Developers responsible for fatal accidents: Experts
Developers responsible for fatal accidents: Experts
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Experts are blaming indiscipline and inadequate safety measures
for two separate accidents that killed four workers and injured
nine at a construction site in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, on
Thursday.
The two accidents occurred at the construction site of the
Gading Mediterania apartments.
"Two fatal accidents in one day could only be due to
negligence and inadequate safety measures at the site," Syukri
Sahab, chairman of the Indonesian Occupational Safety and Health
Institute, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
He said all accidents were avoidable because every job had a
standard operational procedure and therefore the developer should
have trained its workers accordingly.
Workers in the city mostly come from rural areas and the most
building experience they would have is in building two-story
houses and would therefore know nothing about the safety measures
for working on a 14-story building like the Gading Mediterania,
he said.
"It is the developer who should be held most responsible for
such accidents," he said.
Marbun, an official at the LK3I private advisory institute
that the government employs, said that according to Law No.
1/1970, the case should be immediately investigated by the
manpower and transmigration ministry and the city administration.
Furthermore, the case should be publicly disclosed so that
other building developers learn from the accidents and prevent a
recurrence of the tragedy, he said.
However, the accident site was closed to journalists on
Friday, and officials on the site refused to comment on the
incidents.
On Friday morning, hundreds of workers gathered at the
construction site for a selamatan mass prayer in the hope of
warding off further accidents at the site.
After prayers, some workers performed only minor activities,
but most demanded a day off.
Two workers at PT Wijaya Karya (Wika) -- Sunaryo, 30, and
Dedi, 27 -- lost their lives and nine others were injured on
Thursday after a concrete wall collapsed, setting off a domino
effect that caused 11 walls to topple and fall on at least 11
laborers working between them.
Co-workers immediately took the victims to the Islamic
Hospital in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta. Four of the injured
were allowed to go home the same day, while five others are still
in the hospital.
Of the four who were killed, two lost their lives when the
walls collapsed, while two others, Heri, 21, and Fauzan, 21, fell
to their deaths from the second floor after receiving electric
shocks.
Sarwa, the father of Junaedi -- one of the workers who was
injured and suffered a broken leg -- said that PT Wika would take
care of the hospital costs. However, there is no written
agreement and no information on whether the developer will
compensate all of the victims.