Workers' Safety in Indonesia, Is It Enough to Protect Them from

Facing the Industry 4.0 Era?

Herqutanto

, Stefanie Agustine

, Putri Tresnasari

Vocational Study Program, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia

Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia

Keywords: Workers' Safety, Carpenter, Construction Worker, Behavior.

Abstract: Workers in Indonesia, especially carpenters and non-permanent construction workers, lack good safety

behaviour, marked by a high incidence of mortality, morbidity, and disability caused by occupational

accidents. It involves many sociocultural demographic factors to change workers' behaviour. This study aims

to identify factors influencing workers' safety behaviour among carpenters and non-permanent construction

workers. A Qualitative study was conducted using in-depth interviews and focus group discussion (FGD)

with semi-structured guidelines, conducted in 2 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) carpenter

industries and one construction site of a national construction company. The FGD involved three layers;

workers, supervisors, and management staff. Phenomenology approach was used as a conceptual framework.

Adequate safety behaviour perception was found among carpenters due to their long work experience.

Carpenter's attitude and behaviour that did not comply with safe behaviour were influenced by lack of

motivation, interest, role model, readiness, policy and supervision. Supervisors were not regarded as role

models and are weak in supervision. Management already provides standard infrastructure and facilities but

is weak in terms of policy, regulation, training, and reward and punishment system. A similar condition was

found among construction workers that did not wear personal protective equipment (PPE) regularly, due to

limited Knowledge, and misperception of the importance of PPE.

1 INTRODUCTION

The world in general, and Indonesia in particular, is

entering a new industrial era marked by the era of

digitalization in various sectors of life (Ministry of

Industry Republic of Indonesia, 2018). This era is

often referred to as the 4.0 era of the industrial

revolution, which created a world that is very

different from the previous world (Fourth industrial

revolution, n.d.). Specific conditions in the era that

can be felt and seen are the development of automated

innovation with the creation of super-computers,

robotic artificial intelligence and genetic

modification (Marr, 2018).

In the Industry 4.0 era, industry players let

computers connect and communicate with each other

to make decisions without human involvement

finally. The combination of cyber-physical systems,

Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Systems

makes Industry 4.0 possible and creates smart

factories. In smart modular structures, cyber-physical

systems oversee physical processes, create copies of

the physical world virtually, and make decisions that

are not centralized. Through the Internet of Things,

cyber-physical systems communicate and cooperate

and humans simultaneously. Through cloud

computing, internal and cross-organization services

are provided and utilized by various parties in the

value chain.

The logical consequence of Industry 4.0 era is the

change and shift type of labour at the present era and

the future. A large number of labour in the labour-

intensive sector began to be replaced by automation

and digitalization of machines. The implications of

the industrial revolution are like two sides of the coin.

At one side, it has a positive value for the productivity

of work and efficiency of the production process. On

the other hand, the competitive world of the work that

leads to a large number of available labour will

become a serious social problem for the pillars of a

country's political or economic stability. Everyone

who still wants to have an existence in global

competition must prepare their minds and skills that

have a competitive advantage from others. The only

354

Herqutanto, ., Agustine, S. and Tresnasari, P.

Workers’ Safety in Indonesia: Is It Enough to Protect Them from Facing the Industry 4.0 Era?.

DOI: 10.5220/0010684800002967

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference of Vocational Higher Education (ICVHE 2019) - Empowering Human Capital Towards Sustainable 4.0 Industry, pages 354-358

ISBN: 978-989-758-530-2; ISSN: 2184-9870

way to prepare for this is to have an excellent

behavioural attitude, increase self-competence, and

have a literacy spirit. Provision of self-preparation

can be passed with the education path (long-life

education) and self-concept through working across

generations or across disciplines (experience is the

best teacher).

