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Jakarta Post

BPJS offers consolation to victims of workplace accidents

Muchtar Abdul Thalib folds a thin mattress, his bed for the last two weeks in a corner of Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Jakarta, while waiting for his daughter, Wulandari, 20, who is struggling for her life after a workplace fire

Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, August 14, 2015 Published on Aug. 14, 2015 Published on 2015-08-14T16:33:14+07:00

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M

uchtar Abdul Thalib folds a thin mattress, his bed for the last two weeks in a corner of Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Jakarta, while waiting for his daughter, Wulandari, 20, who is struggling for her life after a workplace fire.

Muchtar, 45, has been taking turns with his wife to make sure their eldest daughter will see someone familiar when she wakes up.

'€œThe doctor said she would be staying at the hospital for at least three months. I just want her to know that her father won'€™t go anywhere,'€ the father of seven said.

Wulandari passed away four days after Muchtar shared this story in an interview with The Jakarta Post.

Wulandari was one of the victims of a fire that gutted a cosmetics factory owned by publicly listed company PT Mandom Indonesia in Bekasi, West Java, on July 11. She suffered burns on 52 percent of her body; her family was unable to recognize her when they first saw her in the hospital.

The immediate toll of the fire was five dead and 52 injured. However, as of Aug. 9, the death toll had increased to 25.

To date, the Jakarta Police have yet to identify the cause of the incident, but have made sure the possibility that it was caused by company negligence remains open.

Mandom President Director Tugiyono said the company had complied with safety regulations in the factory, but admitted that the workers in the incident area were not wearing any safety clothing.

At the conference, director of Social Security Agency (BPJS), Elvyn G. Masassya said that the BPJS gave Rp 300 million to the families of victims.

Also in RSCM, 21-year-old Sugeng Priyono is still struggling to recover from burns over 50 percent of his body. Fortunately, Sugeng'€™s aunt Sharia said her nephew has started to show good signs of recovery.

Speaking to the The Jakarta Post, Sharia said despite the horrifying incident, she was glad that the cosmetics company would cover all medical expenses for Sugeng and make sure that he would able to work again at the company as soon as he recovered.

'€œThey also provided a car and driver for the victims'€™ families to go back and forth to our houses,'€ Sharia continued, adding that her nephew has been registered with the social security plan through the Workers Social Security Management Agency (BPJS TK).

Recent data released by BPJS TK shows that there is still no culture of workplace safety in the country. According to the data, there were 50,089 reports of occupational accidents in the first half of 2015 alone, a slight decrease from the 53,319 reports in the same period last year, with traffic accidents still dominating the report.

'€œBPJS TK insurance covers the workers since the moment they leave their houses to go to work and until they arrive home again,'€ BPJS TK spokesperson Abdul Kholik said, adding that until now there were 17.2 million people registered for the insurance.

Workplace accident statistics still do not cover every accident as there are many companies that are yet to registered their employers for the BPJS TK health plan.

Sigit Permana, was working as a machine operator in an electronics company when he died of electrocution when tying an electric cable in his work place in 2013. Sigit left behind a wife and their 2-year-old son.

'€œHowever, the company had not registered Sigit for health insurance and refused to give any compensation to the family,'€ Nelson Nikodemus Simamora, a lawyer from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute [LBH Jakarta], said.

Nelson, who represented Sigit'€™s family, said it took almost a year of a tiring negotiations before the company finally agreed to give Rp 27.9 million (US$2,021). The company, however, only ever gave them Rp 22.9 million, saying that they took the Rp 5 million to cover the funeral costs the company shelled out for Sigit.

Contacted separately, Sigit'€™s mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said she still had a hard time forgetting the tragedy that took her only child. She now lives with her husband and their grandson, after their daughter-in-law left.

'€œOur grandson is now 4 years old and we just enrolled him in kindergarten. I hope we can still take care of him until he gets older. It'€™s the last thing we can do for Sigit'€ she said.

Surya Tjandra, director with the Trade Union Rights Center said that any occupational accidents were the company'€™s responsibility.

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