REVIEW OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH IN BANGLADESH
S M Taki Tahmid Master’s Thesis Public Health University of Eastern Finland Faculty of Health Sciences School of Medicine
April 2020
UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND, Faculty of Health Sciences School of Medicine
Public health
TAHMID, S M TAKI: Review of Occupational safety and health in Bangladesh Master’s Thesis, 64 pages
Supervisors: Professor Kimmo Räsänen MD, PhD and Dr Sohaib Khan, MBBS, MPH, PhD, April 2020
Keywords: Occupational Health, Bangladesh, Agriculture, Ready Made Garments sector, Health status
Occupational health and safety remain in the centre of concern in the present scenario of the modernized and industrialized era of the world. Over the last century, industries have developed very rapidly to meet the demand of the increasing number of populations. Since then, occupational health hazards have also increased, resulting in significant loss of human, social and economic conditions on both national and international level. As the attempts to prevent, control and reduce the hazards were not adequate in the developing countries, the impacts were much higher. Bangladesh was no exception to this, due to its rapidly developing economy and unpreparedness for the consequences.
The main aim of the study was to observe the demographics, workforce and economic structure of the society, current occupational health and safety system, existing hazards in different sectors and identify the development needs. Secondary data were derived from reports published by both Bangladesh government agencies and International organization and published articles. Major fatal accidents have always brought Bangladesh into international news headlines. In Bangladesh, it is estimated that about 24500 workers die from work-related disease and another 11000 workers faces fatal accidents, while another 8 million workers suffer injuries at work each year.
Therefore, by observing the current scenario of occupational health and safety in the country the study has suggested, to increase occupational health institutes to train more people, increase awareness among labour unions and workers and increase the authority of labour officials to impose the law.
ABBREVIATION
BEPZA Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Area
BGMEA Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association BILS Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies
BIM Bangladesh Institute of Management BLA Bangladesh Labour Act
BLAST Bangladesh Legal Aids and Services Trust BLF Bangladesh Labour Welfare Foundation BNBC Bangladesh National Building Code BSBA Bangladesh Ship Breakers Association BSTI Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution BUHS Bangladesh University of Health Sciences CRP Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed CSR Corporate Social Responsibilities
CVS Cardiovascular Disease
DDM Department of Disaster Management
DIFE Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments DoL Department of Labour
DRTMC Disaster Research Training and Management Centre ENT Ear Nose and Throat
EPB Export Promotion Bureau FSCD Fire Services and Civil Defense
GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GoB Government of Bangladesh
ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ILO International Labour Organizations
IRO Industrial Relations Ordinance IRI Industrial Relations Institute LDC Least Developed Countries LWC Labour Welfare Center MDG Millenium Dedelopment Goal
MoDMR Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief
MoIE Ministry of Labour and Employment operates Labour welfare MoHA Ministry of Home Affairs
NAP National Action Plan
NIPSOM National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine OEH Occupational and Environmental Health
OSBB Occupational Safety Board of Bangladesh
OSHE Occupational Safety and Health and Environment RMG Ready -Made Garments
SNF Sramik Nirapotta Forum (Workers Safety Forum) USD United States Dollar
US-GSP United States Generalized System of Preference WHO World Health Organization
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ... 7
2. AIMS OF THE REPORT ... 9
3. METHODOLOGY ... 10
4. BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE ... 11
4.1Area and Population ... 11
4.2Socio-economic indicators ... 12
4.3Labour force and employment ... 15
4.3.1Labour force employment by sector ... 17
4.3.2Labour force by employment type ... 19
4.4Existing health care and occupational health care system ... 22
4.5Occupational health and safety ... 25
4.6ILO conventions in Bangladesh ... 26
4.7Bangladesh labour law ... 28
4.8 Employee’s social security ... 30
4.9 Workplace safety ... 31
4.10 Coverage of occupational health service system ... 32
4.11 Occupational health and safety hazards in major sectors ... 33
4.11.1 Argo based sector ... 33
4.11.2 Ready-Made Garments (RMG) ... 35
4.11.3Tea workers ... 39
4.11.4Ship Breaking industries ... 40
4.12Indicators of occupational health outcomes ... 48
4.12.1Occupational diseases ... 48
4.12.2 Occupational mortality... 52
4.12.3Occupational injuries and disability ... 53
4.12.4Labour inspection ... 54
5.DISCUSSION ... 57
6.CONCLUSIONANDRECOMMENDATIONS ... 60
7.REFERENCES ... 61
1. INTRODUCTION
Occupational health refers to the highest level of physical, mental and social wellbeing of the workers in the workplace. Being a branch of healthcare, it emphasizes the health and safety of the workers at the workplace. The principal aim is to reduce the number of incidents and prevention at the primary level. (Park 2005) Safe and healthy working condition is the fundamental right of the worker in the workplace and around (Kang 2009). In this industrialized and modern world, occupational hazards lie behind most of the fatalities and injuries (Tasnim et al. 2016). It is very common for the workers to experience mild to severe form of injuries at the workplace. Symptom varies from pain, numbness or tingling in different parts of the body, peripheral nerve entrapments or other nonspecific musculoskeletal pain and disorders. In other cases, workers suffer from acute traumatic injuries of the extremities, such as burns, injury to finger or face, tendon laceration. The number of death and disability is also high due to accidents. (Punnett & Wegman 2004) The risk may occur from different sources such as repetitive tasks, long hours of work, exposure to harmful substances like gas and fumes, noise, insufficient lighting, vibration, violence, disasters, damaged equipment, and psychological and physical oppression (BILS 2015a).
It is estimated by International Labour Organization (ILO) that, there are over 2.3 million casualties in a year in the workplaces, of which over 2 million are due to work-related diseases and 350,000 deaths due to occupational accidents worldwide. These higher number of accidents kills about 1,000 people every day, and 5,400 other individual dies due to work- related disease. In the year 2010, there were over 313 million non-fatal accidents worldwide, which resemble about 860,000 accidents per day. (ILO 2014) About 25% and 23% of the European workers have respectively reported to experience backache and muscular pains, while 46% have reported working in painful or tiring positions and 35% experienced heavy workload (Schneider et al. 2010). The suffering caused by such accidents and illnesses is not only limited to the worker's health, but also brings severe financial and social loss to their families. This ultimately leaves an impact on the overall national and international level due to loss of productivity and economic, social and human loss. In economic terms, the ILO has estimated that every year 4% of the Global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is lost due to occupational accidents and diseases. Besides, employers face costly early retirements, loss of
skilled staff, absenteeism, loss of property and time, which ultimately affects the economy.
