Building to comply with requirements
(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), no employer shall house or cause or permit to be housed any worker employed by him or by any other person (with whom he has contracted for the purpose of executing any work for or connected with his business, trade, operation or interest) in any building either owned by him or is within his possession or control which does not comply with the provisions of this Act or any regulation made thereunder.
(2) Any building, which immediately before the commencement of this Act was used for the housing of workers or as a nursery or as a community hall by an employer and was erected or converted in accordance with the requirements of any written law in force at the time of its erection or conversion, may continue to be used by such employer:
Provided that such building be converted to comply with the provisions of this Act or any regulation made thereunder.
(3) Notwithstanding the provision in subsection (2) the Director General, upon application by an employer, may permit, subject to any condition as he may impose, such building to continue to be used without conversion for such period as he deems fit.
(4) Pursuant to any investigation carried out on any place of employment, where the Director General is satisfied that any building, which immediately before or after the commencement of this Act, was used for the housing of workers or their dependants or as a nursery or as a community hall does not comply with the provisions of this Act or any regulation made thereunder, the Director General may issue to the employer concerned a notice, of not less than three months, of his intention to order demolition and replacement, alteration, repair or making good any deficiency or defect thereof.
(5) Where, upon the expiry of the aforesaid notice period, the employer fails to take such action as is required to the satisfaction of the Director General, the Director General may issue to the employer concerned an order in writing requiring the aforesaid employer to demolish and replace, alter or repair such building or to make good any deficiency or defect thereof within six months of the order and subject to such conditions as the Director General may specify in the order; and any such order may include a directive that no worker or his dependants shall be permitted to occupy any such building pending such demolition and replacement, alteration or repair, or the making good of any defect or deficiency thereof, or until the requirements of the order have been complied with:
Provided that where an appeal has been made under section 30 in respect of the order issued under this subsection, then such order shall be suspended pending the determination of the appeal.
Supply of water and electricity and maintenance of houses
(1) Where workers and their dependants are provided with housing at their place of employment it shall be the duty of the employer of such place of employment—
(a) to provide free and adequate piped water drawn from a public main, or where the Director General so permits in writing, to provide free and adequate supply of potable
piped water drawn from any other source which shall be filtered and treated in a manner approved by the Director General;
(b) to provide adequate electricity supply;
(c) to ensure that the buildings are kept in a good state of repair and painted to present a satisfactory appearance; and
(d) to ensure that no unauthorized extensions or structural alterations are made to the buildings.
(2) For the purpose of this section the adequacy of water and electricity supply shall be as determined by the Director General:
Provided that the Director General may, if he is satisfied in any case that it is impracticable to provide piped water supply for each house, approve any other means of water supply:
Provided further that the Director General may, in any case where he is satisfied that the provision of electricity supply is not practicable or viable, exempt the employer in writing from the requirement of such provision.
(3) Where water supply is drawn from a source other than a public main the Director General may, for the purpose of ensuring that the water supply is suitable for consumption, cause the Medical Officer of Health to take samples of water supply for analysis and report, the costs of which shall be borne by the employer.
(4) Where water supply is obtained from a public main and is piped to each house, the Director General may, on application made to him, partly or wholly exempt the employer in writing from the requirement to provide free water supply to the workers subject to such conditions as the Director General may impose.
(5) Where any extension or structural alteration has been made to the buildings without the permission of the Director General, the Director General shall, after giving one month’s notice, require the employer to have the extension or structural alteration demolished.
Erection of building intended to be used for the housing of workers, as a nursery or as a community hall
(1) In relation to a building which is to be erected or converted for the housing of workers or for use as a nursery or as a community hall, there shall be submitted by the employer to the Director General for the approval of the approving authority as hereunder provided in subsection (2), the plans of the building and of its site, and no work relating to the aforesaid building shall be begun unless and until the plans so submitted have been approved.
(2) The approving authority aforesaid shall—
(a) in the case of a plan of a building, be the Director General; and
(b) in the case of a plan of the site of the building, and of the sanitary arrangements, be the Medical Officer of Health.
(3) For the purpose of securing that the minimum standards required under this Act or any regulation made thereunder are complied with, the approving authority may approve such plans subject to such conditions (including alterations of the plans) as he may deem fit to impose thereon.
Building endangering health or safety
(1) The Director General shall cause to be inspected—
(a) by a Medical Officer of Health, any building, estate hospital, group estate hospital or clinic on a place of
employment which, by reason of its design, site, size, sanitation, the quantity and quality of the water supply provided for the occupants of such buildings or other conditions, appears to the Director General to be likely to endanger health; and
(b) by the District Engineer, any building, estate hospital, group estate hospital or clinic on a place of employment which, by reason of its construction, state of repair or condition, appears to the Director General to be likely to endanger the safety of any person.
(2) The Medical Officer of Health or the District Engineer or both, as the case may be, shall, after inspecting any building, estate hospital, group estate hospital or clinic under this section, submit to the Director General a report of his or their findings, together with any recommendation made thereon relating to the necessary measures required to be taken in respect of such building, estate hospital, group estate hospital or clinic.
