ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) Central Sulawesi assesses that repeated accidents at PT Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel (ITSS) in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) area prove weak supervision and negligence by the government. This is because there are no signs of improvement at all by this Chinese company.
In fact, the explosion incident that occurred on December 23 2023 has become a lesson for improving the Occupational Safety and Health Management System (SMK3) at PT ITSS and the IMIP area as a whole.
Moreover, the two workers who were victims of the explosion on June 13 were only transported using a green dump truck.
“The evacuation of victims that did not meet standards in the IMIP area is an example of the very chaotic management of SMK3 at IMIP,” said Wandi, Walhi Central Sulawesi Campaigner, Friday, June 14 2024.
Apart from that, Walhi also highlighted the investigation carried out by the government following the PT ITSS smelter furnace explosion on December 23 2023. Where, in the case of the explosion, only two Chinese workers were identified as the masterminds of the incident, and did not provide sanctions for the company’s negligence in carrying out its K3 management.
“In fact, in this incident Walhi assessed that SMK3 was not implemented in the ferrosilicon furnace repair process,” he explained.
According to Wandi, workers are always victims of the ambition of nickel production which continues to be boosted to bring in huge profits in the nickel downstream program.
“Meanwhile, the government seems very neglectful of providing guarantees and protection for workers,” he explained.
He emphasized that nickel production in Central Sulawesi, which the government has always been proud of, originates from “very dirty” management that damages the environment.
“It also impoverishes people living in industrial and mining circles, and many workers become victims,” he said.
His party asked the Ministry of Manpower of the Republic of Indonesia to conduct an audit of the company’s SMK3 and temporarily close PT ITSS’s production activities.
“The audit was carried out independently and involved all parties and labor unions,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, PT ITSS is a subsidiary of the Chinese investor Tsingshan Group, which is the majority shareholder in the IMIP area. Tsingshan Group itself has invested in Singapore, India and the United States and manages 15 subsidiaries.
Denies there was an explosion
Meanwhile, the Manager of the Indonesian Industrial Area Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) denied that the accident that occurred at PT Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel (ITSS) was caused by the smelter furnace exploding. As is known, the accident resulted in two workers being injured and having to receive medical treatment.
PT IMIP Media Relations Manager Dedy Kurniawan confirmed the work accident incident. However, he denied that the accident was caused by an explosion in the PT ITSS smelter furnace.
“That’s true. However, once again we emphasize that this did not occur because of an explosion, but rather a burst of hot steam when workers were cleaning steel slag on the factory floor,” he said in a written statement, Friday, June 14 2024.
According to Dedy, the incident started when a number of workers were cleaning the factory floor from spilled steel slag. To make the cleaning process easier, the steel slag is cut. After cutting, one of the workers suddenly poured water on the steel slag that had just been cut with the intention of speeding up the cooling process. As a result, a burst of hot steam occurred and hit two workers.
The two injured workers are currently receiving treatment at the Bungku Regional General Hospital and the condition of the two victims is conscious.
Currently, the IMIP Safety team is conducting a work accident investigation at that location. (ATN)
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