Lack of safety measures,
monitoring puts ship-breaking workers in peril
Frequent accidents have
been claming lives or seriously injuring many workers in Chittagong
shipbreaking yards over the years, largely due to lax safety measures and
monitoring.
The High Court had
issued directives asking the government to ensure workers' safety. The
government also set safety guidelines on shipbreaking, yet 60 workers were
killed and 125 injured in accidents in the last five and a half years,
according to Shipbreaking Workers Trade Union Forum.
Last year, accidents
killed at least 13 workers, including three at RA Enterprise Shipbreaking Yard.
The three were badly burnt on October 13, and later they died at Chittagong
Medical College Hospital (CMCH) on October 18 and 19.
Dr MS Khaled of the Burn
and Plastic Surgery Unit at the hospital said they over the years treated most
of the injured workers for inhalation wounds.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan,
chief executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela), held
the negligence of owners responsible for repeated accidents.
Referring to the
September 5 accident at Shital Enterprise Shipbreaking Yard which left four
workers killed and as many injured, she said it reportedly occurred due to a
cylinder blast in the changing room when some workers went there with burning
cigarettes.
“Why the yard
authorities kept gas cylinders in the changing room? It indicates sheer
negligence of the owners towards workers' safety,” she added.
According to a High
Court verdict, nobody can enter a shipbreaking yard with a burning cigarette,
but the authorities of Shital Enterprise didn't comply with the order, said
Rizwana.
The HC also said the
accidents in shipbreaking yards must be probed by independent inquiry
committees, but the “directive has never been followed”, lamented the rights
activist.
She accused the owners
of not allowing workers to exercise their rights.
Talking to this
correspondent at the CMCH, some workers said they were not wearing safety gears
when accidents struck.
On January 19, 2014,
Mokhles had brought his coworkers Tapan Jaladas and Md Lalu from Kabir Steel
Shipbreaking Yard to the CMCH after an explosion there. He said the two were
not in proper safety gears at their workplace.
Tapan Dutt, convener of
Shipbreaking Workers' Trade Union Forum, said as per international rules, ships
must be cleaned of toxic materials before they are brought to shipbreaking
yards for dismantling. But most of the owners don't follow the directive.
The rules also stipulate
that owners must train the workers in shipbreaking before employing them, but
the majority of the owners hire unskilled workers, he claimed.
Bangladesh Ship Breakers
Association (BSBA) had opened a training centre for workers at Halishahar of
Chittagong city a few years ago, but it is not operating now, said Tapan.
He complained the workers
were not provided with adequate safety gears, resulting in high casualty
numbers.
As per international
rules, workers must use personal protective equipment (PPE) at work. The
equipment include gears for protection of head, eye, face, foot, hearing, respiratory,
hand and body. The workers must use helmet, safety glasses, gloves, full
sleeved shirt, long pants and flashlight.
BSBA President Abu Taher
claimed the owners were now more careful about workers' safety than anytime
before. “We've strictly instructed the owners to provide the workers with
safety gears and make sure that all the workers wear them.”
The number of accidents
has come down significantly in recent years due to owners' awareness, he said.
“There was a time when around 50 to 60 workers were killed every year. But the
situation has changed due to the measures taken by our association.”
Taher said around 45 yards
have been in operation now and most of them provide safety equipment to
workers.
Abdur Rahim Master,
general secretary of Bangladesh Ship Breakers Workers' Federation, said workers
in around 60 percent of the firms use PPE.
Abdul Hai Khan, deputy
inspector general of Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment
(DIFE) in Chittagong, admitted that some owners didn't provide their workers
with PPE.
“But many workers don't
want to wear safety gears for feeling uncomfortable. Although it is mandatory
for the owners to compel each worker to be in safety gears, many don't do so,”
he added.
The DIEF official said
they cannot monitor all the shipbreaking yards regularly due to shortage of
inspectors. “We have only two inspectors in Sitakunda for around 100
shipbreaking yards and hundreds of shops and factories in the upazila.”
During their visits to
shipbreaking yards, the inspectors assess safety and rights issues of workers.
If a firm is found lacking in any of the issues, a notice is served on it to
make those up. Legal action is taken against the firm only if the owner doesn't
take corrective measures.
Source:
the daily star. 16 January 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment