Promotion of Safety and Health in Informal Sector by Primary Health Center in Semarang

Background: Implementation of safety and health in informal sector by local Primary Health Center (PHC) often faces difficulties due to the limited information about the informal sector condition and no budget allocation. Method: This was a qualitative study. Data was collected with in-depth interviews and document review from 37 PHCs in Semarang. The main informants were 37 programmers of occupational health for informal sector of the PHCs. As the triangulation informant was the head of Prevention and Disease Control Department of Semarang District Health Office. Results: Supervision from local health office to informal sector was very limited. In only occurred as a monthly report on the number of patients who work in informal sector and sought health care in PHC. Supervision was conducted once a year, while site inspection three monthly. The supervisors for the informal sector were mainly sanitarian. Most of the PHC did not have specific budget allocation for supervising informal sector as it was not a mandatory program. The barriers in implementing this program were the lack of knowledge about safety and health, lack of competent human resources in safety and health, and the absence of technical guidance from local health office. Conclusion: It is recommended to have the Standard Operating Procedures for safety and health in informal sector supervision, to enforce the formation of occupational health post, and to follow up for improvement.