Smelter In Morowali Explodes, Perhapi Suggests Government Appoint Independent Team To Audit

Audit illustration (photo: dock. Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Indonesian Mining Expert Association (Perhapi) Rizal Kasdi opened his voice about the explosion of the smelter stove owned by PT Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) area, Morowali, Central Sulawesi which caused casualties.

Rizal asked the government to appoint a special and independent team of experts so that an overall audit can be carried out on all smelters in Indonesia.

According to him, this needs to be done in the hope that all companies that have smelters can learn from existing experiences so that similar incidents do not happen again in the future.

"(It is necessary) to audit according to all existing smelters in the hope that from this experience we can learn and see the weaknesses of other smelters," he said in the Mining Zone quoted Thursday, January 4.

Rizal also asked for supervision and evaluation to be carried out from the initial process of the construction of the smelter, starting from the planning process, factory design, technology selection, procurement of goods, construction, testing, commissioning to ramp up and maintenance to maintenance.

"This is closely related, because if this is not closely monitored, this possibility could cause weaknesses in the factory. So that later it can be seen that the factories, smelters, and businesses, which will be built, really meet work safety standards," explained Rizal.

Previously, President Joko Widodo asked for an audit and check that the merger facilities in the mining or smelter industry could be strengthened to prevent fires and explosions of smelter furnaces.

"The business in a place where there is a warm-up, there is a merger, that's what I think is the most vulnerable there. So, the audit, the checking, if possible, must be double-in, if necessary, triple-in, let it happen once, twice this happens, it doesn't happen again," said Jokowi.

Jokowi said the fire and explosion that occurred in the nickel smelter in Morowali, Central Sulawesi, was in the process of being investigated by the police.