Deaths of construction workers

Reports about accidental deaths of on-the-job construction workers in Dhaka city are often carried by the media. Last Saturday's newspapers published a report which narrated the details about the tragic death of three workers -- two brothers and their cousin brother. The workers, who were involved in the installation of a lift in an under-construction building at North Badda of Dhaka city, died when their makeshift bamboo-made tower, located at the 10th floor of the building, collapsed. Unfortunately, the accidental deaths of the workers do not evoke that much of sad feeling among many as they take these incidents as normal happenings. While on duty, workers died in accidents in the past, they are dying now and they will also be dying in the future - that's how such tragedies are generally viewed. And such deaths go unaccounted for and in most cases, the families of the victims do not get any compensation.

The print media publish, at times,  pictures showing how construction workers, who are generally hired by the contractors and builders on a daily basis, work on high-rise buildings, bridges and other infrastructures without any sort of protective gears and measures. People often see how painters and glass-fitters dangle precariously from the roof of tall buildings by thin ropes while doing their works. But this sight does hardly cause any concern either among the onlookers or the relevant government agencies that are supposed to ensure safety and security of the workers.

There is no denying that there are always occupational hazards in such kinds of work. But in law-abiding countries the employers equip the workers with adequate protective gears to avoid such accidents. Yet accidents do happen and the employers are required, under law, to pay sufficient compensation money to the families of victims of any such accident. In Bangladesh, hazards are always present for the construction workers as they are obliged to work without any sort of protective gears. Their employers never bother about making available such gears that are a bit expensive. Moreover, the construction workers, in most cases, are a disorganized lot. There exist some organizations in the name of construction workers. But those have, apparently, been created to meet certain political objectives, and not to protect the rights of construction workers.

The existence of the labour directorate is not generally felt - and more so in this particular field. Most people are not aware of its activities as far as the safety and security of the workers are concerned. Following the accidents, the police do the investigation. But none from the labour directorate bothers to visit the spot and investigate whether adequate safety measures were there to protect the workers. Nor do they compel the employers to pay compensation to the families of the victims or injured workers. They also do not bother to motivate the construction workers about the need for taking necessary safety measures while being at work.  The directorate should organise such motivational campaigns along with steps compelling the employers to make available sufficient protective gears for the workers and take other safety measures to help avoid accidents at workplaces.