Tragedy of Construction Worker Death at SDN Gang Aut, IPB University Professor: This Must Be a Serious Warning
The incident of a construction worker who died after being buried while digging foundations at SDN Gang Aut, Bogor City, was assessed by IPB University Professor Efi Yuliati Yovi as the tip of the iceberg of workplace safety issues in the field.
She emphasized that the incident should serve as a wake-up call for all parties involved to overhaul the occupational safety and health (K3) protection system comprehensively.
“K3 issues are highly complex, and the SDN Gang Aut case is just a small example of a larger systemic failure,” Prof Efi stated. She explained that workplace accidents are not merely unavoidable incidents, even if triggered by natural hazards.
According to her, there are still many misconceptions in society that incidents caused by hazards, whether natural or man-made, are always inevitable. “In fact, if the K3 protection system is implemented correctly and comprehensively, many accidents can be prevented,” she said.
Prof Efi explained that work accidents occur when there are multiple failures in the protection system. She gave an example of how a direct cause, such as a broken stair, which caused an officer to fall, could be rooted in the absence of routine maintenance, weak internal controls, and poor supervision.
“In the K3 approach, we must not stop at the direct causes. Blaming the perpetrator or a particular party without investigating the root cause will only cause similar tragedies to recur,” she explained.
She criticized the legal approach, which only focuses on finding who is at fault and imposing penalties, without a comprehensive evaluation of the protection system. In the OSH perspective, investigations must be carried out until the root cause is found, so that the system can be improved and strengthened.
Prof Efi shared her experience of seeing firsthand the weak implementation of K3 in the field. At one conservation agency, she found a team of tree cutters who were not wearing personal protective equipment, did not warn visitors, and even allowed vendors to sell goods under a damaged fence that was in danger of collapsing.
She emphasized that K3 protection is the responsibility of many parties, from the Manpower Office, the Ministry of Public Works, the Health Office, to the community. To address this, Prof Efi proposed six improvement strategies, including the implementation of professional standards in contractor selection, the adoption of an K3 management system (SMK3), strict supervision, incident investigations based on root causes, consistent K3 training programs, and strengthened two-way communication with workers and the community.
“The success of K3 is not about minimizing accident rates, but how much we value human life. Protecting workers’ safety is a moral obligation and a fundamental right that cannot be compromised,” she said. (dr) (IAAS/LAN)
