Media report highlighted the casualty figures recently estimated by a right group to say government policy-makers are not giving enough attention to work-place condition in other traditional mills and factories. Lack of inspection of such workplace about workers safety and shortage of basic gear and gadget in most places where risks are high is making more lives vulnerable to accidents and death. After the Rana Plaza disaster and Tazreen Garment’s inferno, global outcry led to significant improvement in the working condition in garment factories. But safety in non-garments workplace is still ignored by and large.
Steel and leather factories are highly accident-prone. So also ship-breaking industry but such factory owners are running their plants with least care to workers safety. We must say it should not lose sight and concerted efforts must be in hands to bring improvement at such workplaces. Workplace inspection must be strengthened, compliance of law must be strictly enforced and compensation package to dead and injured workers must be significantly increased to give safety to workers and their families. In our view the government should immediately implement ILO safety standard at all factories and workplaces like the one buyers’ inspection teams are securing safety at garment factories to reduce accidents.
The rights group’s observation that no remarkable initiative has so far been taken to ensure workplace safety except in RMG factories in last ten years must not fail to catch attention of the government and factory owners in the privates sector. As per the groups finding, most causalities were reported due to accident from electric short circuit followed by fire in factories. Since 2007 at least 4,613 workers were killed where 556 were killed in factory fire. Over 40 workers died recently in a fire at a factory in Tongi where gas line explosion was blamed, which again occurred from excessive use of gas to cause the explosion.
We must say workers life must be protected first and unless high compensation against death and injury and punishment to factory management for running mills and factories with dilapidated machinery and faulty electrical gears is enforced, desired results may be slow. There is no alternative to factory inspection and trained and honest inspectors must be put at work who will not compromise with safety standard. In our view it must be a national priority on top of everything.
