Summary of the Notification of the Ministry of Interior Re: Safety of Work in Places Lacking Ventilation

1. Intention of the Law
   To prevent employees being harmed by working in places with insufficient ventilation, causing suffocation or being harmed from left-over toxins, as usually reported in the news of employees being killed in palm oil tanks, in the hold of ships or in pipes, etc.



2. Framework and Enforcement of the Law
   To take effect on all undertakings involving the use of labour in unventilated places, which is hereby defined as places with limited access ways and insufficient natural ventilation, thereby causing the air quality to be unhealthy, toxic, inflammable and lacking oxygen. Examples of such places are the inside of pipes, cavities, tunnels, caves, silos, basements or the like structures.
   
   
3. Main Points of the Law
   Before requiring an employee to perform work in an unventilated place, the employer is to comply to the following directions.
   
   
   1. To arrange for the testing for the quantity of oxygen, toxic chemicals and inflammable substances and to withhold the results for investigation.
   
   
   
   2. When it is found that the hazardous substances tested for are present at a level above set standards, the employer is to arrange for ventilation as appropriate for safety standards.
   
   
   
   3. In cases where ventilation can not be arranged for as stated in no. 2, the employer is to provide individual safety gear such as oxygen masks, safety belts and lifelines for each employee as appropriate to work conditions.
   
   
   
   4. Permits are required for all work done in unventilated areas.
   
   
   

When there is work performed in unventilated areas, the employer is to follow these instructions.

1. Test the air quality at intervals to ensure that it is within safety standards.



2. Arrange for personnel to be stationed at the entrance of the unventilated area and facilitate contact with the outside world.



3. Electrical appliances used in unventilated areas must be short circuit protected or explosion, fire prevented and electric lines used must be of the type that can not be easily damaged.



4. There is to be a supervisor overseeing the planning, training, work activity and the use of individual safety gear.



5. The employer is to draw up prohibitions and regulations for the work area, i.e., no smoking, no bonfires, no unauthorized entry, etc. If the area is accessed by a shaft, the shaft must be covered to prevent people falling in and signs saying "Danger. Do not enter without permission. " must be clearly posted.



6. Before the use of flame emitting equipment or spraying paint, the air is to be tested for possible hazards and safety measures are to be employed during the process of work.