Employers pay little attention to safety: Experts

Employers pay little attention to safety: Experts

JAKARTA (JP): Many companies pay little attention to the great
risks facing employees working in dangerous work environments,
despite the fact that workers are a major asset to their
industries, experts said on Friday.

Indonesian Association of Occupational Health and Safety
(AHKKI) Chairman Tan Malaka said that among the major industrial
companies, only those working in the oil and gas sector had
adequate established health and safety procedures for their
employees.

In the oil and gas sector, people believe that it is natural
for workers to receive more attention considering the nature of
their workplaces, which are either off-shore oil rigs or secluded
mines, Malaka said. He added that most of the companies were
owned by wealthy groups or joint ventures with foreign capital
investment.

In reality, however, employees subject to dangerous conditions
also include construction workers, people required to work with
heavy machinery, transportation and maritime industry workers, or
people exposed to chemical substances, high levels of noise and
dust.

Malaka was speaking on the opening day of a two-day national
seminar on employee health and safety awareness jointly held by
AHKKI and the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration.

Awareness of employee health and safety is necessary, not only
to support ill employees, but also to prevent accidents and
provide a safer working environment for the workers, Malaka said.

He added that poor attention to safety issues had been
exacerbated by employers' misinterpretation of health and safety
principles, resulting in oversimplified approaches in dealing
with employee needs.

"Some companies think that if they have provided a company
doctor and a health clinic then they have done enough. For some
it may be enough, but for others (companies with dangerous tasks)
that is not adequate," he said.

"Doctors still need more specific knowledge on occupational
health and safety, as they have to know what risks employees
face, including chemical threats, industrial hygiene and
industrial psychology," he said.

Thorough health and safety awareness also covers psychological
counseling for workers.

"If a worker becomes deaf after excessive exposure to loud
machinery, who will take care of them, console them?" he said.

Nationwide, there are only 600 doctors specializing in
occupational health registered with the Indonesian Association of
Occupational Health and Safety.

University of Indonesia Medical School lecturer Tata Soemitra
said concerns for employee health and safety had long been a
"marginal matter" among employers, even though they realized that
their workers are crucial to running their industries.

"We are really concerned with the fact and hope that we can
promote this issue to become a priority among business people so
that they will not just think about how to make large profits,
but how to create safe and healthy work environments as well," he
said.

Indonesia, according to Tata, has been left behind compared to
neighboring countries Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore in
managing occupational health and safety.

In a bid to help doctors gain expertise in the area, the
University of Indonesia established formal courses dealing with
occupational health and safety in 1994. (emf)