Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) contribute greatly to Indonesia’s economic growth. According to data in 2022 from the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia (Kemenkop RI), the role of MSMEs is very significant, reaching 99% of all business units. This also contributed to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which reached 60.5%, and to employment, which was 96.9% of the total national employment.
The growth of MSMEs supports equity in the level of the community’s economy, provides jobs, and increases the country’s foreign exchange. However, this will be fulfilled if all workers are healthy, safe, prosperous, productive, and competitive. For this reason, in order to achieve this, Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) program is needed to improve the quality and competitiveness of MSMEs.
Realizing this, the Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Indonesia (FKM UI), conducted community service activities by providing education and assistance in creating and running the OSH program for one of the MSMEs in Bogor City, which is CV Wangun Mandiri. This MSME produces tapioca flour in various brands. As a workplace, the tapioca flour factory of CV Wangun Mandiri has a high risk, so it must be controlled in order to maintain the welfare and productivity of its workers.
In practice, the community service team consisting of 9 students from the undergraduate program of Occupational Safety and Health, under the guidance of OSH Lecturer at FKM UI, Dr. Robiana Modjo, made observations for Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) for one week, from November 21-24, 2022. The peak of this activity was counseling regarding the riskiest OSH issues in this factory, namely fire, muscle and skeletal diseases, and respiratory diseases.
The series of interactive simulations and materials were warmly and enthusiastically welcomed by Haryadi as the Head of Management of CV Wangun Mandiri and his staff and employees. This could be seen in their participation in asking and answering quizzes. At the end of the event, the UI student team gave three OSH posters to remind workers to control the risk of fire, muscle and skeletal diseases, and respiratory diseases.
In this community service activity, there was a representative from the Environmental Health and Occupational Health Section, Bogor Health Office, Widya Kiswiranti to monitor the course of activities and appreciate this OSH-related community service. “Hopefully, this activity can be the first step for CV Wangun Mandiri to create an OSH program,” said Widya.
In addition to increasing knowledge and awareness regarding the dangers and risks of OSH in the workplace, it is also hoped that the management of CV Wangun Mandiri will play an active role in maintaining the safety and health of its workers. “Hopefully, the insights shared by UI students can broaden our knowledge and can be applied so that we all can work safely and healthily,” said Haryadi.
