Most city firms have yet to abide Law on Safety

Most city firms have yet to abide Law on Safety

JAKARTA (JP): The implementation of the occupational health and safety program (Hiperkes) among city companies is still poor, despite the fact that it was introduced and passed into law 26 years ago, an official says.

Ironically, most workers are unaware of the importance of the program as they have been busy struggling for higher minimum daily wages, the head of Jakarta Hiperkes center, Benny Priatna, said on Saturday.

Benny said workers are willing to work for money and ignore the fact that conditions at the workplace and the equipment they use do not meet requirements set by the government.

"Well, no wonder the implementation of the safety and health program has been very slow," said Benny, who is also a staff expert at the manpower ministry.

Another reason why the program has not really taken off is that companies are reluctant to improve the conditions of the workplace or provide facilities for the safety of the workers because the workers do not ask for anything.

According to the regulation, owners of companies that fail to implement the Hiperkes program face three months imprisonment or a fine of Rp 100,000.

There are 34,000 companies operating in Jakarta, but no accurate record of how many have implemented the safety and health program.

Benny said the program was first introduced and regulated in 1970 and aimed at improving workers' productivity and welfare.

The program necessitates the proper layout of workplaces, pleasant work environment and protection from various types of pollution.

"In short, the program, if properly implemented, protects workers from occupational illness and accidents," he said.

However, few workers realize that many of them suffer from deadly illnesses they contracted while at the workplace, because symptoms of the illnesses appear years after infection.

Benny said workers are prone to deadly illnesses such as cancer, hypertension and other heart related diseases.

"Illness usually emerges years after the workers retire and the workers are not sure where they got the disease from," he said. "This has caused another serious problem because the workers will not get labor insurance."

For example, he said, the chance of a street sweeper getting lung cancer is high because every day he inhales not only oxygen but many other gasses and elements such as dust.

Benny said that better promotion of the health and safety program among workers and companies is necessary. (yns)