The buyers and western civil societies are concerned of garments sector but there is hardly any attention to other sector like agricultural, industrial and service sectors and we should give due attention to safeguard all the sectors of employments both formal and informal.

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Published: 12:03 AM, 27 September 2020 Last Update: 12:02 AM, 27 September 2020
https://dailyasianage.com/news/242580/workplace-safety-scenario-in-bangladesh
Workplace safety scenario in Bangladesh
M S Siddiqui
The labor force survey of BBS find that total 5.81 crore are employed in different occupational
sector in Bangladesh. The majority of workers (87.1% in 2013) are employed in the informal
sectors including agriculture. The most alarming news is most of these employees operate under
poor working conditions and also quite terrifyingly, in absence of occupational health and safety
standards.
A study conducted in Bangladesh revealed that about 79.52% of the occupational injured
workers were in between 40-59 age group and about 73.26% of the accidents that caused injury
to hands, feet, torso, arms and eyes result in different forms of disability. All the respondents in
the study suffered from occupational hazards, 75.24% of total injured workers faced hand, feet,
arm, eye, face and head injury, among which 27.72, 18.81, 7.92 and 5.94% of the total injury
occurred in hands, feet, eyes and head respectively and the rest (24.76%) of the injured workers
suffered injury in other parts of the body.
According to the ILO, it is estimated that 11.7 thousand workers suffer fatal accidents and a
further 24.5 thousand die from work related diseases across all sectors each year in Bangladesh.
The global statistic revealed that work related diseases result in approximately over 2 million
fatalities from over the 2.3 million fatalities that are caused throughout the whole world annually.
It was also observed that a further 8 million workers suffer injuries at work-many of which will
result in permanent disability.
Workers are exposed to numerous combinations of various potential hazards which might be
chemical, physical, biological, ergonomic or psychological but all of which ultimately result in
occupational diseases. Several observations have also indicated us that dermal exposure to
hazardous agents like dusts, fumes, mists, aerosols, fibers, toxic gases, catastrophic chemicals
can result in a variety of occupational diseases and disorders. It might also include occupational
skin diseases (OSD) as well as systemic toxicity which may follow some different mechanisms.
In many rapidly developing countries like Bangladesh, industrialization bring a radical alteration
with it in the lives of the countries. But if industries are not well designed and appropriate safety
measures are not adequately adopted, serious adverse health consequences can ensue. Even
the traditional agricultural profession as well as fishing or forestry can make people face
substantial risks due to their occupational and geographical setting and increasing use of
chemical fertilizers.
Some studies find that in industries, poisoning with metals usually takes chronic form and results
usually from the absorption of small amounts of them over long periods of time. Acute poisoning
may also occur from the accidental intake of large doses of toxic compounds like arsenicals.
Nevertheless, metals and their compounds with most physical hazards may also gain access into
the body by inhalation, ingestion and in a few cases through the skin.
Apart from these, homogenous organic solvents or chemicals produce similar hazards as organic
liquids in which other substances can also be dissolved without changing their chemical
composition or not. These chemicals are used in the extraction of oils and fats in food industry,

2. chemical industry, paint, varnishes, enamel, and degreasing process, dry cleaning, printing and
dying in the textile and rayon industries and can contribute to the occupational hazards.
All the exposers may cause dizziness, peripheral neuritis, affected vision, insomnia, headache,
easy fatigue, unconsciousness and even death. This type of poisoning works faster when the
hazardous agent is absorbed through the respiratory system than via the other routes. This is
quite alarming since it becomes extremely disastrous for the workers anyway long after the time
of exposure to these agents.
All these compounds have a risk to be absorbed mainly through the lungs, via the
gastrointestinal tract if taken by mouth and for many of them via the intact skin and cause
adverse effects.
Some of the effects are discussed are: Gastrointestinal system: Exposure to different chemicals
through foods or inhalation may cause dyspepsia, anorexia, nausea and maybe secondary effect
to the liver affection [4].Toxins and microorganisms that are able to breach the single layer of
epithelial cells have unimpeded access to the systemic circulation and cause these
symptoms. Respiratory tract: Effect of hazardous chemicals and other toxins may show upper
respiratory irritation in some cases. In chemical plants, workers who are producing pesticides are
frequently experiencing chronic bronchitis and disturbed pulmonary ventilation.
Urinary system: A considerable amount of epidemiological data supports the casual relationship
of occupational exposures with bladder cancer but the precise contributions of workplace
exposures to kidney failure and kidney cancer are difficult to estimate. In a recent report, it was
estimated that up to 10% of end stage renal disease could be attributed to workplace exposures.
Thus, toxic affection to kidney may have high chances to cause nephritis or renal failure. Skin:
The growth of industry, agriculture, mining and manufacturing has been paralleled by the
development of occupational diseases of the skin. The earliest reported harmful effects were
ulcerations of the skin from metal salts in mining. Therefore, exposure to toxic components to
skin may show contact dermatitis or acne to skin cancer depending on the exposure intensity.
For some of the workers, sleep problems may be a relevant risk factor for occupational injuries
due to the sleep deprivation caused from overtime work or work stress. Insufficient sleep may not
have led the news in reporting on serious occupational accidents in recent decades, but that
doesn't mean fatigue and inattention due to sleep loss did not play a role in occupational health
disasters. The drivers of trucks and buses use to work more than 24 hours and loss the suffered
from various diseases and cause fatal accident causing injuries and death of passengers and
pedestrians.
However, that type of injury pattern was seen due to the ignorance of workers for not using
precautionary measures such as gloves, helmets, eye shields, etc., during their working hours.
The illustrates the number and percentages of the risk susceptibility of the different organs of the
workers obtained from the above mentioned study. The owners are also ignorant in informal
sectors where in the owners also co-workers along with employees and fatal victim of the work
environments. The entrepreneurs in formal sectors have a little to think over safety since cost of
products is a major issue to the local market even in the western markets. The major criteria of
Bangladesh products are low cost and the cost savings causes low wages and low cost working
conditions.
It is internationally recognized that most of the occupational deaths and injuries are entirely
preventable, and could also be avoided if organization provide proper environment with all kinds
of safety facilities and employers and workers took simple initiatives to reduce hazards and risks
at the workplace.
The regulating authorities have reluctance to address the issues and workers are victims of the
workplace hazards. After Rana Plaza, updated a previous fire safety plan signed after Tazreen,
raised the issue from overseas buyers and some UN bodies and the matter raised to the

3. Bangladesh authorities. USA withdraws GSP facilities to Bangladesh exports although there was
no GSP for Bangladesh garments. Under the pressure, The Government of Bangladesh and
representatives of Bangladesh employers' and workers' organizations signed an integrated
National Tripartite Plan of Action on Fire Safety and Structural Integrity in the garment Sector of
Bangladesh (NTPA) in July 2013. The ILO, along with the EU and the United States, supported
development of another worker safety and rights agreement and USA has propose to withdraw
after certain measure for safety of workers.
Bangladesh government promised to reform the labour law and increase capacity of regulating
authority to ensure safety of Garments industries and for a taskforce to monitor the Garment
industries for safety of workers.
The buyers and western civil societies are concerned of garments sector but there is hardly any
attention to other sector like agricultural, industrial and service sectors and we should give due
attention to safeguard all the sectors of employments both formal and informal.
The writer is a legal economist.
Email: mssiddiqui2035@gmail.com