(Dorman 2012)
The major industrial accidents lately remind us of the need for occupational safety in the workplace, as well as the unsafe working condition in the industries worldwide. The explosion in China on August 2014 killed 75 workers, coal mine fire at Turkey on May 2014 killed 301 workers, and on March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant explosion due to earthquake has exposed workers to high-intensity radiation, are few examples of from developed and industrialist countries. From the developing countries Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh killed 1,129 workers and injured 2,500 others in April 2013, factory fire in Karachi, Pakistan killed 289 workers in 2012, and again in Bangladesh garment factory fire killed 112 workers, are some of the significant industrial incidents. (ILO 2014)
Asia, along with the Pacific, is the rapidly growing region and some of the countries like China, India and Bangladesh are the fastest growing economies of the world. The economic growth has not only relieved millions of people from the grasp of absolute poverty but also has challenged the previous economic and social structures by strains and pressurize governments to rearrange their structure to adapt the consequences of development at unprecedented speed.
At the same time, uneven economic growth has brought challenges to the increasing disparity, recognition of rights at the workplace and economic vulnerability. Therefore, the number of accidents has increased, posing a threat to the regions long-term sustainable economic and social growth. On the other hand, child labour, illegal migration, forced labour, human trafficking is increasing in the least developed regions. (ILO 2016a)
As a fast-growing economy, the economy of Bangladesh is flourishing rapidly. At the same time industries are developing with modernised technologies, resulting in sharp increase in the number of workers to meet the labour demand. This unprecedented industrial growth has resulted in fatalities due to occupational hazards including injuries, acute or chronic diseases, deaths and significant industrial disasters. (Islam et al. 2016) According to the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) newspaper-based survey, there were 5909 fatalities and 14413 injuries in different occupational accidents from 2002 to 2012. In 2013, a single incident, Rana Plaza Building collapse, caused deaths of 1129 workers escalating the total death toll to 1912 and injuries to 5738 workers due to workplace accident and violence in 2013. (BILS 2015a) In 2017, a total of 1242 workers were killed across the country due to lack of
occupational safety, and in 2018, 898 workers were killed, and 341 others were injured in several accidents in the country (OSHE 2019a).
2. AIMS OF THE REPORT
The study aims to describe, based on the secondary data sources
1. The demographics, workforce and economic structure of the society
2. The occupational health and safety system as part of the health care system 3. Main occupational health and safety hazards
in Bangladesh
4. Based on these data, the development needs for occupational health and safety are discussed.
3. METHODOLOGY
The report is based on secondary data, primarily from Bangladesh government reports published by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and The Ministry of Labour and Employment. Additionally, sources including research articles, newspapers, reports published by national and international organizations were also covered. Furthermore, reports published by the International Labour Organization (ILO) were consulted to collect relevant information and necessary comparisons. Data from all these wide range and variety of sources was compared, interpreted, presented and discussed in this document to provide a comprehensive overview of the situation and scenarios of occupational health and safety in the country of Bangladesh.
4. BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE 4.1 Area and Population
The People’s Republic of Bangladesh has got its independence on 16th December 1971 through a nine months long liberation war. The name of the country is derived from the Bengali ethnolinguistic group comprising 98% and 2% from the other ethnic groups of the population.
The country is divided into eight major administrative divisions Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Mymensingh, Khulna, Rajshahi and Rangpur. Dhaka is the capital of the country, is one of the oldest cities as well. Each division is further divided into administrative districts, Upazila, unions and villages. The country is home for about 88.2% of Muslims, followed by 10.7% of Hindus and 1.1% of other religious groups. There are many dialects of Bengali spoken throughout the region. The dialect spoken by those in Chittagong and Sylhet is particularly distinctive. The population is estimated as 162.7 million with 1103 people per square kilometer, makes the country 10th populous in the world. Bangladesh covers a total land area of 147,570 kms, located between the geographic coordinates of 23° 46' 37.8336'' N and 90° 23' 58.0272'' E, with Borders with India, Myanmar and Bay of Bengal in the southern part.(BBS 2019a) Some vital information is shown in table 1. The country has almost equal number of men and women population, although in rural arears the women population is higher than men and in urban men are higher in number. The GDP growth rate was 7.9 in 2018 with total amount of 288.4 million USD.
Table 1. Population statistics of Bangladesh, 2017(BBS 2018)
Indicators Last available figure Year
Population1 162.7 2017
Men1 81.4 2017
Women1 81.3 2017
Labour force participation rate2 58.2 2016-17
Labour force participation by women2 36.3 2016-17 Labour force participation by men 2 80.5 2016-17
Infant mortality rate3 25 2017
Life expectancy at birth4 72.0 2017
GDP growth2 7.9 2018
1 In Million, 2 In Percentage, 3 Per 1000 Population, 4 Age, years
Bangladesh has a high population growth rate of 1.34% per year, leading to an addition of about 2 million people annually to the population. There is an increasing trend for internal migration of people from rural to urban areas. The Capital of the country Dhaka and the business capital Chittagong are the most densely populated cities in the country. These cities accommodate 15% of the countries population and are the economic and industrial centres of the country. Increase in economic activities throughout the years has attracted more people to move and settle in urban areas. Figure 1 depicts the intercensal trend of the population from Rural to Urban setting in the country, where the urban population inclined from 5% in 1961 to 28% in 2011. (BBS 2019a) In two-decade from 1991-2000, the overall population has increased by 29%, where 24% and 49% growth were in the rural and urban area, respectively.
(Marshall & Rahman 2013)
Figure 1. The intercensal trend of the Urban population in percentage (%), 1961-2011(BBS 2019a)
4.2 Socio-economic indicators
Bangladesh has an agrarian economy. Although, the economy has shifted toward industrial in recent decades. The share of agriculture to GDP has declined with the flourishment of industries in the country. However, the agricultural sector dominates the economy as an estimating 43% of the workforce was engaged in agriculture in 2016, contributing 14% of the total GDP. The manufacturing industry contributed 22% with a yearly growth rate of 11% and service industry comprises 53% of the GDP. The main export products are manufactured garments, frozen fish and vegetables, tea, medicines, spices, ceramics, tiles, cement and
0 5 10 15 20 25
Growth %
Census year
primary import goods are rice, wheat, milk powder, seeds, petroleum, machinery, garments accessories, food items and chemicals (BBS 2019a).
According to the World Bank (WB), Bangladesh has made substantial progress in decreasing poverty from 44% in 1991 to 15% in 2016/17. At the same time, the country has significantly improved in literacy rate, life expectancy, maternal and neonatal death, per capita food production, and so on. The success in achieving the first of the Millenium Development Goals (MDG1) by reducing poverty to half was five years ahead of time. At the same time, life expectancy, literacy rate, nutrition status and per capita food production had also increased by a significant number. This economic growth was based on average 6.5% over a decade and reached 7.9% in 2017/2018 and expected to continue. The country is also in the track of graduating from UN’s Least Developed Countries (LDC) list by 2024 by fulfilling the criteria.
