At least five shipbreaking workers have been
killed and five more severely injured in a series of accidents in Bangladesh,
says NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
On May 23, 21-year old Rubel died as a result
of a fall at Seiko Steel shipbreaking yard. The Platform asserts that he was
working without safety equipment.
On May 29, five workers were struck by
falling steel plates at the same yard which is also referred to as Darussalam
or Madina Enterprise. One worker died on the spot, another in hospital. The
three remaining workers suffered severe injuries.
On June 5, at Laskar Shipbreaking, 35-year
old Babul was crushed by a falling steel plate.
On June 19, two workers were involved in a
cylinder blast at Bhatiary Steel shipbreaking yard. One of the workers, Swapan,
died in hospital three days later, while Mayching suffers from severe burn
wounds in his face and upper body. He is struggling for his life.
On June 23, Samesh suffered severe injuries
from a fall at Kabir Steel, a yard that made headlines in April after Kabir’s
private security personnel allegedly shot at workers and locals protesting a
fatal accident.
“This horrific series of accidents shows that
occupational health and safety measures are absent”, says Muhammed Ali Shahin,
the Platform’s local coordinator. “We are witnessing the same accidents again
and again: workers are not equipped with safety harnesses and fall to their
death. Others are crushed under heavy steel parts as a consequence of the
dangerous gravity method by which cut steel sections are simply dropped into
the sea and on the beach. Gas cylinders cannot be handled safely on the beach
and explosions cause death and terrible burn wounds. As long as ships are
scrapped on the beaches, workers will continue to die.”
The series of fatal accidents have sparked
local resistance. On June 10, the Shipbreaking Workers Trade Union Forum
together with the Bangladesh Institute for Labour Studies (BILS) organized a
human chain in Sitakunda, the shipbreaking area, to protest the recent deaths.
The Shipbreaking Workers Trade Union Forum also submitted a letter to the
president of the Bangladesh Shipbreakers Association (BSBA) demanding proper
investigation and the payment of compensation owed to the families of dead
workers and those workers who suffered from injuries.
Recently, representatives of the IMO, which
is implementing a NORAD-funded project in Bangladesh to improve conditions in
the shipbreaking yards, presented their work on assessing the social and
economic impacts of the industry in Chittagong. Bangladesh members of the
Platform assisted the presentation and are concerned that human rights abuses
and pollution caused by the shipbreaking industry will be side-lined in the
NORAD-funded study.
“Figures on GDP contribution, tax income and
the amount of scrap steel imported through shipbreaking have always been used
to legitimize this industry in Bangladesh. What is urgently needed is an honest
cost-benefit analysis bringing environmental and human costs of beaching into
the equation”, says Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of the NGO
Shipbreaking Platform.
Source: maritime-executive.
27 June 2016
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