Due to unsafe workplaces, 1,432 workers were killed and 502 others injured in various sectors across the country in 2023, according to Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE).
In 2022, 967 people were killed and 228 others injured. The number of such deaths has increased by 465 and the number of injured by 274 this year compared to last year, said a survey report.
Dr SM Morshed, vice-chairman of OSHE Foundation, unveiled the report at a press conference held on Friday at Nasrul Hamid Auditorium of Dhaka Reporters Unity.
He said, “The report has been prepared based on the information collected from 15 newspapers and field levels.”
“In 2023, the number of workers killed in the formal sector is 329 and the number of injured workers is 277 and the number of workers killed in the informal sector is 1,103 and the number of injured workers is 225.”
The report cited road accidents, electrocution, fire, building collapse, lightning, gas cylinder explosion, violence, physical torture of domestic workers and landslides as major causes of workplace casualties.
According to the report, the highest number of labourers died in the transport sector. In 2023, 637 died and 127 got injured although 105 died and 29 got injured in 2022.
According to the sector-wise data, 220 day-labourers were killed and 76 injured while 149 killed and 72 injured in the construction sector, 146, including 71 in lightning strikes, killed and 10 injured in the agriculture sector in 2023.
Besides, 64 killed were and 89 injured in RMG, 94 killed and 15 injured in manufacturing, 53 killed and 22 injured in fisheries, 26 killed and 22 injured in service, 17 killed and 9 injured in ceramic, 4 killed and 17 injured in the tannery sector.
Furthermore, 11 were killed and 6 injured in brickfield, 7 killed and 29 injured in shipbreaking, 1 killed and 6 injured in tea sector and 3 killed and 2 injured at Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.
OSHE has recommended improving workplace safety, enforcing the Bangladesh Labour Act-2006 (Amendment-2018) and the Bangladesh Labour Rules (2015), stepping up monitoring on health and safety provisions as per the laws, forming safety committees in various sectors, and providing Tk 10 lakh compensation for dead worker and Tk 5 lakh for injured worker.
It has proposed incorporating rehabilitation of injured workers into the labour law and initiating the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) unit for proper data management related to workplace accidents.
They have advocated for a public pension scheme for workers affected by workplace accidents, modernising shipbreaking yards under government management, ensuring the use of appropriate personal protective equipment for workers, and providing orientation on the National Policy on Occupational Safety and Health 2013.
OSHE chairperson Saki Rezwana, research and monitoring officer Nur Alam, and case management officer Nusrat Jahan were also present at the press conference.