As a consequence of economic growth, the demand for energy, transport and urbanization have also increased. (The World Bank 2019)
The silver lining of the country's population pyramid is the dominating youth population (15- 35 years), who are economically active. According to Bangladesh government data, the participation rate of the population aged over 15 or older in the economy is 59% and 56% in rural and urban areas respectively, while 42% of the people from the same agegroup is out of economic activity (Table 2). About 60.8 million people over 15 years or above are employed in the country. The most significant portion (41%) of the population is engaged in agriculture, 14% in manufacturing and 14% in the wholesale and retail sector. Agriculture is the principal industrial sector accommodating about 41% of the employed persons, followed by the service sector at 39% and 24% in the industry sector. Lack of formal education has always been a problem in the country, and about one-third of the economically active population did notreceive any formal education. (BBS 2018)
Table 2. Employed persons as % of the total working-age population (BBS 2018) Age
group
Rural Urban Total
Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total 15-29 66.4 32.3 48.9 67.5 32.5 48.2 66.7 32.2 48.7 30-64 94.9 46.3 70.2 94.2 32.0 64.0 94.7 42.3 68.4
65+ 48.8 9.3 32.1 41.2 6.7 26.9 47.1 8.7 31.0
Total 80.3 38.6 59.3 81.0 31.0 55.7 80.5 36.3 58.2 Bangladesh is the 3rd fastest growing economy and ranked as 41 in the world economic ranking.
The country has made remarkable progress in reducing poverty through its sustainable growth.
Some of the significant facts about the country’s economy are as follows (Table 3). (The World Bank 2019)
Table 3. Economic indicators of Bangladesh (Trading economics 2019)
Indicators Last available figure Year
GDP annual growth (%) 7.9 2018
GDP (USD Billion) 288 2018
Unemployment rate (%) 4.31 2018
Gross national product (BDT Billion) 10691 2018
Employed persons (Million) 60.8 2017
Minimum wage (BDT/Month) 8000 2019
Inflation rate (%) 5.55 2019
Balance of trade -114 2019
Remittances (USD Million) 1434 2019
Share of Health and social services in GDP (%) 1.8 2014-15
Share of Industry in GDP (%) 20.2 2014-15
Share of Agriculture in GDP (%) 12.3 2014-15
The countries total unemployment rate was 4.37 in 2017, which declined to 4.31 in 2018.
Industrial sector has a large share in the country’s GDP followed by agricultural sector with 12.3%.
Literacy and education are one of the important indicators of the socio-economic development of a country. Literacy rate of the people of a country is an important factor to achieve and continue the socio-economic sector and human resource development. Bangladesh has shown remarkable advancement in net enrollment in primary school increased from 80% in 2000 to 98% in 2016, while the secondary school enrolment rate climbed to 54% in 2015, from 46% in 2000. In addition to this, the percentage of children completing primary school has also
increased to 80 and gender disparities in accessing education have also decreased. (BBS 2019b) Some of the key indicators are shown in Table 4.
Table 4. Education and literacy indicators of Bangladesh. (BBS 2019)
Bangladesh government has expended about 1.93%of its GDP on education sector in 2011 with a total number of 133901 primary, 20297 secondary, 9303 madrasha and 4419 colleges and 33 public Universities. Total literacy rate was 51.8% in 2011 which climbed to 72.9% in 2019.
Until 2011 the literacy rate of the country shows that about half of the population was illiterate.
The number of school dropout is still high as it is related to other socio-economic indicators.
4.3 Labour force and employment
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), in 2016-17, the number of the economically active population was 63.5 million, among them, 43.5 million were male, and 20 million were female (table 5). The overall labour force participation rate was 58.2% for the country with 80.5% male and 36.3% female actively participating in economic activity.
(BBS 2019a)
Indicators Last available figure Year
No of primary level institutions 133901 2017
Secondary schools 20297 2017
Madrasaha 9303 2017
College 4419 2017
The student-teacher ratio in primary education 1:37 2017
Total no of boys in primary school 8,508,038 2017
Total no of girls in primary school 8,743,312 2017
Primary Education Completion Examination Pass Rate 98.58 2017
No of professional educational institution 877 2017
Total literacy rate 72.9 2019
Literacy rate of population (7+years) 72.3 2017
Literacy rate of population (7+years male) 74.3 2017
Literacy rate of population (7+years female) 70.2 2017 Total percentage of GDP expended on education 1.93% 2011
Table 5. Distribution of labour force (in millions) in rural and urban settings (BBS 2019a)
Category 2002-03 2010 2016-17
Total 46.3 56.7 63.5
Male 36 39.5 43.5
Female 10.3 17.2 20.0
Urban total 11.3 13.3 19.9
Male 8.6 9.3 12.9
Female 2.7 4 5.0
Rural total 35 43.4 45.7
Male 27.4 30.2 30.7
Female 7.6 13.2 15.0
In 2016-17, among 63.7 million active people in the economy 19.9 million were from urban and 45.7 million from rural areas, with 71% of male and 29% of female workers. There was a steady increase in the labour force over the years from 2001-2013. The total number of workers were also increased with the increasing population and new people engaged in the labour force annually. The number of female workers has also been increased over the same period, but the increasing rate was higher in the rural setting than urban. The number of males engaged in the rural setting was always higher in the agriculture sector, as it has always been the largest sector of employment in the country. (BBS 2019a) Figure 2 depicts that informal employment has contributed to 77% in the urban areas and 88% in rural areas. The percentage of women working in the informal sector in rural areas was higher than the percentage in urban areas. Besides, for the man also the percentage was higher in the urban setting. (BBS 2018)
Figure 2. Percentage distribution of informal sector employment by sex and area. (BBS 2018)
4.3.1 Labour force employment by sector
As the growth of the economy continues with the number of populations, the employment structure of the country has also changed. The total number of working people increased to 63.5 million in 2016-17 from 56.7 million in 2010. About 55% of the working-age population participated in the economic activity from the urban area, whereas 59% from the rural areas.
72 % of the employment is in the informal sector, while 28% represents formal sector work.
(BBS 2018)
Figure3 shows that about 85.1% of the labour force are engaged in the informal sector of employment in the country while share for formal sector is only 14.9%. Although all the sector comprises with highest percent of informal sector workers, service sector has the highest share of workers in formal employment followed by industry sector. Agriculture sector has the least percent of workers in formal employment.
