Work on single database for workers goes on in full swing

After getting approval last year, work is in progress to create a single database for all the workers under the labour ministry aimed at ensuring their occupational health and safety in the workplace, said State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Monnujan Sufian.

She was speaking as the special guest at a discussion meeting organised by the labour ministry in the capital on Friday, marking the National Occupational Health and Safety Day. Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq at-tended the programme as the chief guest.

The state minister said that the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wants to build a smart Bangladesh for the next generation. And so, the safety of labourers always gets priority to the head of government who is also very labour-friendly as well.

“To ensure the safety of workers, work on the database for all the workers in the country’s formal and informal sectors has started and it is going on in full swing,” she added.

Multiple ministries and national skills development authorities are developing the database of the workers. But to ensure safety and decent working environment for them, local labour rights activists demanded bringing them under one database so that it could be used as their certification and their skills could also be evaluated properly.

Besides, preparing a full database of the workers was a requirement from global stakeholders, including International La-bour Organisation and European Union, labour ministry officials said, adding that once the labour information manage-ment system (LIMS) is introduced, workers in the formal and informal sectors will get registered with the labour ministry.

Under the system, the labour identification numbers would be given to a total of 3 lakh workers from the formal and in-formal sectors, including tea garden, readymade garments, pharmaceuticals, tannery and shipbreaking industries. At the same time, information about some 10,000 factories and establishments would be included in the system.

Ministry officials said the final process of the database started with sending a proposal for the initiatives and it was sent to the Planning Commission for approval in June last year and after getting nod, the administrative approval for the invest-ment project was given in July last year.

The database is scheduled to be developed by April 2025.

Monnujan Sufian said that along with work on developing the database (LIMS), an injury scheme has been taken up for garment workers and initiatives have been taken to introduce a universal pension for the workers as well.

While speaking as the chief guest, Law Minister Anisul Huq said that in the last decade, the number of industries has in-creased several times. Today the country’s export trade has flourished worldwide.

“So, maintaining international standards in every aspect of production, ensuring workers’ health and safety and welfare in the workplaces following domestic and international labour standards are a must,” he said.

And in this perspective to ensure sustainable development, the observance of safety regulations in the workplaces, ensur-ing a decent working environment has become an obligatory. Ensuring a decent workplace is no longer a human perspec-tive, the minister said.

The programme was presided over by Secretary of the Labour Ministry Ehsan-E-Elahi. Inspector General of Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments Nasir Uddin Ahmed, Director General of Labour Directorate Khaled Mamun Chowdhury, ILO Country Director, Bangladesh Tuomo Poutiainen and President of Bangladesh Employers Federation Ar-dashir Kabir were, among others, present at the programme.