Batik was approved as the Humanitarian legacy for Oral and Non-material Culture by UNESCO in 2009. Yogyakarta is also validated as the World Batik City by the World Craft Council (WCC) in 2014. As the World Batik city, Yogyakarta is expected to have a role as a reference for a batik production site that pays attention to the health of batik creators and the environment.
However, batik industrial activities are apparently followed by health problems of workers and their surrounding environment. Many batik creators are exposed to irritative, toxic, and carcinogenic chemicals derived from batik dyes. In fact, these ingredients are the highest causes of occupational diseases. The batik creators are prone to experience disturbances in several areas of the body, such as the skin, nervous system, eyes, and respiratory system.
In addition, the environment around the batik industry is also increasingly polluted due to residual waste production. Several attempts have been made to process batik liquid waste, but the output from the Wastewater Treatment Plant (IPAL) is still out of the quality standard value, including Pb, Cr and Si.
Also, there are settlements in the vicinity of the industrial area that are home to mothers and children. As a result, the disturbances that are often found in batik are also experienced by the community around the industry. In addition, observations show that there is still a lack of K3 protection in batik. This is compounded by the lack of commitment to protect the health of the environment around the workplace by business owners.
Those problems encourage researchers from UGM, UN AIR, ITB and IPB as members of an Indonesian Ministry of Research and Technology Collaboration Research team to develop models of health, environmental and social technology interventions. The aim is to create a “Healthy Batik Village” that pays attention to the health and safety of workers and is environmentally-, child-, family- and community-friendly (Environmental Friendly No Human Hazards).
The “Healthy Batik Village” was finally inaugurated on Wednesday (1/22) morning in Lendah District, Kulon Progo Regency. The inauguration included the launching of the Standard Operating Procedure module “Diseases Caused by Making Batik and How to Prevent It” and the delivery of batik waste treatment equipment from the research team to the representation of batik creators.
Source: https://ugm.ac.id/id/berita/18948-ugm-luncurkan-desa-batik-sehat-di-kulon-progo
