The 3rd Annual HSE Excellence Conference 2021 was finally held on the 30th-31st March 2021 at the Putrajaya Marriot Hotel. It has been postponed three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent Movement Control Orders. This time the conference has to be conducted as a hybrid conference where delegates have the option to attend in-person or through online platform. There were about 30 participants who attended the conference in-person and 100 participants online.

The aim of the conference was to let Health and Safety Executive share their industry insight and response. This time the focus was on COVID-19 since all industries have already experienced it since the 25th January 2020 when the first COVID-19 patient was diagnosed and treated in Malaysia. The conference was officiated Mr Mohd Anuar Embi the Deputy Director (Occupational Health), Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia.

Professor Dr Victor Hoe was invited as one of the speakers for the conference. The topic that he presented was “Vaccine in the Workplace: A Roadmap Return to the New Normal”. His talk focused on alleviating the fear of the COVID-19 vaccine and proposing a workplace vaccination programme. The talk touched on the history of vaccine and how vaccine has contributed to the improvement of the health status of the Nation. It also covered the process of development of vaccines, the type of COVID-19 vaccine available, and clarifying all the FAQ that is currently floating around in cyberspace.

The workplace vaccination programme will start with the identification of workers at risk followed by the identification of workers who has vaccine hesitancy. It also includes the development of a vaccine awareness programme at work and the develop an immunisation policy and moving beyond COVID-19.