Systematic measures needed to improve safety on the job

Systematic measures needed to improve safety on the job

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian companies must take systematic steps to improve on-
the-job safety if the country hopes to reduce the number of
workplace fatalities from its annual level of more than 100,000.

"Almost every accident on the job is preventable but some
entrepreneurs neglect the importance of safety," Roger Moore,
president of the U.S.-based DuPont Safety Resources for the Asia
Pacific, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

"Indonesian awareness of a safe work environment, therefore,
still needs to be improved," he said.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri called on Indonesian
companies on Monday to significantly improve the safety of their
workers. She was responding to reports about the increasing
number of fatalities occurring at the workplace.

According to a report by the International Labor Organization,
the number of workplace accidents in Indonesia has steadily
increased from about 82,456 in 1999 to 98,902 in 2000 and 104,774
in 2001. During the first half of 2002 alone, there were 57,972
workplace accident.

"A safe working environment can reduce the costs related to
injuries, health problems and property damage. At the same time,
such environments raise efficiency," Moore said.

Dupont's business development manager for the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, Susanto, said some business owners did
not really care if their employees died or were injured on the
job because it was easy to hire new people.

"They do not realize that when an accident takes place, let's
say a worker gets injured by a machine, it automatically stops
the company's production. This will also delay distribution,"
Susanto said. "And it also takes time and money to train a new
person."

Susanto also said that he had found hotels in Jakarta with
locked emergency exits.

"When asked what if a fire took place, a hotel employee simply
said that the doors would be unlocked. In fact, in the middle of
such an incident how could he think about opening the locked
doors?" asked Susanto.

And some office buildings use stairways as storage areas, he
said. "Some building managements keep furniture and other large
items in the emergency exits, so that they cannot be used."

"Most people still think establishing a safe work environment
means that they have to buy tools. But in fact, they could simply
start with some very simple and basic steps on safety," Moore
said.

These steps, he said, include ensuring adequate light in work
areas and wearing gloves when handling chemicals.

Moore said taking adequate measures to ensure a safe work
environment could help companies reduce workplace accidents by
about 30 percent per year and increase productivity by 40
percent.