Workers' safety neglected

A CROSS industries in Bangladesh, workers' safety standards are a low-priority issue for management. That workers of the readymade garments have received so much international and national attention over the last year or so is primarily due to two major incidents that killed more than a thousand workers. Yet the same cannot be said about workers in other industries. The news-photo on workers involved in the glass finishing factory in this paper's back page yesterday simply drove home the message. With no protective gear whatsoever, apart from some aprons made of rags, labourers are engaged in a trade that involves miniscule particles of glass flying about the place. We do not see protective goggles being used either. Nor do we see any safety equipment on their persons, especially where there is sharp-edged tools at play that could, at any moment cause serious injury.

In fact, that is more or less the standard scenario for all sorts of hazardous work our workers are involved in various productive sectors – whether it is the tannery industry or the ship breaking sector, workers are engaged in occupations that involve a high degree of personal risk. Authorities promise change only when there is a mishap. What of the lives that are lost? What happens to the families that are left behind? Does a one-off payment of a few thousand Takas suffice to pay for a life lost and the loss of a livelihood upon which perhaps an entire family was dependent?