Govt to inspect chemical plants
Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Bekasi, West Java
Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said the government would learn from the recent explosion at a chemical plant in East Java, and increase inspections of chemical plants to avoid future incidents.
Speaking before employers and workers at the Jababeka industrial area in Cikarang, West Java, over the weekend, the minister said manpower and transmigration offices across the country had been ordered to inspect all plants using dangerous and toxic substances as their raw materials. The inspectors will make sure the plants are in compliance with Law No. 6/1974 on obligatory occupational health and safety standards, and the ILO convention on labor inspections.
"The government will take action against companies infringing on the obligatory occupational health and safety program (K3), to minimize victims of occupational accidents," he said.
Nuwa Wea expressed concern that the explosion at chemical plant PT Petrowidada in Gresik, East Java, occurred during occupational health and safety month, which was marked earlier this month by President Megawati Soekarnoputri honoring employers with perfect safety records in 2003.
He said he sent a special team to Gresik to investigate whether the accident was the result of a lack of inspections or the company's ignorance of the occupational health and safety program.
"We will take action against any K3 officers who failed to ensure the implementation of K3 at the company, or bring the company's management to court if it violated the law," he said.
He said the government wanted chemical and nuclear plants to learn from the explosion at the Center for Reactor Salvation Technology of the National Atomic Energy Agency in Serpong, Banten, in September 1994, and the Chernobyl incident in the Ukraine in April 1994.
The minister also questioned Petrowidada's participation in the national Social Security Program (Jamsostek), saying workers killed and injured in the explosion had not received full compensation.
"The company's technical director Samsi Abdul Kohir, who was killed in the incident, has received only Rp 152 million for his participation in the occupational accident program, death insurance and pension funds. His family received less because his monthly salary, which has been submitted to Jamsostek, is only Rp 4 million. The management has allegedly manipulated its workers' monthly salaries to avoid paying higher insurance premiums," the minister said, adding the company's management would be brought to court if found in violation of the social security law.