Figure 3. Distribution of labour force by broad economic sector. (BBS 2018)
Table 6 shows the number of employed people in each discipline of the industry by age sex and area. The largest proportion was in Agriculture, forestry, and fishing at 41%, followed by 14% in manufacturing and 14% in wholesale and retail trade.
14.9 4.6
10.1 28.2
85.1 95.4
89.9 71.8
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Bangladesh Agriculture Industry service
Formal sector Informal sector
Table 6. Employed population aged 15 or above, by major industry, sex and location, in million.
4.3.2 Labour force by employment type
The countries labour market is divided into two sub-sectors, formal and informal sectors depending on the kind of jobs and benefits. Informal sectors are consisting of small, unregistered enterprises that operate on a small scale. In this setup, the employment relationship is established on casual personal or social relationships and beyond legal bindings. In this sector, workers are generally self-employed owner, contributing family members, member of informal producers’ cooperatives or employees hired in an employment relationship that is not abiding by the law. Informal employment refers to those kinds of jobs that lack basic social, financial and legal protections and employment terms and benefits that are ensured informal counterpart. The labour force of Bangladesh is dominated by the informal sector with 85%
(Figure 4) of the active labour force engaged in the sector with 9 and 82% females and males respectively. Formal sector employment recognises the right of the employees through regular working hours, wages, leaves, insurance, and bonded by legal bindings between employer and employee. (BBS 2018)
Sector
Rural Urban Total in country
Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total, % Agriculture,
forestry and fishing
41.9 72.6 51.7 8.8 19.9 11.8 32.2 59.7 40.6 Mining and
quarrying
0.3 0.0 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.10 0.2 0.0 0.2
Manufacturing 12.0 10.0 11.1 18.8 32.0 22.4 14.0 15.4 14.4
Construction 7.1 1.4 5.3 8.6 1.3 6.6 7.5 1.4 5.6
Transportation and storage
11.0 1.0 7.8 14.2 1.5 10.8 11.9 1.1 8.6
Accommodation and food service
activities
1.9 0.7 1.5 3.2 1.9 2.9 2.3 1.0 1.9
Education 2.7 3.2 2.8 4.0 9.8 5.6 3.1 4.8 3.6
Human health and social work
activities
0.5 0.7 0.5 1.2 2.6 1.7 0.7 1.2 0.8
Figure 4. Employed population aged 15 or above by sector and sex. (BBS 2018)
Table 7. Employed population aged 15 or older, by formal and informal sector, sex and area.
(BBS 2018) Employ ment sectors
Rural Urban Total
Male
%
Female
%
Total
%
Male
%
Female
%
Total
%
Male
%
Female
%
Total
%
Formal 14.4 6.7 11.9 26.4 12.7 22.7 17.9 8.2 14.9
Informal 85.6 93.3 88.1 73.6 87.3 77.3 82.1 91.8 85.1 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Urban informal sector consists of a total of 13.0 million people, whereas in the rural areas, it was 38.6 million. In urban settings, about 4 million females were in the informal sector, while the number was three times higher in the rural area. For the males as well, the higher percentage were engaged in the informal sector in both rural and urban settings. The percentage distribution of labour force in formal and informal sectors by sex and area are shown in table 7. Among the employment sector of the country, agriculture sector has the highest number of informal workers, followed by 90 percent in industry and 72 percent in service sector (Figure 5). (BBS 2018)
14.9 8.2
17.9
85.1 91.8
82.1
TOTAL FEMALE MALE
Formal Informal
Figure 5. Percentage distribution of informal employment by broad economic sector. (BBS 2018)
4.6 10.1
28.2 14.9
95.4 89.9
71.8 85.1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Agriculture Industry Service Total
Formal Informal
4.4 Existing health care and occupational health care system
Highest attainable standard of health has been declared as a fundamental right of every people regardless of race, religion, political belief and social and economic condition by the constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) has also recognised the need for health and wellbeing of the individuals. (WHO 2003)
The Government of Bangladesh is obliged by the constitution to assure the necessary medical requirements to the citizens irrespective of the segments of people from the society and work to improve the nutritional and the public health status of the people. (Bangladesh Constitution 1972) After the independence in 1971, the health care system was focused on curative services targeting status of maternal, child and new-born’s health and later focused on the improvement of technology, medical services, promoting health and preventive services. Government of Bangladesh established the structure of the health services. However, various United Nations agencies (WHO, UNICEF) and other private and Non-Government Organization (NGO’s) played a vital role in shifting the direction of health care systems. (Islam & Biswas 2014) Bangladesh has a well-structured health care system where four different actors play a pluralistic role in the functioning of the system. Three levels of primary health care – Upazila Health Complexes (UHC) at the sub-district level, Union Health and Family Welfare Centres (UHFWC) at the Union (collection of few villages) levels, and Community Clinics (CC) at the village level are responsible for providing health services at the local level. The secondary level of treatment is arranged in the District Hospitals while several medical college and specialised hospitals provide tertiary care situated in the divisional headquarters. The growing private health sector is mainly associated with tertiary level care. The aim of this set up is to cover the entire country and people with a full spectrum of services, treatment, care, health education and promotion although highest level of service cannot be attained due to lack of resources and workforce. (Islam & Biswas 2014)
Government of Bangladesh is the key responsible by the constitution for policy implementation, regulating, establishing comprehensive health services and financing and providing a qualified workforce. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, by its two
Directorates-General of Health Services (DGHS) and Family Planning (DGFP), implements the strategies and policies of the government for general health and family planning services.
(WHO 2015) The Government of Bangladesh is the key responsible for patronizing, financing, setting over policies and the mechanism of the health system. According to WHO, less than 3% of the GDP is spent on the health sector. Bangladesh Government pays only 34% of the expenses while the rest is coming from the out of pocket expenses from the patient. The country has shown remarkable progress in health-related MDGs, to reduce child mortality (MDG 4) from 133/1000 live births in 1993 to 46/1000 live births in 2014 and by lowering the maternal mortality (MDG 5a) to 143/100000 live Births in 2013 from 574/100000 in 1990.
However, the country lacked a comprehensive health policy to strengthen the present health structure and increase efficiency. (WHO 2015)
Some of the critical indicators of the health sector of Bangladesh are given below in table 8.
For about 162 million people in the country the GDP expenditure on health sector is less than 3 percent. Although the country has improved in all the sectors there are still room for improvement in all the health-related indicators including Maternal and neonatal mortality.
