A part of the supply chain that is very important to Malaysia is the port sector. A high-risk work environment is leading to a rise in occupational stress among port terminal workers. It is necessary for an organisation to correctly diagnose the aspects of the working lifestyle conditions that are perceived as risks by workers and to investigate the consequences of these risks in order for the organisation to be successful in the prevention of occupational stress problems. The aim of this conceptual paper is to investigate the factors that influence the safety practitioner's perception of safety and health risk assessment at port terminal. Data on safety and health that were collected in the past were analysed. Misunderstanding over the definition of a hazard and how to interpret a risk assessment matrix were both factors. This paper will scrutinize those factors and accomplish suggestions for how research should be done in Malaysia in the future.