"Safety Lapses and Fatal Accidents Amid Indonesia's Infrastructure Boom", 11 April 2018

Indonesia's infrastructural development has been marred by poor adherence to standard operating procedures and other human errors. In the past two years, 14 accidents were recorded, some of them deadly.

Most of the government's construction projects are developed by state-owned builder Waskita Karya, the biggest constructor in the country.

"Waskita is the biggest construction firm, with the biggest workload, and that could be the problem...." Public Works Ministry's spokesman Endra Atmawidjaja....

Companies on average spend around 1.5 percent of their budget on ensuring workplace safety. This is not enough, the ministry's National Construction Safety Committee chairman Syarif Burhanuddin said....

Noncompliance with standard operating procedures always stands out when accidents occur at construction sites, said a private consultant who requested anonymity.

"I've learned that contractors deliberately omit several SOPs to lower the costs, because infrastructure projects are normally very expensive ... For example in Waskita's Becakayu accident, I'm sure the company didn't hire a qualified supervisor, which was a fatal error," said the consultant who is currently working with the Ministry of Public Works on several projects.