Falls from height account for 32% of all workplace fatalities in Malaysia (Zermane et al., SEEU Review 2024). In the construction sector specifically, 64% of fatalities involve contract workers. And as of 1 June 2024, the rules governing how construction sites manage safety changed.
The Occupational Safety and Health (Construction Work) (Design and Management) Regulations 2024 -- commonly called CDM 2024 -- turned what were previously voluntary guidelines into enforceable law. The penalties are real: up to RM500,000 in fines and up to 1 year of imprisonment for non-compliance (P.U.(A) 147/2024).
Below: what CDM 2024 requires for construction safety compliance in Malaysia, who is responsible, what DOSH inspects, and what the penalties actually look like.
What CDM 2024 changes
Before CDM 2024, construction safety management in Malaysia was guided by the 2017 Construction Industry Guidelines -- a non-statutory document issued by DOSH. Contractors could follow it or not. There was no legal penalty for ignoring it.
CDM 2024 changed that. The regulations were gazetted on 31 May 2024 and came into force on 1 June 2024, the same day as the OSHA (Amendment) Act 2022. Together, these 2 pieces of legislation represent the most significant overhaul of occupational safety law in Malaysia since OSHA 1994 was enacted (Skrine Advocates & Solicitors, June 2024).
The regulations are modelled on the UK's Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The core principle: safety must be planned from the design stage, not managed reactively on site.
3 things changed materially:
- Safety obligations are now enforceable by law, not just good practice
- Clients (developers, property companies, government agencies) are legally accountable -- not just contractors
- 5 dutyholder roles with specific, documented obligations and differentiated penalties
Who CDM 2024 applies to
CDM 2024 affects every construction project in Malaysia where more than 1 contractor is involved. It defines 5 dutyholder roles, each with specific legal obligations:
The client
The client is the person or entity commissioning the project -- typically the developer, property company, or government agency. Under CDM 2024, clients sit at the top of the accountability chain.
Client duties include:
- Appoint a Principal Construction Work Designer and a Principal Construction Work Contractor in writing before construction begins
- Provide pre-construction information to all designers and contractors
- Ensure the construction phase plan is prepared before work starts
- Ensure a safety and health file is maintained throughout the project
- Notify DOSH for projects exceeding 30 working days or 500 person-days
- Allocate sufficient time, funds, and resources for safety
If the client fails to make these appointments, they automatically inherit the duties of both principal roles. This is not a minor technicality -- it means the developer becomes personally responsible for on-site safety management.
Maximum penalty: RM500,000 fine, up to 1 year imprisonment, or both.
The principal construction work designer
Responsible for planning, managing, and monitoring the pre-construction phase. They coordinate safety among all designers, manage risks from the design stage, and prepare the safety and health file.
Maximum penalty: RM200,000 (pre-construction duties) or RM500,000 (safety and health file).
The principal construction work contractor
Responsible for the construction phase plan, on-site safety management, worker engagement, site access control, and coordination among all contractors.
Maximum penalty: RM500,000 fine, up to 1 year imprisonment, or both.
Construction work designers and contractors
General designers and contractors must possess requisite skills, cooperate with principal parties, and comply with instructions.
Maximum penalty: RM100,000 fine, up to 1 year imprisonment, or both.
The notification requirement you cannot miss
Any construction project scheduled to last longer than 30 working days or exceed 500 person-days must be notified to the Director General of DOSH in writing, before the construction phase begins.
Failure to notify carries a fine of up to RM100,000 or imprisonment of up to 1 year.
In practice, this threshold captures virtually every significant construction project in Malaysia. With 11,980 projects approved in the first 9 months of 2024 alone -- worth a combined RM150.2 billion (Research and Markets, February 2025) -- the volume of notifiable projects is substantial.
OSHA 1994 still applies (and the penalties got bigger)
CDM 2024 is subsidiary legislation under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (Act 514). Both sets of obligations apply simultaneously. Complying with CDM 2024 does not exempt anyone from OSHA duties.
The OSHA (Amendment) Act 2022, which came into force on the same day as CDM 2024, made 4 changes that directly affect construction:
- OSHA now applies to all workplaces in Malaysia -- previously, it covered only specific listed industries
- Principals (developers, main contractors) are now responsible for the safety of contractors, subcontractors, and their employees -- the liability chain extends down the entire subcontractor tree
- Directors, managers, and company secretaries can be held personally liable for safety offences
- New duties added: emergency procedures (s.15(2)(f)), mandatory risk assessments (s.18B), and appointment of an OSH Coordinator for any employer with 5 or more employees (s.29A)
In practice, safety responsibility now runs from the boardroom to the site.
