As Indonesia faces a crisis in construction safety, the Jakarta Manpower and Transmigration Agency has found that most construction projects in the capital are unsafe.
An inspection of 35 projects conducted by the agency in November has found that up to 80% of them breached legal standards, with safety and health methodologies non-existent and untrained workers being the norm, in contravention of national regulations.
The revelation came after the Indonesian government ordered a halt to all major transport infrastructure schemes last month following a spate of serious site accidents.
It’s not just infrastructure schemes plagued by safety issues: the latest construction accident occurred on Sunday (18 March) in South Jakarta when a woman was killed by a falling iron bar from an affordable apartment block project, reports The Jakarta Post.
"As much as 80% of the projects did not meet standards," said Khadik Triyanto, the Jakarta agency’s head of manpower monitoring this week, reported the Post.
"A large number of projects also lack occupational safety and health [K3] structures, as well as standard operating procedures for its workers," Khadik added.
Inspectors found that many construction workers had permits and licenses, but were nevertheless unskilled.
The agency plans to deploy 43 supervisors to oversee and gather data on the projects.
"I will also invite high-risk contractors, so that we can see an improvement [in on-site safety]," he said.
Image: Unsafe city: Jakarta skyline (Georgi Kovachev/Wikimedia Commons)
