KUALA LUMPUR: Employees will soon be able to stage an intervention plan for their colleagues facing mental health issues through the newly-launched Occupational Mental First Aid, an initiative under the Human Resources Ministry.
Minister Steven Sim said mental health is among the main components in challenges present at the workplace.
"There is still a stigma on mental health (in the country).
"As such, this initiative will help address enhance public awareness, particularly the employers and employees; it's okay to seek help," he told reporters at the 24th Occupational Safety and Health Conference and Exhibition (COSH) at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
Earlier in his speech, he said the World Health Organisation expects that mental health illness would replace cardiovascular disease as themain factor to determine whether a person is deemed fit to continue his or her work, or not.
Unfortunately, only one psychosocial case was reported in the 2022 National Occupational Accident and Disease statistics report due to lack of awareness on the signs and solutions, he said.
This, he said, compared to physical health issues such as hearing problems (5,478 cases), muscular skeletal (678) infections 420), physical injuries (339) and poisoning (185) among others.
Sim said a total RM12 million will be allocated to train about 10,000 psychological first-aiders including those in the public sector under the programme.
Such initiative would also benefit employers as it helps improve productivity and staff performance, as well as address absenteeism, he said.
Participants would be taught to detect early signs of psychological stress among their colleagues and steps to be taken to help them.
The training would also help improve communication skills among participants, as well as identify the right channels in referring individiuals facing mental health issues.
The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) has previously introduced Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) aimed at identifying and addressing employees' mental health problems at an early stage so that their work performance is not affected.
Themed "The Future of Work", the conference aimed at helping some 1,200 participants from various sectors in understanding future safety and health challenges at the workplace, preparing them to respond accordingly.
