PRisMA psychosocial risk assessment for Malaysian employers

A statutory duty, handled by a wellness partner rather than a report writer. We run the full PRisMA 2024 cycle with a registered Psychosocial Trained Person, deliver your report within 30 days, and then help you act on what it finds.

What Malaysian employers are required to do

Section 18B of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994, as amended in 2022, requires employers to conduct risk assessments covering risks to safety and health at the workplace. Psychosocial risk is part of that duty. Penalties reach RM500,000, imprisonment of up to two years, or both.

DOSH published the Guidelines on Psychosocial Risk Assessment and Management at the Workplace, known as PRisMA 2024, setting out how the assessment should be conducted. The guideline is aligned with ISO 45003:2021, the international standard for psychological health and safety at work.

The duty applies across sectors and sizes. It is not limited to large employers or to specific industries. New to the guideline? Start with what PRisMA 2024 actually says.

How a PRisMA assessment runs

  1. Scope by work unit

    Every work unit is assessed separately, including management, because pressure is rarely distributed evenly across a business.

  2. Screen your employees

    A short questionnaire, completed privately. We run it in English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Tamil, Nepali and Bengali, on mobile, on shared kiosk tablets, or on paper where a workforce has no devices.

  3. Score and identify risk levels

    Results are analysed at work unit level against the guideline's thresholds. Individual answers are never shown to the employer.

  4. Review your existing practices

    Where a work unit returns high risk, your representative completes the employer practice checklist, and our PTP verifies the evidence behind each answer.

  5. Build the action plan

    Findings are matched to the guideline's prescribed actions across seven themes, and prioritised.

  6. Report within 30 days

    Signed by the PTP, in the required format, ready for your DOSH audit file.

  7. Reassess

    Every 12 months where risk is high, otherwise every two years. Records are retained for seven years.

Most providers stop at the report

An assessment tells you that workload is a problem in your night shift, or that support is weak in your warehouse. It does not fix either.

The action plan prescribes what should happen next: training and education, better social support, manager communication, psychosocial support for employees with mental health conditions. Those are the things we do every day.

So the report is not the end of our engagement. It is the point at which we know exactly what your workplace needs, and can put it in place, with the training component claimable through HRD Corp.

At the next reassessment, you can see whether it worked.

Your people will not be identified. Ever.

Individual responses are never shown to the employer. Results are only ever reported at work unit level, and no unit is reported at all if it is too small to protect anonymity.

If someone's answers suggest they are struggling, they see a private route to support at the end of the questionnaire. That is between them and the care team.

This is not only a legal position under PDPA. It is the reason people answer honestly, which is the reason the assessment is worth anything. Read more on our trust and data privacy page.

Frequently asked questions

Is a psychosocial risk assessment compulsory in Malaysia?

Employers have a statutory duty to assess workplace risks under Section 18B of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994. PRisMA 2024 is the DOSH guideline setting out how psychosocial risk should be assessed and managed.

What is the penalty for not doing it?

Non compliance with the risk assessment duty carries a fine of up to RM500,000, imprisonment of up to two years, or both.

Who can conduct the assessment?

The guideline provides for a Psychosocial Trained Person to conduct and manage the process, verify the employer's existing controls, prepare the action plan and maintain records.

How long does it take?

We deliver the signed report within 30 days of completing fieldwork. Where you are working to a DOSH deadline, our expedited service starts fieldwork within 72 hours and reports within 14 days.

Does it diagnose employees?

No. The assessment looks at work design and organisational risk factors. It is not a clinical or diagnostic tool, and it does not assess any individual's mental health.

What does it cost?

Prices start at RM4,500 and are published in full on our pricing page, banded by headcount.

Know where you stand before DOSH asks

Take the free readiness check, or see published pricing banded by headcount. High exposure sector? Start with manufacturing.