(3) Subject to subsection (4), on receipt of such report as is referred to in subsection (2), the Director General may issue to the employer concerned an order in writing requiring the aforesaid employer to demolish and replace, alter or repair the building, estate hospital, group estate hospital or clinic or to make good any deficiency or defect within such time and subject to such conditions as the Director General may specify in the aforesaid order and such order may, if necessary, direct that no worker or his dependants shall be permitted to occupy any of the aforesaid buildings pending such demolition and replacement, alteration or repair or until the aforesaid order has been complied with:
Provided that where an appeal has been made under section 30 in respect of the aforesaid order then such order shall be suspended pending the determination of the appeal.
(4) No order under subsection (3), shall be issued unless a copy of the report received by the Director General from the Medical Officer of Health or the District Engineer or both has been furnished to the employer, and in making such order the Director General shall give due consideration to any representation that may be made by the employer in respect of the report aforesaid.
Building not originally built for the housing of workers
(1) A building originally built for a purpose other than the housing of workers shall not be used for, or be converted for the purpose of, the housing of workers, unless an application in that behalf has been made to and approved by the Director General.
(2) The application required to be made under subsection (1) shall be accompanied by a plan of the site of the building and a plan setting out the details of the building or of the conversion proposed to be made thereto and subsection 7(2) and 7(3) shall apply to such plan as they apply to a plan of a building or of the site of a building mentioned in that section.
Nursery
(1) Where there are workers residing on the place of employment and such workers have together no less than 10 dependants under four years of age living with them, the Director General may, by order, require the employer of such workers to construct at the aforesaid place of employment within such reasonable time as may be specified therein a nursery of a size capable of accommodating such number of workers’ dependants as may be specified therein, and on being so required, the employer shall construct such nursery accordingly:
Provided that any subsequent reduction in the number of dependants after the order has been issued shall not invalidate such order.
(2) The employer shall maintain the nursery and shall accommodate therein the dependants of the workers during the period in which such workers are away working for the employer:
Provided that he shall not accommodate therein such dependants in excess of the number specified in the requirement mentioned in subsection (1).
(3) On each day a dependant is accommodated at the nursery, he shall be provided by the employer at his own expense with a supply of milk in sufficient quantity and of good quality, and play equipment.
(4) An employer who fails to comply with the provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding two thousand ringgit and to a further fine of one hundred ringgit for each day during which the offence continues.
Allotment of land
(1) Where there are workers residing on the place of employment, the employer of such workers shall set aside land which has been cleared, for allotment to such workers for cultivation, grazing or partly cultivation and partly grazing:
Provided that an employer is not required to excise any permanent cultivation which has been planted by him at least 12 months previously.
(2) A worker residing on the place of employment, who has been employed for a period of not less than six months by the employer aforesaid shall be entitled to have allotted to him an area of 250 square metres of the land so set aside.
(3) If an area of land allotted for cultivation (whether wholly or partly) shall remain unplanted for a period of six months from the
date of the allotment, or if a worker uses the area of land allotted to him for a purpose different from that for which it was allotted, or if he does not use it at all for the purpose for which it was allotted the employer may terminate such allotment and thereafter may allot such area of land to another worker.
(4) In relation to the setting aside of land under this section—
(a) land allotted to workers shall be situated as near as possible to the houses of the workers; and
(b) land for grazing shall, except with the permission in writing of a Medical Officer of Health, be situated at a distance of not less than 183 meters from the houses of the workers.
(5) The Director General may, for sufficient reason, exempt to such extent, as may be stated in such exemption, any employer from compliance with this section on such terms and conditions and for such period as he may deem fit.
(6) Any employer who contravenes the provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand ringgit and to a further fine of fifty ringgit for every day the offence continues.
(7) In this section “place of employment”, in relation to the allotment of land set aside, means an estate or such other place as may be prescribed by the Minister to be a place of employment to which this section applies.
Community hall, sports and other recreational facilities
(1) The Director General may by order require the employer in any place of employment where there are not less than 100 workers residing at the place of employment—
(a) to construct at the aforesaid place of employment, within such reasonable time as may be specified, a community hall capable of accommodating such number of persons as may be specified; and
(b) to provide facilities for sports and other recreational activities as may be specified.
(2) The employer shall maintain the community hall, sports and other recreational facilities aforesaid in a satisfactory condition.
(3) Any employer who fails to comply with the provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand ringgit and to a further fine of fifty ringgit for each day during which the offence continues.
No rent or charge to be levied for benefits under this Act
A worker engaged in such place of employment as may be prescribed by the Minister shall not be required to make any payment for rent or charge in respect of any housing, nursery, community hall, sports and other recreational facilities, sanitation, or allotment of land provided for the worker under this Act.
Source: Laws of Malaysia, Attorney General's Chambers of Malaysia (lom.agc.gov.my). Not a copy of the Gazette printed by the Government Printer (Interpretation Acts 1948 and 1967, s 61).