What DOSH actually inspects
DOSH inspections of construction sites are triggered by 4 things:
- Scheduled routine inspections of registered construction sites
- Fatal accidents or dangerous occurrences -- mandatory investigation
- Complaints from workers or the public
- Failure to notify DOSH of a notifiable project
(DOSH SHO Performance Indicators)
Safety and Health Officers (SHOs) on site must submit monthly performance indicators to the DOSH Construction Safety Division. This creates an ongoing data trail -- DOSH is not only inspecting during visits.
When DOSH identifies violations, they can issue:
- Improvement notices: requiring remediation within a specified timeframe
- Stop-work orders: halting construction entirely until the risk is resolved
Stop-work orders are not theoretical. DOSH Pahang issued stop-work orders to 16 construction sites in a single enforcement operation in 2019 (DOSH Archive). In April 2025, Selangor DOSH issued a stop-work order after a fatal crane incident at a Shah Alam construction site (Yahoo News Malaysia).
What the penalties actually look like
CDM 2024 and OSHA together create a penalty structure with maximums of RM500,000 and imprisonment. But what do courts actually impose?
The DOSH prosecution register shows construction-sector fines from late 2024:
| Company | Offence | Fine imposed |
|---|---|---|
| CHINA COMMUNICATIONS CONSTRUCTION (ECRL) SDN. BHD. | Failure to provide SOP on drilling; fatal accident (s.15(1) OSHA) | RM35,000 |
| CNQC ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION SDN. BHD. | Failure to ensure machinery in safe condition; fatal accident (s.15(1) OSHA) | RM30,000 |
| URITEC TEAM (M) SDN. BHD. | Failure to ensure safety of non-employees (s.17(1) OSHA) | RM20,000 |
| EHSAN PANTAS SDN. BHD. | Failure to provide SOP and training; fatal accident (3 charges) | RM40,000 total |
(DOSH Prosecution Case Register)
Current court-imposed fines are well below the RM500,000 maximum. But the 2022 Amendment raised the ceilings, enforcement is picking up, and every case listed above involved a fatality. As courts build precedent under the new framework, fines will likely climb.
The bigger financial risk may not be the fine itself. A stop-work order on a RM150 million project costs far more in delays than any penalty.
CDM 2024 construction safety compliance checklist for site managers
If you are managing a construction site in Malaysia, here is what CDM 2024 requires:
Before construction begins:
- Client has appointed a Principal Construction Work Designer in writing
- Client has appointed a Principal Construction Work Contractor in writing
- Pre-construction information has been provided to all designers and contractors
- Construction phase plan has been prepared
- DOSH has been notified (if project exceeds 30 working days or 500 person-days)
- Sufficient time, funds, and resources allocated for safety management
During construction:
- Construction phase plan is being followed and updated as conditions change
- Safety and health file is being maintained
- Site access is controlled
- Worker safety inductions are being conducted
- Workers are consulted on safety matters
- SHO performance indicators are being submitted monthly to DOSH
- Safety monitoring is continuous, not just periodic
Throughout the project:
- All dutyholders are fulfilling their specific CDM 2024 obligations
- Evidence of compliance is being documented with timestamps
- Safety management is demonstrable, not just documented on paper
Your site needs more than a checklist
CDM 2024 requires "continuous" monitoring, but most Malaysian construction sites still rely on periodic walkabouts, manual spot-checks, and paper checklists. With 1 SHO often responsible for an entire site and approximately 1.4 million construction workers across 132,272 registered contractors (OpenDOSM), the coverage gap is structural.
HyperQ AI Safety deploys VLM-powered safety monitoring on your existing CCTV -- PPE detection, zone monitoring, unsafe behaviour alerts, and a timestamped evidence trail that supports your CDM 2024 compliance documentation. Operational in approximately 1 hour, no new cameras required.
If you are managing a construction site in Malaysia and want to see how continuous AI monitoring works in practice, talk to us about your site.
Sources
- DOSH CDM 2024 Gazette, P.U.(A) 147/2024: intranet.dosh.gov.my
- Skrine Advocates & Solicitors, "Building a Safer Future in Construction Sites" (June 2024): skrine.com
- Lavania & Balan Chambers, CDM 2024 Overview (November 2024): lbchambers.com.my
- Donovan & Ho, "Amendments to OSHA 1994" (January 2025): dnh.com.my
- DOSH OSHA 1994 (consolidated reprint Version 1.6.2024): dosh.gov.my
- DOSH Prosecution Case Register: intranet.dosh.gov.my
- Zermane et al. (2024), "Statistical Analysis of Occupational Fatal Accidents for Risk Assessment," SEEU Review 19(1): reference-global.com
- DOSM Construction Statistics Q2 2024: dosm.gov.my