Occupational Injury and Health Hazards in Ship Breaking Industries in Chittagong, Bangladesh: A Challenge in Implementation of Laws

Abstract

The due rights and diligence to working class in our country is always ignored and sometimes are compelled to work in hazardous circumstances, which frequently result in serious accidents and even death is not a surprising one. In Chittagong, a coastal city of Bangladesh is famous ship breaking place where the workers do their job without meaningful safety precautions against explosions, asbestos, heavy metals, oil residues, TBT, PCBs, or a variety of hazardous compounds present within the ship. The majority of the workforce continues to work either without taking any precautions since they are unaware of the health risks posed by ship-borne chemicals or careless and dam caring attitudes from yards’ owners of foreseen threat that may cost a lot. Suffocation from breathing in Carbon dioxide (CO2) and other unpleasant inflammatory petroleum and gasses trapped in ship chambers, unexpected falls of heavy steel plates and gas explosions are the leading causes of accidents at ship scrapping yards. Workers dealing with poisonous and explosive things without proper uniform, face mask, protective gloves and goggles took more than 400 lives and thousands injuries in last two decades despite of having laws and regulations in this behalf. The study’s objectives are to identify the primary sources of risks associated with ship breaking and recycling, the provisions of existing laws and conventions pertaining to occupational safety, and after examining the difficulties, to suggest mechanisms for workers’ safety.