Table 8. Health indicators of Bangladesh. (BBS 2019a)
Indicators Last available figure Year
Total population (millions) 162 2018
Population growth rate 1.37 2017
Gross national income per capita (PPP international $)
4.5 2018
Life expectancy at birth m/f 71/73 2015
Under-5 mortality rate (per 1000 live births)
36 Neonatal mortality rate (per 1000 live
births)
20 2014
Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 livebirths)
176 2015
Total expenditure on health per capita (Intl $)
88 2014
Total expenditure on health as % of GDP 2.8 2014
As stated above, the health system comprises both public services and the private providers spread throughout the country. A total of 610 government (128 secondary and tertiary and 482 primary) and 4596 registered private hospitals and clinics and 13336 community clinics with a
total of 126953 beds are in the heart of the system. An estimated total no of 53929 doctors (22900 government doctors), 41697 of diploma nurses, 2125 junior mid-wives, 6821 medical assistants, 5945 medical technologists, 7858 skilled birth attendants, 13622 community healthcare providers, 375 family planning officers, 2106 pharmacy technologists are the personnel engaged in those hospitals. The average population per hospital bed is 1593, per physician 2106, per government nurse 8497, per health worker 2603 and per hospital bed 1593, respectively. (BBS 2019a) Bangladesh has achieved remarkable progress in health related MDGs as well as the overall health status of the people and surpassed many neighbouring countries. With the development of mother and child health through primary health care coverage, the country was in track to achieve MDG target of reducing infant, child and maternal mortality. (WHO 2015)
The industrial sector of the country has grown very fast with the number of working people, and several export-oriented sectors have emerged over the last 20 years. However, the working conditions and health of the workers have not improved. The national health policy of 2011 has failed to cover occupational health services. Instead it has emphasised on awareness on health rights, the scope of treatment, responsibilities, duties and prohibitions and behavioural changes of the people. There are lack of doctors and professionals for occupational health and safety due to lack of formal training and teaching in the country for them. Instead, the workers seek traditional treatment in case of their health problems in the absence of specialised occupational health clinics in the primary and secondary settings. (Muralidhar et al. 2016) Workers have direct access to health care from the government, non-government and employers’ organizations. In the government counterpart, Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoIE) operates Labour welfare centres through the Department of Labour (DoL) to provide treatment and medicines free of charge. Other government organizations provide the up to secondary level care through their departmental services to the employees and family members;
some of them also have specialized units for workers rehabilitation. Other non-government organizations provide health through support centres and health camps, while employers’
organizations like BGMEA and BKMEA provide health services through CSR activity. (BILS 2015a)
Currently, 30 Labour welfare centres equipped with medical officer, family and welfare officer and labour welfare organizer, provide treatment, pathological tests and medicines for free to
the workers and family members. They also provide family planning support and counselling for the beneficiaries. Establishment based health services mainly cover their employees and family members, such as law enforcing agencies, defence services, public universities, Bangladesh railway, Jute Mills Corporation etc. through their own network of services. Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) provides a rehabilitation program through their occupational therapy department to the injured and disabled patients according to their need.
Other non-government units like BILS also provide rehabilitation and physiotherapy services to the injured workers in different places targeting each labour groups. (BILS 2015a)
4.5 Occupational health and safety
In the rapid industrialization of a country, the development of the industries and labour condition should be well planned and abided by the appropriate safety measures to cope with the radical alternation of the situation. Adverse health outcome is prominent in case of failure of the safety precautions in the labour sector. In Bangladesh, informal sectors like agriculture, fishing, ship breaking is more vulnerable due to its occupational and geographical setting.
About 24500 workers have died from the work-related disease and another 11000 workers face fatal accidents each year, while another 8 million workers suffer injuries at work. (ILO 2019a) About 67% of 1.9 million injured workers were from 30-64 years of age, whereas about 30%
were of 15-29 years of age, as found in labour force survey 2016/17. (BBS 2018)
The ready-made garments industry (RMG), employing 3.6 million people, has become the most dangerous and unsafe among other industries. Internal environment and disaster prevention system of the factory, including inadequate exit ways, flammable material and unsuitable building standard make the factories more vulnerable to fire hazards. Recent incidents in garments industries in the country has revealed the dangerous working condition and burden of expenses due to lack of occupational safety. (Akram 2014) The industrial sector of the country had a higher percentage of occupational injuries followed by the service sector and agriculture according to the BBS survey. The occupational injury rate was worse for both male and female workers during the same period in the industry sector (Figure 6). (BBS 2018)
Figure 6. The proportion of occupational injuries and illness in 12 months prior to the survey period by sector and sex (BBS 2018)
About 29% of the workers have reported to experience injuries at the workplace at least once, while about 25% have experienced them twice in the 12 months period. In the same survey 20% reported facing injuries four times. (BBS 2018)
4.6 ILO conventions in Bangladesh
Bangladesh has ratified a total of 35 ILO Conventions including seven fundamental conventions out of 8, 2 Governance conventions and 26 technical conventions until now. The ratified conventions are shown in Table 9.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Agriculture Industry Service Total
Male Female Total
Table 9. Core Conventions of ILO and ratifications in Bangladesh (ILO 2016b)
Standard Conventions Ratification
Freedom of association and bargaining
Convention 87 (Freedom of association)
Yes Convention 98
(Right to organize & collective Bargaining 1949)
Yes Elimination of forced
and compulsory Labour
Convention 29 (Forced Labour) Yes Convention 105 (Abolition of
forced Labour)
Yes Elimination of
discrimination
Convention 100 (equal remuneration)
Yes The proportion of Occupational injuries and illness in 12 months period by sector and sex
Yes Abolition of Child
Labour
Convention 138 (Minimum age)
No Convention 182 (worst forms
of child Labour)
Yes
The government of Bangladesh has not yet ratified the Minimum Age Convention C-138, although the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006, has determined the minimum age of worker as 14 years with a special clause that allows children between the ages of 12 and 14 to do “light work” without risking their health, development and education (Unnayan Onneshan 2013).The ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and the Protection of Right to Organize contains 21 articles based on Protection of the right of workers and employers by allowing them to form and join organizations of their choice to ensure the organizational autonomy.
Collective bargaining is also referring to the freedom of association and apply the rights to organize. By ratifying the convention in June 1972, the country was expected to comply with the convention although the trade union rights were in apply through Industrial Relations Ordinance (IRO) 1969. After 1975, due to political turmoil, the right to form trade unions gradually decreased, and provisions were made to form unions with 30 percent members. In addition, labour directors gained huge power to cancel the union registrations. Consequently, labour unions could not flourish in the garments sector. On the other hand, the lack of documentation and appointment letter of the workers compromises the conventions of principles of the right to organize and bargain collectively.
