MEMR seeks to complete revision of decree on work safety this year

By Thomas Sembiring

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) is currently in the process of revising Ministerial Decree No 555.K/26/M.PE/1995 on health and work safety in mining sector, and hopes to complete it this year.

?The revision is in progress, we hope to complete it this year,? said M. Hendarto, Director for Coal and Mineral Environment and Technique at the ministry on Monday.

He said that the revision was needed as the ministerial decree is already 20 years old. He said that there have been significant changes in the mining sector during the past two decades.

While did not reveal the key points of changes, Hendarto said the revision progress has reached 50 percent. ?We hope it could be completed in September, and submit to the MEMR legal bureau this year,? he said.

Hendarto said that the ministry is concerned with mining accidents this year, where seven people have died as of February this year. He said his office will conduct evaluation on the findings related to the accidents including on the facts that most accidents last year occurred on Saturday, while accidents in the first two months of this year occurred in the evening.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak