Workplace health needs attention, councilor says
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)