JULY 19 — The death of a university intern should never be dismissed as an unfortunate workplace accident. It should be treated as a warning that something has gone fundamentally wrong.
In June this year, Malaysia was shocked by the death of Muhammad Adam Danish Mohd Anuar, a final-year environmental science student from Universiti Putra Malaysia. He reportedly drowned while performing maintenance work inside a water reservoir during his industrial training.
Just months earlier, another intern, mechanical engineering student Soo Yu Jian, lost his life following an explosion involving an air-conditioning compressor only days before completing his internship.
These were not experienced industrial workers. They were students completing compulsory training as part of their university education. Yet both paid the ultimate price while trying to gain workplace experience.
As National Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Week reminds us of the importance of workplace safety, these tragedies force us to ask a difficult question: Are internships still serving their educational purpose, or have some become a source of inexpensive labour with inadequate protection?
Industrial training is intended to bridge classroom learning and professional practice. Students should be guided, supervised and gradually exposed to real working environments. Instead, there are worrying signs that some interns are being assigned tasks that exceed both their competence and their legal responsibilities.
Unlike permanent employees, interns occupy a uniquely vulnerable position. Their academic grades, internship evaluations, recommendation letters and even future employment opportunities often depend on their supervisors.
This imbalance creates enormous pressure to comply with instructions, even when those instructions involve obvious risks. Most students have little or no workplace experience and may not recognise unsafe practices. They naturally assume that if experienced employees are performing a task, it must be acceptable.
Many also fear that refusing an assignment could label them as uncooperative, weak or unsuitable for the profession. For a student eager to graduate, protecting one’s academic future may appear more urgent than questioning workplace safety.
However, Malaysian law provides stronger protection than many students realise.
Since the Occupational Safety and Health (Amendment) Act 2022 came into force on June 1, 2024, workers, including interns, have the legal right to refuse work if they reasonably believe it presents an imminent danger of death or serious injury.
Section 26A of the Occupational Safety and Health Act allows workers to remove themselves from dangerous situations without facing retaliation, provided their concerns are raised in good faith.
This protection is particularly relevant for high-risk activities such as entering confined spaces, handling hazardous chemicals, operating heavy machinery or working around high-voltage equipment without appropriate training, supervision and safety controls.
The preliminary findings surrounding the recent water reservoir incident have already highlighted possible concerns regarding confined-space safety procedures. While investigations are still ongoing, the case serves as a powerful reminder that legal rights are meaningful only when workers know they exist and employers respect them.
Protecting interns requires more than legislation alone.
Universities must strengthen their oversight of industrial placements. Selecting host organisations should involve more than administrative arrangements. Institutions should verify whether companies maintain proper occupational safety systems, conduct risk assessments and provide qualified supervision before students are placed there.
Companies with poor safety records should not continue receiving interns simply because they are willing to offer placements.
Likewise, employers must recognise that interns are learners, not fully trained employees. Assigning them hazardous work without adequate preparation not only violates the spirit of education but may also expose organisations to significant legal and reputational consequences.
At the national level, the Ministry of Higher Education should work closely with the Department of Occupational Safety and Health to establish a standardised industrial training safety framework applicable across all public and private higher education institutions.
Such a framework should include mandatory safety audits of host organisations, compulsory pre-placement OSH training for students, clear guidance on prohibited high-risk tasks, and a shared national database of companies found to have breached safety requirements.
Most importantly, every intern should understand that refusing dangerous work is not an act of insubordination; it is a legal right designed to protect lives.
The true measure of a successful internship is not how much work a student completes, but whether they gain knowledge, confidence and professional skills in a safe environment.
No degree programme should require students to gamble with their lives before graduation.
The deaths of Muhammad Adam Danish and Soo Yu Jian should not become just another pair of statistics that fade from public memory. Their stories should become the turning point that strengthens Malaysia’s commitment to safer industrial training.
Every student who leaves home to pursue an education deserves to return home safely.
* Dr Maisarah Nasution Waras is the head of the OSH Unit and a university lecturer at Pusat Kanser Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (PKTAAB), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).
** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
