Workplace health needs attention, councilor says
JAKARTA (JP): A city councilor wants the municipal administration to make a new regulation on industrial workplace health conditions in the capital.
"It is time now to issue a regulation because the existing regulation does not cover industrial health conditions," H. Ronggo S. Thahir, deputy chairman of the Council's Commission E in charge of public welfare affairs, said over the weekend.
He said that existing regulation focuses only on workplace safety. Regional Regulation No. 7/1989, on industrial working conditions, does not cover the health aspects of the working environment.
Ronggo made his remarks after visiting a number of factories in the pharmaceutical, automotive and garment manufacturing sectors, at which the health conditions remain poor.
"How can workers claim their rights if they have no legal basis to do so?" he asked.
Ronggo said the new regulation is needed to force industrialists to pay more attention to health conditions in factories.
Ronggo said that the city administration should not wait until something unfortunate happens. "We are morally obliged to give the best for the society. The earlier, the better," he said.
Due to the different situations in the various industrial sectors, Ronggo suggested that the stipulations in the regulation should differentiate between one sector and another. The guidelines for the garment industry, for instance, should be different from those for the automotive sector.
Ronggo also said that workers like policemen and those at bus stations should have special insurance because they cannot avoid the impact of air pollution when they are on duty.
In a related development, the Council's Commission C, which is responsible for financial affairs, urged the municipal administration to revise the regional regulation on the city- owned company PD PAL, which processes liquid waste.
Chairman of the commission Helmy A.R. Syihab said that the review of existing Regulation No. 10/1991 is needed because it limits the company's business activities.
Under the regulation, the company is allowed to process liquid waste only in areas where liquid waste pipe networks have been installed.
The regulation prevents the company from expanding its business into other areas without pipe networks even though the industries there need the company's services, he said.
Another problem faced by the company is the limited availability of funds.
In the 1995 fiscal year, for instance, the company got only Rp 147 million (US$66,818) from the city administration. This amount is inadequate even for routine activities, he complained.
Helmy, therefore, suggested that the city administration revise the regulation and give the company more autonomy to develop its business. (32)