Occupational safety
I was very shocked when I received an email that our classmate Ataur Rahman (40) left us forever. His permanent departure at this early age is heart breaking for his family. His two children will have to face hard reality while they grow up. We have lost our beloved Ata, the country has lost a devoted engineer.
Ataur was a manager of Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd. He died in a furnace explosion while he was visiting a steel factory at Shyampur to check the electric transformer and get the reading of electric meter.
I didn't have an opportunity to work in a public organisation or in an industry in Bangladesh. I am not aware of the health and safety practices in these sectors. I have read statistics of such incidents and casualties in print media. It clearly indicates that either there are no health and safety policies or industries do not follow the existing policies.
It is obvious that a company after such an incident would be either forced to close down forever or would be penalised here in Australia. Penalty for loss of a life at workplace due to inadequate safety practice would be millions of dollar to the company. Industries spend big portion of their annual budget on occupational health and safety.
Industries and organisations should maintain equipment and machinery well, train employees on safety in regular basis. The government's responsibility is to ensure that every organisation follows standard health and safety at workplace. Nothing is more valuable than human life.
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