Occupational Safety, Health and Living Conditions of Forestry Workers in Indonesia

Abstract

In Indonesia, working and living conditions of forestry workers are quite unfavorable because of very severe thermal conditions at the workplace and because forestry work is heavy, dirty and dangerous, requiring a poor working posture and exposure to noise and vibration. In addition, forestry workers often live under conditions where housing, infrastructure and hygiene are poor compared with those of other industrial workers. The objective of this study is to improve these unfavorable conditions by clarifying the working and living conditions of forestry workers and identifying factors affecting their job satisfaction. Our results showed that many of the forestry workers had low back pain and that attention should be paid to muscular exertion, especially while lifting heavy objects such as chainsaws or logs. Several accidents and near-miss incidents happened while driving and engaging in forestry work. To prevent such accidents, it is important to supply forestry workers with more personal protective equipment and to establish traffic rules on forest roads. The results also showed that most forestry workers were dissatisfied with their salary. In addition, the analysis of potential factors affecting job satisfaction showed that younger workers, chainsaw operators, manual workers and office workers were dissatisfied. It should be noted that many respondents thought that sustainable forest management was essential. To enhance their satisfaction levels, their working and living conditions, and, in particular, salary should be improved, and forest resources should be monitored to prevent over-cutting or forest fires.