatory compliance.
2. Prevent Fine/Penalty
The responsibility to enforce this OSHA lies with the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) under the Ministry of Human Resources.
Failure to comply with occupational health laws may result in heavy fines and prosecution in the court of law.
This could put your business continuity at risk, thus make sure you utilise occupational health services for the sake of your employees and business.
3. Improve Employee Productivity & Retention
Having occupational health services can help improve employee productivity, efficiency and retention rates.
This is due to the confidence employees have in the company to protect them from a wide range of threats and health problems.
When employees feel safe at work, they are more likely to engage with their work which in return, improves your company’s growth.
4. Improve Employer/Company Reputation
In today’s era, serious health-related accidents and injuries can become public and cause irreversible harm to a company’s reputation.
Either you are building brand appeal or gaining new customers, the last thing your organisation needs is a major incident to detract from your good work.
Consumers are far less likely to trust companies that don’t take their employee’s health and safety seriously.
That is why having occupational health services is a sensible precaution to take.
FOMEMA to Manage Workplace-related Health Issues for Foreign Workers
There are cases of foreign workers involved in fraudulent health certifications to allow them to work in Malaysia.
However, you can prevent this by having the foreign workers register and undergo a FOMEMA health check.
FOMEMA (Foreign Workers Medical Examination Monitoring Agency) is an organisation of health screening services for foreign workers living and working in Malaysia.
FOMEMA has more than 4,000 clinics and medical panels equipped with X-Ray centres and medical laboratories to facilitate foreign workers with their medical examination.
FOMEMA health check is done to prevent the spread of infectious diseases to the public.
Therefore, every employer employing foreign workers is required to register for a FOMEMA inspection first before the work permit pass or visa is given by the Malaysian Immigration to foreign workers.
Employers are required to return foreign workers to their country of origin if they fail the health check that has been carried out.
If you think having your employee, go through all the procedures is a hassle, we have good news for you: everything can be done through the FOMEMA online portal.
You can register foreign workers and get inspection results from the FOMEMA online portal.
Handle Your Employee Health and Well-being with OHPlus
In handling your employees’ health and well-being, there are many types of proactive approach you can take such as:
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- Regular medical check-ups in accordance to OSHA 2022 regulation.
- Medical & noise surveillance for workers exposed to chemical hazards and noisy working environment.
- Employee wellness programs for non-communicable diseases such as obesity, hypertension and stroke.
- Mental health support to reduce and minimise psychosocial hazard.
- Ergonomic workplace to prevent work-related musculoskeletal diseases.
Start taking your employees’ health seriously by subscribing to OHPlus services!
OHPlus is an integrated platform delivering an effective end-to-end occupational health solution to employers in Malaysia including SME’s.
With OHPlus, you are provided with instant access to an extremely large pool of highly qualified and well-vetted occupational health professionals.
You can get guidance and advice from multi-disciplinary teams of professional health experts including OH Doctors, OH Nurse, Ergonomics, Hygienist and Industrial psychologist.
Our services are technology-driven as employees can keep track and monitor their progress as well as store health reports through our portal.
Most importantly, OHPlus offers the best quality occupational services which includes:
- Audiometric Screening
Audiometric Screening is a hearing test conducted using air conduction for employees exposed to noisy environments that exceed the Noise Exposure Limit (NEL).
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- Audiometric Diagnostic
Audiometric Diagnostic is a hearing test conducted with bone conduction (confirmatory) test to ascertain type of hearing loss: sensorineural, mixed or conductive hearing loss.
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- OHD Examination
OHD Medical Examination is done for employees with abnormal audiometric screening for instance, hearing loss, permanent standard threshold shift and hearing impairment.
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- ENT/Audiologist Services
This service is done through referral by the OHD post Medical Examination which is to further investigate, treat or rule out other causes for hearing loss.
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- Fitness to Work
Fit-to-work assessment is a part of the control measure by the company to manage the risk to/from workers arising from the job activities in relation to workers health status.
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- Return to Work
Return-to-work is an assessment and recovery program provided to employees with injury or illness to restore function and return to work healthy and safe.
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- Medical Surveillance
Medical Surveillance is done in complying with the requirements of Use and Standard of Exposure of Chemicals Hazardous to Health Regulations 2000.
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- OH Consultation
OH Consultation will manage employee occupational health requirement performance faster, accurately and in regulatory compliance.
Just book a slot with OHPlus and let us handle your employee health and well-being without geographical constraints.