Convention concerning Forced or Compulsory Labor, no 29 (1930) has been ratified by Bangladesh by restricting forced labour by a private individual, association and companies (article 4) unless it has been declared as a significant and direct interest of the community. The labour act of 2006 prohibits forced labour by aligning with the ILO core conventions. Although there is a lack of standard working hours and standard notification time in the RMG sector and other industries. Convention Concerning the Abolition of Forced Labor, no 105 (1957) has been ratified on 22 June 1972, and it is in force making it obligatory for the Government of Bangladesh to take immediate and complete abolition of force and obligatory labour. (Unnayan Onneshan 2013)
Human Trafficking Deterrence and Suppression Act, establishing punishment upto12 years imprisonment for trafficking with the aim of forced labour. Ratifying the Convention concerning Equal Remuneration of Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value, no 100 (1951) in January 1998, although a huge gap between remuneration of male and female worker still exists. Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 emphasized to follow the same or equal value in determining remuneration and fixing minimum wages without discriminating on the ground of gender. There is a wide and persistent gender pay gap in the large informal sector as it is beyond the supervision of the Government and scattered in the countryside. (Dina 2014) 4.7 Bangladesh labour law
The history and evolution of Bangladesh Labour laws are more than a century old, and it has been customized with the situation and demand to secure labour rights. The first foundation of Labour law has been laid during the British colonial period in 1881 in the Indian subcontinent, later broken into India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The flourishment of new factories at the beginning of the nineteenth century increased the demand for new labour guidelines as the previous factory act 1981 contained unsatisfactory regulations. Subsequently, several laws were introduced according to the demand and concerning issues such as Workmen's Compensation Act (1923), Trade Unions Act (1926), Trade Disputes Act (1929), Payment of Wages Act (1936), Maternity Benefit Act (1939), and the Employment of Children Act (1938).
(Ahmed et al. 2010)
After the independence of India and Pakistan in the middle of the nineteenth century, the economy of these countries shifted toward industrialization, and this has been referred to as the kick start of the economy. As the economy grew big and industrialization brought the demand
of worker in the rapidly growing industries, that eventually demanded more coverage, modification and amendments of the labour policies. At present, the industrial relation framework of Bangladesh is based on 22 labour and industrial laws. They are as follows:
1. The Boilers Act, 1923 2. The Mines Act, 1923
3. The Cotton Industry (Statistics) Act, 1926 4. The Dock Workers’ Act, 1934
5. The Industrial Statistics Act, 1942
6. The Chittagong Hill-Tracts (Labour Laws) Regulation, 1954 7. The Trade Organizations’ Ordinance, 1961
8. The Tea Plantation Labour Ordinance, 1962 9. The Control of Employment Ordinance, 1965
10. The Exercise and Duty on Minerals (Labour Welfare) Act, 1967 11. The Bangladesh Industrial Development Corporation Order, 1972 12. The Bangladesh Handloom Board Ordinance, 1977
13. The Foreign Private Investment (Promotion & Protection) Act, 1980 14. The Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority Act, 1980 15. The Agriculture Labour (Minimum Wages) Ordinance, 1984 16. The Bangladesh Cha Shramik Kallyan Fund Ordinance, 1986 17. The Inland Water Transport (Regulation of Employment) act, 1992
18. The State-owned Manufacturing Industries Workers (Terms and Conditions of Service) ordinance, 1993
19. The Bangladesh Private Export Processing Zone Act, 1994 20. The EPZ Workers Association and Industrial Relations Act, 2004 21. The Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006
22. Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Act, 2013
Almost all the laws were kept in force with some modifications during the Pakistan regime.
After the independence in 1971, the Government of Bangladesh inherited those laws through Bangladesh Laws Order (President's Order No. 48). In 2006, the government of Bangladesh adopted Bangladesh Labour law, 2006 which is consolidation of 25 separate acts covering the condition of service and employment, benefits and compensation for maternity as well as injuries and accidental death, trade unions and industrial relations, disputes, Labour court, the
participation of workers in company profits, regulation of employment and safety of dockworkers, provident funds, apprenticeship, penalty and procedure, administration, and inspection.(Unnayan Onneshan 2013)
4.8 Employee’s social security
The constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh gives the responsibility on the state to provide healthcare for the workers and labours and the backward section of the population as well as the whole population. (Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust 2014) The Bangladesh national occupational safety and health policy correspond periodical medical check-ups to identify occupationally induced diseases and health problems and necessary support for workers treatment, compensation and rehabilitation. It has also acknowledged their right to report any health problems to the authority and seek treatment (BILS 2015b).
There is a casual relationship between accidents and employment. The Bangladesh Labour Act specifies the employer’s obligation to provide lump sum compensation in case of deaths and permanent disabilities due to accidental injuries in the workplace. The compensation scheme in the Labour act has several drawbacks as it is paid as a lump sum amount and cannot assure lifetime support in case of accidental death or disability to the worker or their dependents. The maximum amount described in the Labour act is 100000 and 125000 Bangladeshi takas in case of accidental death or permanent disability due to accidents in the workplace. In the case of temporary disablement, the compensation depends on the period of disablement or one year, whichever is less. The compensating amount is two full salaries for the first two months, whereas for the next two months the salary will be two-thirds of the monthly wages, followed by half of the salary in the remaining months. The amounts declared in Bangladesh labour Act 2006 as a fixed compensation is inadequate and failed to reimburse the actual losses caused to the person or his family. There have been many recommendations to the government for reforming the Act including considering the possible future earnings, gratuity and other legal dues at retirement, estimating the cost of living of the dependents and arranging suitable employment for one of the dependent according to the qualifications. (Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust 2014)
The compensation recommended in the Bangladesh labour act has also failed the minimum standards of the ILO’s Employment Injury Benefits Convention, 1964 (No. 121) which directs a widow aged 25 with two children is illegible to receive a periodical compensation equals to 50 per cent of the wage of the worker at the time of death. Calculating the minimum salary of
3000 takas a month results in a total 600000 Bangladeshi taka in case of accidental death of any worker. (ILO 2016b)
In practice, the primary social security scheme in the country is the government service pension provided through the provident fund to the government and formal private-sector employees.
There are other social security schemes engaged in the country for the poor and vulnerable group of people, which supports the livelihood and essential income generations. During 1980s schemes that address the risk across lifecycle programmes like school stipend, widow and old age allowances were developed. There were also public works and food aid programs developed to strengthen the social protection and infrastructure development in rural settings.
Practically the budget allocation for social security increased from 1.3% of GDP in 1998 to 2.3% in 2011 and stabilized at 2.0% in recent years, although the government is committed to increasing it up to 13% of the total GDP expenditure. The country has very sophisticated Social Security System (SSS) run by several ministries and a wide variety of programs. According to the ministry of finance of Bangladesh, 145 programs are financed from the government budget with a total expenditure of BDT 307,9 billion in 2014-15. As the countries major labour force is engaged in the informal sector, the participation of 23 ministries without coordination and the actual low transfers received by the beneficiaries hardens the success of the programs.
