Work accidents up in East Java

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