Textile plant bans smoking<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A foreign textile company, PT Taisho Textile
\nIndustries, launched yesterday a no-smoking area at its East
\nJakarta factory which employs 1,000 workers.<\/p>\n
The smoke-free campaign's launching ceremony was co-sponsored
\nby Yayasan Jantung Indonesia (Indonesian Heart Foundation) and
\nwas held in conjunction with Health Day which fell yesterday and
\nthe Deepawali (Indian holy) day which fell last Sunday.<\/p>\n
Several Indian companies hold the majority of shares in Taisho
\nTextile Industries and all the company's executives are Indians.<\/p>\n
The company's president, Yashroop Mal Lodha, said after the
\nceremony that all company employees, including management, would
\nbenefit from the smoke-free campaign.<\/p>\n
"The workers will be healthier if the factory is free from
\nsmoke and their productivity will in turn be raised because fewer
\nworkers will be sick," Lodha said.<\/p>\n
He estimated the company would save about Rp 10 million
\n(US$4,255) in health costs each month.<\/p>\n
Lodha said he had started the trial for no smoking area at his
\ncompany two years ago.<\/p>\n
"We will arrange a labor agreement to ban smoking at the
\nfactory," Lodha said.<\/p>\n
The executive director of the foundation, Maseno, said the
\nfactory was the first to declare a no-smoking area in East
\nJakarta. He said there were several firms which had declared
\nthemselves no-smoking areas in Jakarta and its surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
A company director, C. Ramakrishna, said about 40 percent of
\nhis employees smoked.<\/p>\n
He said he could not take disciplinary actions against those
\nwho violated the rules and smoked at his factory. However, he
\nsaid, the company's management would continuously encourage
\nemployees not to smoke at the factory.<\/p>\n
He said the company would not discriminate against smokers by
\nproviding a smoking area at the factory.<\/p>\n
One of the male workers, Asmat, told The Jakarta Post that he
\nwas a smoker. He said he had often used certain places such as
\nthe lavatory to smoke when he was desperate to smoke.<\/p>\n
An executive of the Harapan Kita hospital, Aulia, said that
\nbased on his research 40 percent of people who were addicted to
\ncigarettes failed when they tried to quit smoking. (kod)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/textile-plant-bans-smoking-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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