The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has criticized
the certification of a shipbreaking yard in Bangladesh and highlighted recent
deaths in the country.
The Platform highlights that eight injuries
and six deaths have been recorded in 10 separate incidents in the last two
months, including: on 23 October, Jalal, who worked as a cutter man, died after
being struck by a cable at Arafin Enterprise. Shipbreaking worker Khalil died
while working on an oil section of the Indonesian-owned tanker beached at
Ferdous Steel shipbreaking yard. Another worker
was also injured in that accident. Mizan, employed by Fahim Enterprise
shipbreaking yard, lost his life on November after falling when a fire broke
out on the upper deck of a ship he was working on. On December 4, Mojammel
suffocated after inhaling toxic gases. He was working at the SN Corporation
yard.
“Claims that the situation in the yards has
somewhat improved are misleading: workers are still exposed to enormous risks
and are killed because of the lack of basic safety procedures and
infrastructure,” says Muhammed Ali Shahin, local contact of the NGO
Shipbreaking Platform.
A local newspaper in Chittagong further
revealed that the body of a worker, Harun Rashid, was found lifeless in a pond
close to the PHP shipbreaking yard. Harun was a permanent staff member of PHP
and was working as cutter helper. According to the attendance register, he was
present and on duty on the day he was found dead. Harun’s cause of death has
not yet been cleared by the police, but PHP has paid a lump sum to Harun’s
family, says the Platform.
In October, the PHP shipbreaking yard
received a Statement of Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention from the
classification society RINA. Trade unions in Bangladesh, as well as the
Platform’s member Bangladesh Institute for Labour Studies, are concerned that
it sets a dangerous precedent for the “green-washing” of beaching yards at
Chittagong. “Workers and the environment are not protected as long as ships are
broken on the beach and as long as fundamental labor rights and proper
infrastructure are not secured,” said the Platform in a statement.
“It is shocking that a company that rejects
legitimate trade union activities can be stamped as operating in line with
international laws. The Hong Kong Convention clearly fails in setting standards
that will protect workers,” says Nazim Uddin, local trade union leader and
Bangladesh representative at IndustriALL.
The Hong Kong Convention’s ship recycling
requirements stop at the gate of the yard, therefore the fact that Bangladesh
still has no waste treatment facility for general waste, let alone for the
toxic materials coming from ships, is completely overlooked by the Convention,
says the Platform.
“That a beaching yard in Chittagong is able
to comply with the Hong Kong Convention tells us a lot about the extremely low
standard set by the IMO,” said Ingvild Jenssen, Director and Founder of the NGO
Shipbreaking Platform. “Any ship owner looking for a safe and clean location
for the recycling of their ship will be wise to disregard the very misleading
Statements of Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention, and instead consult the
upcoming E.U. List of approved ship recycling facilities”, she adds.
Over 45 yards in India have earned Statements
of Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention. PHP is the first, and so far, the
only one in Bangladesh.
Source:
maritime-executive.
07 December 2017
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