(General Economics Division 2015)
According to Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHEBD) 179 workers killed and 42 were seriously injured due to workplace accidents in 2017. Among them, 175 deaths occurred in the informal sector with fewer chances to get compensation from the employer as the informal sector is not covered under the labour act.
(OSHE 2018)
4.9 Workplace safety
National OSH policy recommends ensuring maximum safety in the construction and operation of factories through regulations and internal standards. Identification of risks regarding OSH is vital in the work setting, followed by training of every individual at risks. Bangladesh labour law 2006 also directs labour inspectors to be vigilant for possible dangerous in any establishment, its machinery and plant itself and issue written notice for the necessary correction. Under this law, an owner is obliged to follow the notice and report accordingly to the authority. Fire Safety Act 2003 also obliges to avail a license from the Director general of
fire service and civil defence before commencing any establishment as a factory, workshop or warehouse by meeting the specific safety requirements. Other industries also have specific provisions for OSH for operating and workers safety. Bangladesh labour law amendment 2013 also recommends forming a safety committee to oversee safety standard and take precautionary steps. Such amendment also issues directives to the owner of a company exceeding 100 workers to introduce group insurance to cover any crisis or accident of the workers. It is also provisioned that the insurer and insurance company should resolve the claim within 120 days once it is made. (BILS 2015b)
4.10 Coverage of occupational health service system
Health services for the workers in Bangladesh is provided by three different bodies, including primary health service from the Government, Non-Government and employer’s organizations.
Government operates labour welfare centre through the MoLE under the DoL, providing treatment and free medicines for the workers in small scale. Government employee’s health care is provided through their departmental services and in the specialized units for rehabilitation in government hospitals. In the private sector, nongovernment and labour rights organizations distribute health service by setting up health service centres, free medical camps, disaster response and medical supply. From the corporate social responsibility (CSR), the employers’ association like Bangladesh garments manufacturers and exporters association (BGMEA) also arranges medical services for the workers, whereas the legal support for workplace accidents related compensation is given by legal aid support organizations like Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST). (BILS 2015a)
Thirty labour welfare centres around the country provide free medical treatment and medicines, pathological test, family planning material and education among workers, and their families.
Those centres are operated by the medical officer, family and welfare officer and labour organizer to provide support. Besides this, several governments establishments have their health services limiting the service within the organizational employees, officers and workers.
Such as Jute mills corporation, armed forces, railway department, security forces and educational institutions like universities. BGMEA provides premedical services and free medicines for the workers and their families through 12 health centres in the country.
Awareness program for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, reproductive health and use of contraceptive are also done from those centres. Hospitals are running in the two megacities Dhaka and Chittagong under BGMEA providing outdoor and indoor health facilities that include burning,
surgery, laboratory and diagnostic services. Whereas the government employees receive treatment from their departmental services; however, they only provide primary healthcare and refer to other tertiary level hospitals by their need. Labour rights organization also arranges health support services through service centres and health camps. (BILS 2015a)
4.11
Occupational health and safety hazards in major sectors
4.11.1 Argo based sector
Acute pesticide poisoning (APP) is a matter of concern worldwide. A study revealed that the annual incidence rate of APP is 18.2 per 100000 full-time workers in the developed countries.
(Calvert et al. 2003) In the case of developing countries, the APP is a cause of higher morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although there is a lack of reliable data on the number of people suffering worldwide from pesticide poisoning each year due to lack of standardized case definition and recording. (Goldman 2004)
As an agriculture-based country, 62% of the population are dependent directly or indirectly on agriculture as their means of support. The country’s economy gains its main strengths from the agriculture sector with a contribution of 19% to the GDP and employs about 50% of the active labour. In this sector, the alarming concern is the indiscriminate use of pesticide and fertilizers due to the easy availability, cheap cost and uncontrolled sales and lack of monitoring and legal bindings. As a result, occupational diseases have become a significant health issue in the agriculture sector of the country. (Islam & Biswas 2014) A minimal number of studies have been done related to the occupational hazards caused by pesticides and other issues in Bangladesh. It is estimated that between one to three people per 100 people are affected by acute pesticide poisoning by exposing while handling, consuming indirectly air, water soil and by direct contact. The number of deaths toll every year due to pesticide poisoning is 346000 worldwide while two-third of them are from the developing countries. (Islam & Biswas 2014) A cross-sectional study revealed that 61% of the farmers instead of consulting the agricultural officers in their area depended on the pesticide sellers, while choosing the insecticide. About one-third of them also relied on other farmer’s experience and 70% of the farmers have used those pesticides without proper protective equipment’s, while only 11% and 10% have used only gloves and rags as their masks respectively. The types of used pesticides were highly hazardous, according to the WHO classification (Table 10) (Bhattacharjee et al. 2013)
Table 10. Types of pesticides used by farmers of paddy field in Manikganj, Bangladesh.
(Bhattacharjee et al. 2013)
Name Hazard
characteristics
WHO categorized
class
Chemical type Number of farmers (n= 368)
Percent
Carbofuran Highly hazardous
Class lb Carbamate 27 7.3
Edifenfos Highly hazardous
Class lb Organophosphate 6 1.7 Monocrotophos Highly
hazardous
Class lb Organophosphate 6 0.8 Cypermethrin Moderately
hazardous
Class Ⅱ Pyrethroid 79 21.6
Cyhalothrin Moderately hazardous
Class Ⅱ Pyrethroid 2 0.4
Diazinon Moderately hazardous
Class Ⅱ Organophosphate 81 22
Chlorpyrifos Moderately hazardous
Class Ⅱ Organophosphate 42 11.5 Malathion Slightly
hazardous
Class Ⅲ Organophosphate 11 2.9
The signs and symptoms of illness associated with the poisoning were high among the farmers and workers in the region. 35% of the farmers had excessive sweating, burning associated for 35%, skin redness/white patches on the skin to 19% and fatigue to 22% were reported during the use or immediately after use. Many farmers used the pesticides that are either not registered in Bangladesh or banned by WHO. Awareness for occupational health was not adequate due to lack of practical training and education, although they were working in the same field immediately after applying pesticides and lacked personal hygiene and precautions.
(Bhattacharjee et al. 2013) The immediate exposure after applying the pesticide could have led to chronic health outcomes by inhalation and dermal contact. Studies have revealed that pesticides are linked to cancers, Alzheimer’s disease and even birth defects. Other potential
harm includes damage to the nervous system, reproductive organs and endocrine system.
Pesticides are also harmful for the fetuses by passing during the pregnancy and lactation.
