Clampdown urged on firms ignoring labor safety

Clampdown urged on firms ignoring labor safety

JAKARTA (JP): The government should impose firmer sanctions on
construction companies that fail to ensure the safety of their
workers, according to a member of the House of Representatives.

The head of the House's Commission V, which oversees labor
affairs, Erie Soekardja, said the government's current sanctions
are too light.

The government issued a regulation in 1970 stipulating that
owners of the companies that fail to protect their staff during
working hours face three months imprisonment or a Rp 100,000
($45) fine.

According to Erie, the penalty is too light, in view of the
fact that construction workers have a high-risk job. "It is the
company's full responsibility for any accidents befalling them,"
he told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

"Accidents could be caused by either the workers' negligence
or the company's lack of control of the equipment," Erie added.

He said that even if an accident is caused by a worker's
mistakes, the company is still held responsible.

"The company should continue to see to it that its staff work
safely and operate all equipment properly," he said.

"Therefore tougher sanctions should be imposed on companies
who fail to protect the safety of their workers, urging them to
be more alert.

However, the head of the workers supervision section of the
regional office of the Ministry of Manpower, Soekoyo, told the
Post yesterday that few of the accidents that are registered with
his office have resulted in any of the company's top officials
being imprisoned.

Compensation

"It's the court that decides, but most cases have ended with
companies paying a sum of money in compensation ranging from Rp
150,000 to Rp 6 million," Soekoyo said.

Citing an example, he said none of the accidents which
happened last year ended with the businessmen being jailed.

In fact, he said, after going through legal procedures and
based on police investigations over deaths in accidents that were
not suicide, an agreement was finally reached with the companies
paying a sum of money in compensation.

An agreement on the compensation is sometimes reached based on
talks between officials of the Ministry of Manpower, the
insurance company and the construction company concerned.

An accident that led to the death of two construction workers
in South Jakarta on Monday is the latest example of
compensationbeing agreed.

The heirs of Mulyono and Sulistiono, two workers of the Duta
Graha construction company who fell from the 13th floor of
Darmawangsa apartment, will get Rp 2 million each from the
company in addition to Rp 10 million each from the insurance
company PT Astek.

The workers were found dead with their bodies unidentified
after they fell from the building because the sling (steel rope)
of the crane bucket which was carrying them broke.

Meanwhile, the chief detective of the South Jakarta Police,
Maj. Charles H. Ngili said that the police are still
investigating the case by interviewing several eyewitnesses and
the foreman.

"So far we can only conclude that the accident was caused by
the broken sling," he told reporters yesterday.(03/04)