The problem concerning readiness to shift to

industry 4.0 in Indonesia lies in several factors. From

human resources and equity perspective, some

industrial sectors in Indonesia are still not close to

Industry 4.0, for example in the carpentry industry,

there are still carpentry industries that still use manual

methods, or old tools and machines, or working

unsystematically. With the construction industry,

new and modern tool and machines have been used in

daily practice, but the behavioral attitude towards

health and safety is still inadequate. Another problem

lies in the large number of Indonesian companies that

do not have adequate human resource because it is

estimated that the entry of this Industry will cut

human labour with low human resource capabilities

and possibly increase unemployment (Ministry of

Industry Republic of Indonesia, 2018).

There are at least four challenges related to

Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) In the 4.0

industrial era, including challenges related to new

work organizations, the legislative and regulatory

framework was still lagging, the OSH management

system that should be reviewed, and work risk

management that needs rethinking. Occupational

Safety and Health Act of 1970 stated that its primary

purpose is "To assure safe and healthful working

conditions for working men and women; standards

developed under the Act; by assisting and

encouraging the States in their efforts to assure safe

and healthful working conditions; by providing

research, information, education, and training in the

field of occupational safety and health ... ".

Occupational Safety and Health is essential

because of the impact of accidents and occupational

diseases harm not only the employees but also the

company. OSH program created by the company is an

effort to prevent work-related accidents or diseases by

identifying the potential occupational hazard and

work-related illnesses, as well as anticipating actions

to manage them. Occupational Safety and Health is

one of the crucial aspects of the production process.

Effective and efficient OSH implementation is critical

in increasing productivity and competitiveness in

Indonesia.

Work accident in Indonesia is still severe

compared to other ASEAN countries. In average, it

was reported an average of 414 cases of workplace

accidents per day throughout the country (Irfani,

2015). At least ten construction accidents were

reported during the development of public and private

construction projects in 2017-2018 (10 Workplace

accidents, 2018). According to the National Health

survey 2018, as many as 9.1% of accidents happen at

the workplace, being the third most significant

number of accidents among the population of

Indonesia.

Some causes of workplace accidents are 73% due

to unsafe behaviour, 24% due to the environment and

or equipment that does not meet the requirements, and

the rest is caused by nature and other causes that

cannot be avoided (Irfani, 2015). Ministry of

Manpower and Transmigration recorded all work

accidents with disabilities per 1,000,000 working

hours. In mining industries, it was 23.07 per cent, it

was 22.32 per cent in timber construction, 19.10 per

cent in construction, 0.99 per cent in transportation,

and the rest were in other industries (10 Workplace

accidents, 2018).

OSH has been targeting the use of Personal

Protective Equipment (PPE) to minimize the risk of

the work accident, especially when technical and

administrative control is not possible, or when they

are not adequate to reduce exposure at an acceptable

limit. PPE should be provided by the company and be

used by every worker by correct procedure and

continuous supervision (Occupational Safety and

Health Administration, n.d.).

Even though strict regulation has been

implemented for workers to wear PPE at all time

during work, many workers are still reluctant to follow

the procedure. The behaviour is thought to be caused

by the company's inconsistent policy regarding

implementation of the regulation, and from the

workers themselves. Some studies regarding the use

of PPE found several factors: uncomfortable sensation

when wearing PPE, workers thought that wearing PPE

is not essential, because they have been working in the

field for so many years without having an accident,

PPE is not attractive and does not fit their body, and

workers do not have precise information when to wear

PPE or do not have time to wear it (Fairyo &

Wahyuningsih, 2018) (Saputri & Paskarini, 2014)

(Astinngsih et. al., 2018) (Tampinongkol et. al., 2016).

This study aims to identify workers' Knowledge,

Attitude and Practice (KAP) about work safety and

work accident, and worker's perception about the use

of PPE at work, and influencing factors to workers'

safety behaviour among carpenters in the micro,

small and medium enterprises (MSME), and among

non-permanent construction workers in the era of

industry 4.0

Workers’ Safety in Indonesia: Is It Enough to Protect Them from Facing the Industry 4.0 Era?

355

2 METHOD

This study uses qualitative research methods applying

the phenomenology approach as a conceptual

framework. The study examines a particular case in a

context that is limited by time and activity (program,

process, organization or social group) and complete

information about factors that influence the behaviour

of application of work safety behaviour in preventing

work injury in carpenter workers and construction

workers. The theme of workplace accidents is a case

that has become a focus and is often discussed.

