THE death of at least 967 workers at work in 2022 points to a criminal negligence on part of the government and employers to workplace safety and labour rights. A Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation survey shows that at least 152 workers died in the formal sector while 815 workers died in the informal sector in workplace accidents. Among them, about 97 per cent were male workers. Moreover, about 250 workers were seriously injured in workplace accidents. Transport appears to be the most risky sector, where at least 425 people died and 51 were injured. The services sector, with the death of 211 workers, became the next most dangerous sector. At least 105 workers died in workplace accidents in the construction sector and 67 workers in the manufacturing sector. Twenty-eight workers died in the apparel sector and seven died in the shipbreaking industry. As for nature of the accidents, the survey shows that road accidents were the reason for the death of most workers while fires took the lives of many. Many workers died by electrocution; some were crushed under falling machines; some died in explosion; and some died from poisonous gas inhalation.

This is unacceptable that when workplace accidents and labour rights violation have continued unabated for years, all that the authorities have come up with are mere promises. Occupational safety has, in fact, all along been neglected, with little efforts on part of the authorities to ensure worker rights and safety. After every major workplace disaster, the authorities routinely come up with promises of action, but the promises are rarely kept. It is not surprising that the Global Rights Index, conducted by the International Trade Union Confederation, has ranked Bangladesh among the 10 worst countries for workers for the seventh consecutive year since 2017, citing that there is no guarantee of rights for workers in Bangladesh. The index has specified a severe lack of workplace safety measures, violent repression of worker movement, mass dismissal and the arrest of union leaders and restricted right to unionisation as worrying signs of labour rights violation. Besides workplace accidents, other forms of labour rights violation characterise the occupational safety situation. The National Occupational Safety and Health Profile, prepared by the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments and published in 2019, classified labour rights violations under 13 major categories.

The government must, therefore, attend to the issues that have contributed to an alarming state of workplace safety. The government must ensure labour rights, improve legal and policy frameworks, systems and services related to labour rights and must facilitate worker’s rights to unionisation. The government must also investigate all workplace accidents and bring negligent employers and authorities to justice. It is high time that the government put in place a mechanism to ensure labour rights and worker safety.