Proton Men’s Health Day 2025 Reinforces Safety Culture, Says HSE Officer Mohd Rizwan

TANJUNG MALIM, El Sky News – Proton Men’s Health Day 2025 returned with a stronger focus on employee wellness, featuring health booths, medical practitioners, and awareness programmes aimed at strengthening workplace safety culture across the Tanjung Malim plant.

Speaking during the event, Mohd Rizwan, Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) officer at Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Sdn. Bhd., said the programme plays a vital role in shaping long-term employee habits. Rizwan, who introduced himself saying, “My name is Mohd Rizwan. Actually, I’m from Melaka. I’ve been employed to work in Proton since 2021… I feel very glad to work in Proton,” said the company’s automotive legacy is what motivates him to serve.

He described Proton as “one of our pioneers in automotive and our biggest automotive in Malaysia,” adding that joining the organisation inspires him to “contribute more to Proton, especially on the safety and health environment matters in the Proton working area.”

As part of Proton’s HSE team, Rizwan explained that his work revolves around safeguarding employees’ wellbeing. “My job is more on health, safety and environment… controlling safety and health environment at our workplace,” he said. This includes monitoring machinery, workplace risks, and health hazards across the plant.

He stressed that this year’s Men’s Health Day delivers an important message, calling it “very, very, very important to create more awareness and to create more safety culture mindset in all our workers.” According to him, the company hopes employees will adopt one essential principle: “Whatever they do, safety is first. That is the most important.”

Discussing the seminar topics, he emphasized the direct connection between health and job performance. “Health is very important and definitely related to our work on a daily basis. No health, no work. That is the most important,” he said. The programme, he added, is designed to help employees understand that health affects not only personal wellbeing but also their families. “It’s a good awareness… to understand their health promotion, not to themselves, but to others’ family as well.”

Rizwan also highlighted major health risks faced in the automotive manufacturing sector, citing ergonomics as the most common concern. “We are dealing with bulky parts, heavy parts, and repetitive movement… ergonomics is very, very crucial at this moment,” he explained, noting that such issues are shared across Malaysia’s heavy and medium industries.

Promoting wellness, however, comes with challenges. He acknowledged that influencing behaviour among thousands of employees requires consistent effort. “The big challenge is from three sides… how we want to promote health to our staff, how we want to promote the health importance, to ensure that people are taking their health, to ensure that they can work, they can earn money, and support the family.”

With Proton employing nearly 8,000 workers, Rizwan acknowledged that reaching every employee with consistent health messaging is a significant challenge. He noted that the large workforce makes health promotion an ongoing effort, and emphasized that Men’s Health Day is one of the key initiatives supporting Proton’s broader mission to build awareness and reduce preventable risks. (Tudneg Navi)