Unsafe ship breaking: Sitakunda yard, a ticking time-bomb

Once again four workers died in a ship-breaking yard in Sitakunda. According to newspaper reports, more than 30 workers died and many were injured in last one year or so. Besides, many others escaped with minor injuries and the number was never recorded. Again, at least 23 workers were killed and 44 workers were maimed in accidents in ship-breaking yards at Sitakunda alone in 2009, according to sources.

Accidents continue to hit the industry as the owners do not properly comply with the High Court order and operate without equipping their workers with necessary safety gears. According to the existing environmental law, the ship-breaking yards are identified as category Red (extremely dangerous) and environmental clearance certificate is mandatory for them although many shipbreaking yards had been operating without clearance.

By any standards, the dismantling of ships is a dirty and dangerous occupation. The hazards linked to ship-breaking broadly fall into two categories:

• inhalation of dangerous substances and
• accidents on sites.

Explosions of leftover gas and fumes in the tanks are the prime cause of accidents in the yards. Another major cause of accidents is workers' falling from the ships while working with no safety harnesses. Other causes of accidents include workers being crushed by falling steel beams and plates and electrocution.

Workers are not aware of the hazards to which they are exposed. An overwhelming majority of workers wear no protective gears and many of them work barefooted. There is hardly any training for them on the use of machinery.

When there is an injury first-aid is provided, but there is no long-term treatment which leads to permanent injury. In terms of compensation, only a nominal amount is provided only when there is public pressure. When a worker becomes disabled in a major accident, he gets a nominal amount and is forced to return home. When a worker dies in an accident, the contractor, responsible for the workers, only pay the costs of sending the body to the victim's family.

In Bangladesh, most poor families are more or less dependent on their children's income for survival. The Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BASF) has identified 430 risky jobs. Among these, 67 occupations are classified as highly risky and 11 as dangerous. Ship-breaking falls in the latter category.

Most of the children come from the northern regions of Bangladesh. It was noticed that ShipBreaking contractors prefer children to adults as recruits, because children could be paid less in wages. The children work mainly as gas cutters' assistants and move iron pieces from one place to another. They either work in the yard from sunrise to sunset or do the night shift. There are no educational or recreational facilities for them.

Again, pollution taking place at and around the ship-breaking yard is a matter of great concern which is expressed by the environment experts. If certain precautions are taken, such pollution can easily be minimised. So the obvious question would be why weren't any steps taken? If the authority remains idle, then a big disaster may strike soon.

Activists had many times in the past emphasised proper precautions for the workers. They had also demanded a stop to using child labour in the yards. But all the exhortations fell on deaf ears. Because those flouting the laws were not taken to task, they could get away with everything. None of the investigation reports on the accidents saw the light of the day; very few companies were either punished or brought to trial. It's high time the government took the matter more seriously.

To avoid a disaster, some measures should be taken:

• Adoption of job as well as environmental safety standards.
• Provision of on job training (OJT) system.
• Proper access to treatment, emergency services and compensation when a worker is injured or killed on the job.
• Determination of standard minimum wages.
• Restriction on child labour.
• Determination of working hours with right to overtime, sick and annual leaves.
• Stipulation of job security.

In most of the shipyards, workers are being deprived of their rights. They work under risky conditions but have no access to safety equipment, job security or liveable wages. Tragic deaths in ship-breaking yards not only reveal the occupational hazards, but also suggest the reluctance to follow rules by the owners as well as the authority concerned. Though ship-breaking is neither a new nor a small industry and producing almost 90 per cent of the local demand for steel, the authority has not paid heed to all the safety and environment standards necessary for the well-being of the ship-breaking yard workers.

Source: The Financial Express. By Shafiqul Alam. Dhaka, Saturday February 5 2011        

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=125060&date=2011-02-05