Exploration is carried out to find out about what is felt

related to the experience of applying occupational

safety behaviour; both how to work safety behaviour

can prevent and or suppress the incidence of

workplace accidents, or workplace accidents that

occur due to not applying the principles of work

safety (Creswell, 2017).

To find out what factors cause workers not to

behave safety at work, various factors were

examined, following the concept of Green. Enabling

factors are factors that precede the occurrence of

unsafe behaviour such as Knowledge, perception, and

attitude. Predisposing factors are the factors that

allow the principles of work safety behaviour not

applied, for example, the availability of facilities and

pre-facilities such as Personal Protective Equipment,

equipment and the environment by the principles of

work safety behaviour and company policy. The last

factor, reinforcing factors, the factors that strengthen

workers to behave not according to the principle of

work safety behaviour in work, which is manifested

in the form of supervision (Glanz et. al., 2008).

A series of in-depth interviews and Focused

Group Discussion (FGD) with semi-structured

guidelines, were conducted in two MSME carpenter

industries and one construction site of a national

construction company. The FGD involved three

layers; workers, supervisors, and management staff.

Every session was audio-recorded, and field note was

taken. The audio recordings of all sessions were

transcribed and anonymized. Data collected were

then categorized according to the theme and

contrasted with existing theory. Triangulation was

achieved by reviewing the transcripts of interactions

during an in-depth interview and Focused Group

Discussion. Thematic content analysis was

employed. Emergent themes were identified and a

coding framework constructed. Data collection

continued until data saturation was reached and no

new themes emerged during the process (Creswell,

2017).

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

As many as 39 informants joined the in-depth

interview and FGD. Informants consisted of workers,

supervisors, and management staff. All subject were

males, due to the nature of the work itself. Informants

from the carpenter industry represented typical

Medium and Small Enterprises, i.e. individually

owned, less supervision and Standard Operating

Procedures (SOP) in the company were not

comprehensive. The three types of informants were

worker (typically has been employed for several

years), supervisor, and Management staff.

On the other hand, Construction industry

(national construction company) was chosen because

it has been well known as an industry in which

comprehensive SOP has been implemented,

compliance to the standard is a must, and intense

management supervision should be implemented to

minimize (or zero accident, if possible) principles

have to be implemented. Similar to the carpenter

industry, the three types of informants involved in the

study were workers (typically non-permanent worker,

paid daily), supervisor, and Management (site or

project management staff). Informants in this study

came from two different types of Industry, with two

specific different characteristics. Before the study, the

researcher predicted that there would be a significant

difference in the way informants from the two

industries would behave and practice towards work

safety and PPE. This is because informants from the

Carpenter SME were predicted to have lower

awareness and Knowledge due to the nature of the

work. Nevertheless, this study showed that the

practice in the SME was not different from the more

formal, structured construction company.

Table 1. Characteristics of participants

No. Variable

Worker Supervisor Management

Staff

1. Age

< 20 years old

21-30 years old

31-40 years old

> 41 years old

2. Education

Nine year

12 year

Diploma

Bachelo

Maste

3. Length of

Work

< 5 year

5-10 year

10-25 year

> 25 yea

ICVHE 2019 - The International Conference of Vocational Higher Education (ICVHE) “Empowering Human Capital Towards Sustainable

4.0 Industry”

356

Below is a common description of informant's

characteristic:

"……. I'm not smart, not finish my school, initially, I

did not know anything about how to work correctly or

safely. I learnt by practice….." (carpenter).

Regarding the KAP about work safety and work

accident, in general, workers still have poor KAP

about work safety. There is a tendency of

underestimating the risk of a work accident, although

some already have some concerns.

