KUALA LUMPUR: The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) has expressed its full support for the government's efforts to address mental health issues among civil servants.
This support is through various initiatives, including training civil servants as providers of psychological first aid in the workplace.
"Currently, Niosh is training 10,000 participants under a special free programme known as the Occupational Psychological First Aid (OPFA) course.
"The OPFA module was developed based on the Psychological First Aid training module by the World Health Organisation and the National Centre of Excellence for Mental Health, under the Health Ministry," it said in a statement today.
The two-day course aims to provide awareness and basic skills to employers and employees to identify and manage stress in the workplace.
Niosh said through OPFA, employers and employees also learn to detect early signs of stress, establish support mechanisms and address these issues before they get more serious.
"Niosh's efforts align with the announcement by the Public Service Department director-general Tan Sri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz, that the government will tackle psychological health issues among public servants.
"Niosh fully supports the Madani government's proposal to implement immediate interventions through a preventive, recovery and research approach to prevent public servants from falling into more serious mental health disorders," the statement read.
It said workplace stress could arise from various factors, including the way work is managed, social factors, work environment, equipment and exposure to danger.
It said workplace bullying could be a major contributor to psychological problems, as outlined under the ISO 45003:2021 standard on managing psychosocial risks in the workplace.
According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019, 2.3 per cent of Malaysians were found to be experiencing depression, while in 2018, the Relate Mental Health Malaysia study revealed that 29 per cent of workers had unsatisfactory mental health.
It said, that although these statistics do not specifically state whether these issues were work-related, all parties needed to acknowledge the urgent need to improve psychological wellbeing in the workplace.