Resistance to occupational safety<\/p>\n
By Melody Kemp<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Watching the construction of luxury apartments
\nthat are soon to be an extension of one of the most prestigious
\nhotels in the city is quite fascinating.<\/p>\n
The construction workers wear neither hard hats nor protective
\nfoot wear. The multistory site is not swathed in protective mesh
\ndesigned to catch errant flying tools. No barriers are erected on
\nthe edge of each floor to prevent falls, nor are workers wearing
\nharnesses for high-rise tasks. The site itself is a mess,
\nspilling over onto the road. Why is this still allowed to happen?
\nThis is after all, Jakarta, which prides itself on development
\nand modernity.<\/p>\n
Similar appalling conditions were also to be seen recently at
\nthe construction site next door to a hotel owned by Minister of
\nManpower Abdul Latief.<\/p>\n
Such horrible working conditions are far different from
\nconstruction sites in Vietnam, where construction sites are
\ntightly controlled -- safety-conscious scenes are comparable with
\nanything found in countries of the \"North\". Huge notice boards in
\nVietnamese and English clearly spell out regulations to be
\nfollowed on site and remind contractors of the workers' rights to
\nparticipate, contribute to safety and stop work if safety is
\ncompromised.<\/p>\n
The issue of occupational health and safety arose two weeks
\nago with the news in The Jakarta Post that 100 construction
\nworkers had died so far this year. While this total is shocking,
\neven more shocking is the total number of deaths and crippling
\ninjuries that are the darker side of industrial development in
\nIndonesia. The poor record-keeping and the employment systems
\nthat keep many (women) workers on daily contracts, mean that one
\ncan only hazard a guess at the actual dimension of deaths and
\ninjuries per year. They would clearly outpace AIDS-related
\ndeaths. And yet, while AIDS attracts millions of dollars of
\nfunding, occupational (and vehicular) accidents barely raise a
\nmurmur.<\/p>\n
Occupational health and safety (OHS) represents the interface
\nbetween economic growth and social justice -- the ethics by which
\ncapitalism is mediated. The adoption of and compliance with labor
\ncodes on health and safety can be regarded as an indicator of the
\ndegree to which a country is committed to the development of its
\npeople, not merely economic growth for the few. Concepts of
\nsustainability in development need to give policy direction to
\nworkers' rights to participate in workers' health and well-being
\n-- in addition to the enhancing their rights. They, after all,
\nfuel the economic trajectory taken by governments in their plans
\nfor economic and social change.<\/p>\n
Occupational health and safety have been regarded too long as
\nadd-on's, rather than integral to the process of development, and
\nhave come to represent the divide between \"us and them\".<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a scene of school children dangerously swerving and
\nlinking arms as they ride bicycles also indicates that the
\nculture of safety cannot be assumed to exist in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The culture of safety is one in which each individual is
\nconscious of and integrally involved in the safety and well-being
\nof himself or herself and that of others. It implies taking
\nresponsibility for one's actions, and having a sense of
\nconsequence for both the individual and the wider community.<\/p>\n
In a developed country, the culture of safety is learned at
\nschool in social studies, in bicycle and road safety classes, and
\nthrough a simmering process of acculturation, in which one
\nrecognizes and adheres to laws and regulations created for the
\ncommon good and which serve rich and poor alike.<\/p>\n
In light of this, is there any room for what the great
\nintellectual Soedjatmoko referred to in 1977 as \"moral vision\"
\nwhich seeks \"to redress the balance between economic efficiency
\nand justice, between competitiveness on one hand and a spirit of
\nsharing on the other\", for surely preserving the health and
\nsafety of workers, children and the community at large is the
\ngreatest act of sharing and accordance of justice?<\/p>\n
To appreciate the importance of OHS, one has to explore the
\nconcept of risk. Many unenlightened foreigners typify Asian
\nconcepts of risk as fatalistic -- one's life depending on the
\nmere roll of heavenly dice. However risk is based on logic and to
\na lesser degree on maths. Bernstein, in his wonderful study of
\nrisk, recounts that Arab invaders of India learned from the
\nHindu's concepts of mathematics which they later transformed into
\nastronomy, navigation and commerce. Within that pattern of logic
\nbased on mathematics, the concept of risk emerged in the Arabic
\nempires, countering the belief in randomness. This flame of
\nintellect was to be submerged with the Crusades and the
\nhorrendously destructive burning of Islamic books of learning in
\nSpain and Baghdad. The Dark Ages descended, and fatalism did re-
\nemerge in the traumatized history.<\/p>\n
But the logic and numbers took root elsewhere and have their
\nmodern incarnation in risk management and assessment which, along
\nwith safety engineering, occupational hygiene, medicine and OHS
\neducation, ensures that all manner of firms maintain profitable
\nand productive profiles.<\/p>\n
So what is going on in an Indonesia that espouses the rhetoric
\nof competitiveness and globalization and yet wastes the talents
\nof trained and skilled workers through lack of attention to the
\nspirit and the culture of OHS? Foreigners are wont to say: \"Ah,
\nbut in Indonesia life is cheap.\" What is true is that people have
\nlimited rights and access to OHS education.<\/p>\n
So how do Indonesian workers and managers achieve health
\nvalues? The major source is information and education. However,
\nat present no systematic way exists by which all Indonesian
\nworkers can access OHS information and education. For various
\nreasons, the officially sanctioned trade union has a low
\nmembership rate, and the labor-focused non-governmental
\norganizations (NGO), when not fighting for recognition and
\nbattling accusations, do not have national coverage. They do not
\nhave the capacity to inflict or influence change.<\/p>\n
In addition, there seems little interest in devolving power to
\nthe \"stakeholders\", in this case workers, which would allow them,
\nthrough the internationally recognized mechanism of self-
\nregulation mediated by worker\/management safety committees, to
\nactively participate in their own OHS programs. This again stands
\nin startling contrast to Vietnam where trade unions and
\ngovernment agencies are collaborating to train safety delegates,
\nparticularly women, to record and report breaches of the tough
\nLabor Code. This approach was already implemented in some of the
\nsmall islands of the Pacific in the 1980s, so it cannot be simply
\ndismissed as \"Western meddling\".<\/p>\n
Women in Indonesia seem to be leading the battle for workers
\nrights and human dignity. Their enthusiasm and intelligence,
\ndespite rudimentary education was breathtaking and made me
\nrealize the power and possibilities of national worker education
\nin OHS. Complex issues of chemical safety and ergonomics were
\neasily understood, as it was the currency of their lives.<\/p>\n
But the dark side was the number of cases of cancer of the
\nbladder in young women textile workers, testimony to the use of
\ncarcinogenic dyestuffs; and the reports of so many of the young
\nwomen whose bodies had stopped menstruating after they commenced
\nwork.<\/p>\n
Women, whose labor fuels the export-led industries that have
\ncontributed to Indonesia's rapid growth, were already tired --
\ntired of the loud noises of the machinery which follows them
\nhome, tired of the sexual harassment, tired of the forced
\novertime, tired of the intense physical effort they had to put
\ninto work, tired because their bosses said they would become lazy
\nif they were given comfortable chairs, so they labor for ten
\nhours per day on a stool.<\/p>\n
But the tiredness faded and the lights went on. They lived
\nagain. However as well-motivated and informed as they were, the
\nwomen came up against enormous and illogical resistance.<\/p>\n
The battle for workers rights and human dignity is far from
\nover.<\/p>\n
The writer is trainer in occupational health and safety.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/resistance-to-occupational-safety-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }