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KUALA LUMPUR – The government has been urged to work together with non-government organisations with expertise in worker’s safety and health to ensure there are no more victims of workplace bullying.
Malaysian Society for Occupational Safety and Health (MSOSH) president Dr Shawaludin Husin said that the nation is not short on experts in the field, including MSOSH, which was established more than 50 years ago.
He told Getaran, The Vibes’ Malay-language sister portal, that the matter should be addressed seriously by the federal government to put a stop to workplace bullying cases, especially fatal incidents in the healthcare sector.
“The government can jointly cooperate with these organisations to find a resolution on the issues plaguing our public health service sector. Organisations such as the MSOSH can provide investigative services free of charge.
“Among the expertise that can be channelled from organisations to the government is a root cause analysis to investigate incidents, following which appropriate control measures can be suggested.
“However, the issue requires careful consideration while taking into account legal limitations,” he said.
The activist stressed that workplace bullying in the medical industry must be handled in a comprehensive way, pointing out that an end to the problem has not yet been reached despite persistent media reports.
He added that employee safety and health risks in the healthcare sector are complex and can be caused by several elements, one of which is fatigue caused by extreme mental stress and long working hours.
Problems might also arise from a work environment and culture where bullying is the norm as alleged by various parties, he said.
“For example, housemen can be under mental pressure that might manifest as a psychological hazard in themselves and their colleagues,” he said, noting that both factors should be tackled simultaneously instead of being seen as separate issues.
Dr Shawaluddin also said that guidelines from the Occupational Safety and Health Department (DOSH) clearly outline how aggression and abuse at the workplace are a form of psychological harassment.
He explained that psychological harassment consists of oppressive actions such as vindictive or cruel attempts to humiliate or damage the image and position of an employee as well as constant and inappropriate negative criticism.
“Abuse in the form of bullying is also interpreted as behaviour that deviates from reasonable behaviour involving the misuse of physical or psychological strength.
“As such, MSOSH recommends that DOSH re-examine their existing guidelines to see if improvements need to be made to place emphasis on curbing incidents of workplace bullying,” he said.
Previously, initial investigations by police into the death of a Penang Hospital trainee doctor revealed that the victim had complained about stress from his duties.
His death after his posting to the hospital is believed to be the second involving a houseman in the state.
In December 2020, The Vibes reported that a doctor who had resigned from the same hospital had died suddenly.
Several doctors, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue, said bullying in the medical fraternity is a pervasive problem.
On Friday, the Health Ministry had announced members of the Healthcare Work Culture Improvement Taskforce, which will have two months to present to the ministry their evaluation reports and suggestions for improving the workplace culture and medical professionals’ human resource management in the public health service. – The Vibes, May 15, 2022
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