(Hallenbeck et al. 2012)
It is revealed that developing countries like Bangladesh have long term effect of chemical exposures due to pesticide poisoning while developed countries have minimised the effect by legislation, controlling and technological and medical advancements. Although some epidemiological studies have sometimes failed to expose the correlation between pesticide poisoning and health consequences, other studies have proven the relationship undoubtedly.
(WHO 2001)
4.11.2 Ready-Made Garments (RMG)
The industrial sector has always been the driving force of the country’s economic development and urbanization is a by-product of it. With the economic development, the urban areas expand, creating an opportunity to growth of new economic sectors such as manufacturing, food industry and service sectors. These have shifted the centre of economic activity to the urban areas and increased the share of gross national product (GNP). Because of the growth in the RMG sector, the share of agriculture in GDP has decreased sequentially. For economic reason industries have developed in the urban areas, where the availability of production factors is concentrated, such as labour, infrastructure and market. (Waibel & Erich 2001)
The RMG industry has promoted Bangladesh to the world with ‘Made in Bangladesh’ moto.
As one of the fastest-growing industries since the establishment in 1978, it has become the lifeline of the country’s economy by securing a major part of the export of the country.
Together with an employment opportunity to 2 million workers of which 80% are female, this industry has also contributed to the socioeconomic development, female empowerment, creating jobs and accelerating economic growth in urban and rural areas. The rapid and unplanned growth of RMG industry has also failed to ensure development in workers skill, research and development activities and transforming it into a sustainable industry. By producing low-value garments, unskilled labour has also reduced the opportunity to create market competitiveness and workers standard in terms of world standard. It is unfortunate that working condition in most of the industries are below standard and has put the worker's life and health in dangers, although the owners are making a profit from the business. (Islam et al.
2016)
The garments industry in Bangladesh has always been vulnerable to natural disasters, political unrest and world economic situation due to its dependence on internal and external markets.
Other internal challenges such as life causing fire hazards and accidents, violence has disrupted the growth and brought a threat to workplace safety. (Islam et al. 2016) According to Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE) report, at least 28 workers were killed among a total of 898 workers in the apparel sector in 2018 compared to 52 in 2017, among 1242 total number of the death toll. (OSHE Bangladesh 2019) From 1990 to 2016 there were almost 69 severe accidents in the Bangladesh garments sector that killed 1626 people and injured 4829 others including worker and other people. All these incidents have a direct influence on the productivity, profitability and growth of the sector, and reflects the workplace environment and condition of the workers, where they are bound to work.
(Hasan et al. 2017) Some of the deadly incidents in history are worth mentioning.
Rana Plaza building collapse
It was among the worst industrial accidents in the history killing 1132 people and injuring another 2500 on 24th April 2013, suddenly shacked the world about poor labour condition of Bangladesh in the manufacturing industry. This building housed five garments factories who were suppliers for the world’s renowned buyers. Such an accident has also highlighted, the millions of people, mostly girls from low-income families for a minimal wage of 32 cents per hour. It also depicts the unsafe work environment with high incidents and deaths, together with the occurrence of occupational diseases. (ILO 2019b)
Tazreen fashion
Just five months before the Rana plaza incident, on November 22, 2013 fire brock out into the factory of Tazreen fashion killed 111-124 people and injured 200-300 others in the outskirts of Dhaka. The fire was initiated from the ground floor where the flammable materials were stored illegally and eventually spread to the other floors through the stairs. The building lacked fire escapes, and automated fire extinguisher and no firefighting equipment were found to be used on the night by the government probe committee indicating lack of preparedness and training of the workers and officials. Even on some floors, the managers asked the workers not to leave their place although the fire alarms were activated. (Hasan et al. 2017)
Tampaco Foils ltd
Incident took place in the early morning killing 24 people and injuring another 50 individuals due to a boiler explosion in the early morning in the factory. This explosion also caused fire and collapse on the part of the building. (Hasan et al. 2017)
Spectrum factory
Sixty-four workers were killed, and another 74 were injured in 2005 due to collapse of a manufacturing plant, which was structurally week and illegal and not appropriate to use as a garments unit and build on a flood-prone marshland. (Hasan et al. 2017)
Garib & Garib Sweater Factory
Another incident of fire took the life of 21 workers in February 2010. The factory lacked ventilation system which trapped the fumes inside and caused the life of the workers. It was the second fire incident of the same factory in six months. (Hasan et al. 2017)
That’s It Sportswear
The garments factory was one of the suppliers of US brands like including JC Penney, VF corporation, Gap, Philips Van Heusen, Abercrombie & Fitch, Carters, Kohls and Target etc.
caught fire on December 14, 2010 caused the death of 24 workers and injured several others in the stampede. As the exits were locked workers also threw themselves out of the windows and died. The firefighters were unable to reach them on the ninth floor as they also lacked ladder to reach above 5th floor with existing equipment’s. (Hasan et al. 2017)
Standard group
Hoax news of killing two RMG workers in a clash with police, influenced the fellow workers to set fire on their factory and vandalised the 10-storey building. (Hasan et al. 2017)
KTS Textile Factory
A fire broke out in the factory killing 63 people, and nearly 150 were injured in the incident in 2006. There was only one narrow stairway for all the workers, and the victims could not make it through. (Hasan et al. 2017)
Figure 7. Causes of deadly incidents in RMG sector of Bangladesh (Hasan et al. 2017)
In the last 22 years, 94% of accidents were caused by fire, whereas 6% comprises of building collapse and other factors (Figure 7). Electric short circuits and boiler explosion were the leading causes of fire, which could have prevented by using better electrical equipment’s and wirings and fire alarm system. Although the number of building collapse was comparatively low, the death toll was higher in those incidents. Two incidents of building collapse killed 1196 people, whereas in 65 fire incidents killed 395 workers. Lack of surveillance from the government authorities, owners of the industries and labour inspectors were identified as the cause of behind those incidents. (Hasan et al. 2017)
Three types of interaction can be observed in an industry: man, and physical, chemical and biological agents, man and machine and man and man. (Nahar et al. 2010) Anything with the potential to harm life, health and property can be identified as a hazard, and industrial hazard is such kind of hazards that involves chemical, ergonomic and physical hazards. (Naharet al.
2010) Studies found that 86% of the workers had to work overtime above their 8-9 hours regular working hours with minimal benefit and tiffin. 51% were suffering from long term headache for at least one year, and 36% suffered from backache with a significant relationship with the duration of job and backache.(Tasnim et al. 2016) another study revealed that about
2.9 % 2.9 %
94.2 %
0.0 % 10.0 % 20.0 % 30.0 % 40.0 % 50.0 % 60.0 % 70.0 % 80.0 % 90.0 % 100.0 %
building collapse others fire