"yesterday I drowned in the sea when doing the

project here. I was okay eventually, cause I was

wearing life jacket" (while laughing, along with other

FGD participants)…. (construction worker)

"I often step on a nail, it's okay, just small wound, I

can get to work again" (construction worker)

"We just work… what's important is that we finish our

work and get paid…" (carpenter)

"we can die"… (construction worker)

" it was horrifying to see my friend got cut by a

machine" (carpenter)

" well, it is risky when working with a sharp knife, risk

of getting cut, especially if we are careless"

(carpenter).

The condition is similar to what Fairyo

and Saputri

described in their studies. They stated

that there is a relationship between attitude, education

level and years of service. The higher the education

and the long years of service, the better the

Knowledge and practice regarding PPE use among

construction workers.

At the supervisor and management level,

Knowledge is already excellent and comprehensive.

Regarding the fact that the implementation of work

safety does not fully comply with the regulation, they

tend to blame workers for not working safely. Other

reasons for not implementing work safety is a

stringent deadline that forces them to work overtime

without having sufficient rest.

"I saw several posters of OSH and Zero Accident. If

there is a problem with one of the workers, it must be

because of the worker himself or because of the

deadline" (carpenter manager)

"the longer they work, the more they know how to

work safely which is good for them" (carpenter

manager)

"If we apply OSH, we will be pursued by our

customer" (construction supervisor)

We can see the missing link between workers' KAP

and the perspective from the management and

supervisor side. This poses a challenge as to what

needs to be done so the two sides can have the same

perspective. This is similar to the study done by

Astiningsih

but different from the study by

Tampinongkol

. In their studies, Astiningsih found

that by Lawrence Green Model, professional safety

practice is influenced by reinforcing factor of

supervision by Management, that health and safety

program developed by Management will prevent

unsafe Act of not wearing PPE. This fact, however,

is not supported by Tampinongkol. They stated that

there is no correlation between PPE use and unsafe

action. In their study, most of the workers did not

wear PPE, merely because they did not feel

comfortable wearing PPE. According to the workers,

experience, and high skill in doing their job are two

critical factors that can prevent an accident.

Perception about the use of PPE at work at the

worker's level, Knowledge on the use of PPE is

generally fair, although there is still misperception on

how to use PPE:

"…to protect us at work, examples are boot shoes,

helmet, gloves" (construction worker)"Shoes to

protect from sharp items, gloves when working with

heavy items such as glass or wood, helmet to protect

our head when falling" (construction worker) "If I

wear boot I can't swim when I fall/drown"

(construction worker) "If my boot is too small, I will

ask for a replacement, if not then I cut the front part

and make it sandals" (along with laugh from other

workers) (construction worker).

The Supervisor and Manager described difficulties in

implementing the use of PPE. However, they also

stated what is needed, so this becomes a habit:

"safe work is the right of each person, so there is no

need for coercion ... the problem is usually if you are

forced to do it then just when you are monitored ... If

you aren't then you become careless, experience

teaches them better" (Carpenter Manager)

"The difference between construction and other

business is that in construction business many people

are involved, of low education, low economic status,

don't care about themselves, and don't care about

safety because they think it (work accident) is

normal…." (Construction Manager)

Again, there is a gap between KAP of the

management/supervisor and workers. There is the

willingness to comply with regulation regarding PPE

use at the management/ supervisor level, but this is

not well understood by the workers, who simply think

about being comfortable in doing the job, without a

clear understanding of the potential risk and hazard.

The answer regarding what factors might constitute

Workers’ Safety in Indonesia: Is It Enough to Protect Them from Facing the Industry 4.0 Era?

357

the difference in perception lied in the fact that

consistent and robust law enforcement should be

implemented from top Management to the bottom

line, i.e. workers.

4 CONCLUSION

The study confirms that in the fast-moving world in

the era of industry 4.0, there are still many workers

who are not well informed of their work safety. There

are some discrepancies between what workers know

and practice and what Management has done.

Therefore, Consistent law enforcement should be

implemented to ensure that proper work safety is

done consistently. Moreover, peer group and

collaborative education are needed to make workers

understand the importance of wearing PPE. Use of

personal experience as a motivational factor might be

an essential factor for workers. And this should be

reinforced using the various channel and social

media.

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4.0 Industry”

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