Workers' Health Checks as One of the Efforts to Improve Work productivity

Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency in May 2022, there are more than 135 million people, or around 49.2% of the total Indonesian population, who work, both as formal and informal workers. They work in various jobs both inside and outside the building, which are spread in fields related to administrative activities, services, education, processing industry, agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, construction, trade, arts and entertainment, household activities, and much more. For workers, at least 8 hours, or one third of the time in a day, is used for work. This time does not include working overtime or working during holidays or time outside of working hours. During the pandemic, which has led to the development of a work process that can be done from home or from anywhere, work time is becoming more and more unlimited.

 

During the work process, workers are potentially exposed to potential hazards in the workplace that can

can cause health problems known as occupational diseases (PAK) or can cause

Exacerbating the health problems that workers already have There are five groups of potential hazards in the workplace, namely potential physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic, and psychosocial hazards. potential physical hazards, such as noise, vibration, electromagnetic radiation, extreme temperatures, and so on. Potential chemical hazards, e.g. volatile organic solvents, heavy metals, pesticides, and more. Potential biological hazards, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, insects, sawdust, etc. Static positions, repetitive motions, lifting and transporting activities, awkward positions, over-and-under lighting, shift work, and other ergonomic hazardspotential psychosocial hazards, such as monotonous work, conflict at work, high workload, etc. A workplace can have any, some, or even all of the potential hazards. The longer workers are exposed to potential hazards in the workplace, the more likely it is that PAK will occur.

 

Given the potential dangers from the workplace, workers need to do a medical checkup (MCU). Based on the Regulation of the Minister of Manpower and Transmigration No. 2 of 1980, there were 3 types of health checks among workers, namely pre-employment health checks, periodic health checks, and special health checks.

 

Pre-employment health checks are aimed at ensuring that the accepted workforce is in the highest possible health condition, does not have any infectious diseases that will affect other workers and is suitable for the work to be carried out so that the safety and health of the workforce concerned and other workers can be guaranteed. Pre-employment health checks are also useful in obtaining basic health data for workers to determine whether there is PAK in the future.

 

Periodic health checks are intended to maintain the health status of workers after they are at work as well as to assess the possible effects of work as early as possible, which need to be controlled by preventive measures. Health problems that are found and treated as early as possible have a greater chance of healing, reducing the possibility of complications or disability, maintaining better work productivity through decreasing levels of absenteeism (absence) and presenteism (present but not productive), as well as lowering medical costs. Periodic health checks for workers are carried out at least once a year, unless otherwise stipulated by the Director General of Labor Relations Development and Manpower Protection.

 

Special medical examinations are intended to assess the effects of certain jobs on certain workers or groups of workers. Special health checks are also carried out on workers who have experienced accidents or illnesses that require treatment for more than two weeks, workers who are over 40 (forty) years old, female workers and disabled workers, as well as young workers who carry out certain jobs, and workers who have certain suspicions regarding their health problems need to be subjected to special examinations according to their needs. With changes in lifestyle that are increasingly assisted by technology, there is a shift in the age of certain diseases, so that special health checks are necessary at a younger age, for example at the age of 35 (thirty-five) years.

 

The health examination carried out includes a complete physical examination, physical fitness, lung X-ray (if possible), and routine laboratory tests, as well as other examinations deemed necessary. For certain jobs, it is necessary to carry out inspections that are in accordance with the needs to prevent hazards that are expected to arise. Consult the type of worker's medical examination required by certain types of work with your Occupational Medicine Specialist.