Work accidents up in East Java

SURABAYA, East Java: In spite of a series of campaigns on occupational health and safety in East Java workplaces, the number of accidents occurring at work has been on the rise over the past few years, the local office of state-owned insurer PT Jamsostek said here on Monday.

Data from the local manpower and transmigration office also showed that workplace accidents in various companies had increased by 10 percent between 2000 and 2002.

The data also revealed that the number of workers in the province had reached 1.8 million employed in 11,442 companies.

"The average number of occupational accidents has been 76 per month this year, compared to only between 50 and 60 cases in 2001 and 2000," Sentot Widarto, director of the local office of Jamsostek, said here.

Sentot further said that Jamsostek paid out Rp 16.3 billion in compensation for accidents in 2000, Rp 21.6 billion in 2001 and 23.6 billion this year.

"Despite the high-risk work performed by their workers, there are several companies that have failed to register their employees for the social security program," Sentot added.

Law No 3/1992 on social security requires companies employing ten or more workers to enroll their employees in the program. --Antara