"In Indonesia’s Chinese-funded nickel smelters, lives put ‘at stake’ as safety fears mount", 6 January 2024

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Dedy Kurniawan, a spokesman for IMIP, told This Week in Asia that 21 people had died from the accident as of Thursday, including 13 local workers and nine foreign Chinese workers. [...]

[...L]ast year alone, the Makassar Legal Aid Institute recorded at least 19 fatal incidents at nickel-processing facilities that resulted in 16 deaths and 37 injuries.

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Following December’s incident, hundreds of Indonesian workers protested against the conditions at the plant in IMIP. [...] Dedy [...] told [...] that workers’ main demand had been for compensation, both for those who were injured and the families of those who had died. “We have met that demand,” he said. “The other demands, we are still in discussion with the labour unions.”

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But labour unions and activists say few changes have been made over the past year by companies in Morowali to address worker complaints, despite the deadly incidents.

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Hasrih Sonna, chairman of the Mining and Energy Federation, a labour union in Morowali, said ITSS workers had complained that the company was violating occupational health and safety rules set by the Indonesian Ministry of Manpower by appointing foreign workers as safety supervisors.[...] ITSS had not responded to This Week in Asia’s queries at the time of publication.

Airlangga Julio, a lawyer for [AMAR Law Firm & Public Interest Law Office], told [...] that they had submitted two reports to Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights, but were yet to make much progress on the case. [...]But it is clear that the scope of the issue extends beyond what is currently public knowledge, Airlangga said, with workers alleging that they had personally seen and experienced accidents that resulted in serious injuries or deaths nearly every week. He said the real number of accidents and fatalities in Morowali could be a lot higher because no official government data exists on worker deaths.[...]Airlangga added that it was “often the case that one or two workers are made the scapegoats and blamed for an explosion”.

Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights, known as Komnas HAM, has an ongoing investigation into the working conditions in Sulawesi’s nickel sector, according to Commissioner Anis Hidayah. She told This Week in Asia that during her visit to the smelters, she found that there was a clear lack of protections for workers.

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In addition to the occupational hazards concerning work safety, activists argue that individuals in Morowali are also jeopardising their health due to severe pollution surrounding the mining facilities, which leads to respiratory issues.