The International Labor Organization (ILO) has encouraged worker protection and business resilience through a COVID-19 risk assessment service for the workplace as a safety net for labor and business and investment in occupational safety, health systems.

“We still need to monitor the spread of the COVID-19 locally so that it can protect workers/laborers in their respective workplaces, and increase business resilience,” ILO’s manpower specialist, Kazutoshi Chatani, said in a statement received here on Sunday.

The COVID-19 pandemic has left a significant impact on the labor market and the business world, he said.

The ILO highlights the toughness of regulations governing the implementation of occupational safety and health (K3) system Chatani remarked.

“The ILO estimates that the number of workers and their families affected by the pandemic will remain high until the first half of 2022. In order to provide livelihoods for workers, especially those who are vulnerable, steps are needed to save and re-create jobs,” he said.

He stated that a COVID-19 risk assessment service helps companies and business actors in Indonesia to identify the risk of virus transmission in the workplace.

By participating in the service, he noted, companies and business people will get recommendations and technical assistance to make an action plan with doctors to mitigate risks in their workplace.

The COVID-19 risk assessment service was compiled by the ILO, the Indonesian Medical Association for Occupational Health (IDKI), and the Ministry of Manpower.

When companies want to register the COVID-19 risk assessment service, Chatani noted, the companies need to fill out a self-assessment form about their workplace and a worker/labor survey.

The service can be accessed online through the website www.ilocovidproject.id

National Project Officer of ILO Mega Savitri Aniandari said that the service was free of charge to 1,500 workplaces in Indonesia.

Each company can register a maximum of 5 workplaces. The service is not only for large companies but also small and medium businesses with a minimum number of 10 employees, Aniandari said.

As of November 9, she said, there were 57 companies that have registered their workplaces with 949 workers/laborers filling out the survey. Most survey respondents work in factories, then in services and offices.

The distribution of the survey is mostly in East Kalimantan. Companies in the province actively access services from the ILO.

“We are still waiting for many companies to register. Don not hesitate to register because this service is easy to access,” Aniandari stated.

Source: Antara News