World Day for Safety and Health at Work

Recognized, Indonesia’s collaborative efforts to deal with COVID-19 pandemic

The ILO global report on occupational safety and health (OSH), issued as part of the commemoration of the World Day for Safety and Health at Workplace highlights efforts taken by Indonesia to build a partnership with relevant actors in implementing the COVID-19 risk assessment service at workplace.

News | Jakarta, Indonesia | 12 May 2022


The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that effective collaboration between employers, workers and governments is the best way to implement Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) measures that can save lives in this and the next crisis, says a new report by the ILO.

Learning from what was achieved in addressing the complex situation of the pandemic might help prevent millions of deaths due to occupational accidents and diseases, says the ILO report, which shows how social dialogue has contributed to the fast and effective implementation of measures during the COVID-19 crisis.

During the pandemic, governments who prioritized the active participation of employers’ and workers’ organizations in OSH governance were able to develop and implement emergency laws, policies and interventions, says Enhancing social dialogue towards a culture of safety and health which has been translated into Bahasa Indonesia.

The collaboration between and among actors in the world of work has been essential in ensuring that the measures put in place were acceptable to and supported by employers and workers – and were therefore more likely to be effectively implemented in practice.

In many countries, it has resulted in the adoption of legal requirements covering different areas – from measures to prevent and deal with cases of COVID-19 in the workplace to telework arrangements.

The launch of the partnership between ILO, Apindo and PHRI.
Among other countries, the global report highlights achievements of Indonesia in encouraging improvement of OSH management system through a partnership with employers' organizations—the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) and the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI)—in assessing the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the workplace for workers protection and business continuity. This partnership provides services that include recommendations from OSH doctors to improve the preventive measures at the workplace.

The risk assessment is part of OSH mechanism and management that could help businesses proactively reduce risk and advance safety at the workplace. It is developed by the ILO through its Japan-funded Enhancing COVID-19 Prevention at and through Workplaces project that have included the Ministry of Manpower and six trade union confederations as the key partners in the development and implementation process.

This risk assessment service is provided free of charge to more than 1,500 workplaces throughout Indonesia and have incorporated and is also developed based on the national guidelines to support businesses to operate more safely and sustainably during the pandemic.

The global report was virtually launched in Indonesia during the commemoration of the World Day for Safety and Health at Workplace on 28 April, attended by more than 500 participants and was part of the interactive discussions presented key resource persons from the Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of National Planning Development, employers’ and workers’ organizations and OSH expert.