Indonesia to develop a five-year national OSH programme to better protect workers’ fundamental right

Relevant stakeholders examine and assess current OSH challenges, opportunities and lessons learned for the next five years of the OSH national programme. In conjunction with the observation of this year’s World Day for Safety and Health at Work, the ILO supported the Ministry of Manpower to develop and update Indonesia’s national Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Programme for 2023-2027. This five-year programme is a follow-up to the National OSH Profile 2022, providing detailed OSH priorities and actions in the country as part of Indonesia’s obligations to implement the ILO Convention No. 187 of 2006 concerning Promotional Framework on OSH which had been ratified through the Presidential Regulation No. 34 of 2014.

The pandemic has shown the importance of resilient and coordinated OSH programmes. Thus, we need to strengthen our commitment and collaboration in continuing to create a strong OSH culture and implementation in the country."

Haiyani Rumondang, Director General of Labour Inspection and OSH of the Ministry of Manpower

The OSH programme would be developed through a series of meetings with relevant stakeholders that will be running until mid of August 2023. The initial meeting, supported by the ILO’s Workers Rights project funded by the US Department of Labour, was conducted on 4 April in Jakarta, attended by 90 representatives from Ministry of Health, Ministry of Investment, Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas), National Social Security Agency (BPJS), OSH experts, employers’ associations, trade unions and academia.’

Haiyani Rumondang, Director General of Labour Inspection and OSH of the Ministry of Manpower, emphasized the crucial of effective collaboration and synergy from relevant stakeholders to ensure the effective implementation of the OSH national programme. “The pandemic has shown the importance of resilient and coordinated OSH programmes. Thus, we need to strengthen our commitment and collaboration in continuing to create a strong OSH culture and implementation in the country,” she said.

Meanwhile Michiko Miyamoto, ILO Country Director for Indonesia and Timor-Leste reminded that OSH has become a fundamental principle and right at work. A safe and healthy working environment, therefore, is the fundamental right of all workers, including micro and small enterprises, informal economy and rural and agricultural sector. “We need to ensure that the OSH national programmes acknowledge these sectors and make them part of the OSH system through the OSH legislation, inspection as well as capacity and awareness building,” she stated.

Haiyani Rumondang, Director General of Labour Inspection and OSH of the Ministry of Manpower, emphasized the crucial of effective collaboration and synergy from relevant stakeholders to ensure the effective implementation of the OSH national programme Facilitated by the Vice Chairperson of the National OSH Committee, Prof. Fatma Lestari, the participants examined and assessed current challenges, opportunities, lessons learned from the previous national priorities set in 2019. Key points of discussion included relevant legislative framework and practice, institutional infrastructure, available resources, application of OSH management system in the workplace and OSH data collection for policy and programme development.

“The data shows that there is an increase of 5 per cent or equal to 12,630 cases of occupational accidents and diseases from year 2020 to 2021. The data also reveals a concerning increase of 48 percent in deaths of 6,552 people last year. Based on this data, we can identify challenges and opportunities for better, resilient policy and programme development and implementation,” Prof. Fatma explained.

The working group consisting of the tripartite constituents and OSH experts will ensure the elaboration of the key priorities as well as to reinforce the implementation of Indonesia’s national OSH system into the national OSH programme."

Yuka Ujita, the ILO’s OSH Specialist

The meeting concluded with the agreement to maintain and continue improving the set of five priorities from the previous OSH national programmes as follows: National Promotion on OSH; Capacity of OSH Resources; OSH Norms and Regulations Monitoring and Compliance; National OSH Reporting System and Information Management; and OSH Coordination, Synergy and Collaboration. These key priorities would be further examined and improved for the next five years of the OSH national programme.

Yuka Ujita, the ILO’s OSH Specialist, appreciated the commitment of Indonesia to continue strengthening its OSH national programme. She suggested the establishment of a working group that focuses on the development of the OSH national programmes based on the five key priorities above. “The working group consisting of the tripartite constituents and OSH experts will ensure the elaboration of the key priorities as well as to reinforce the implementation of Indonesia’s national OSH system into the national OSH programme,” Yuka concluded.

The support of the ILO Safety+Health program was given by the Improving Workers’ Rights in Rural Sectors of Indonesia with a focus on Women. Funded by the US Department of Labour (USDOL), the project aims to promote labour laws compliance, OSH and gender equality in the Indo-Pacific.