U-LAB

UNIVERSITY OF LIBERAL ARTS

BANCLADESH

UNIVERSITY OF LIBERAL ARTS BANGLADESH

Worker Safety in Bangladesh: Looking Beyond Garments

By Afsana Tazreen and Daniel M. Sabet

April 2013
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Purpose of the report

The recent fire at the Tazreen Fashions garment factory has brought the perennial challenge of worker safety

into the spotlight once again. Given the constant pressure to lower costs and the dearth of meaningful
government oversight, businesses are continually tempted to reduce costs at the price of worker safety.
Worker deaths are not new in Bangladesh, and while they have led to recriminations and some important
changes, fires and other tragic accidents continue. The question today is whether the scope of the Tazreen
tragedy was significant enough to lead to more meaningful changes in the garment sector and the broader
economy. This report explores the issue of worker safety in the garment industry in the wake of the Tazreen
fire, but it also seeks to expand the discussion, highlighting worker safety concerns in the ship breaking,
leather; and construction industries.

The blaze that killed over 100 workers

On the night of 24 November2OL2, a fire broke out in Tazreen Fashions, an eight-storygarmentfactory in the
Ashulia district on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka. Of the estimated 1,150 people working that night to fill

orders for various international brands, LL3 were killed and another 200 wounded. The fire reportedly
originated from an electrical malfunction on the ground floor, where bales of yarn and fabric were improperly
stored. While many workers managed to escape to an adjacent building, others were burned or suffocated to
death. On the worst affected third floor sewing unit, sixty-nine bodies were recovered.

Worker safety in the RMG lndustry

Fires have been a persistent problem in the country's readymade garment (RMG) industry for over a decade.

Bangladesh has over 4,500 RMG factories, which employ more than four million workers and account for
USS19 billion in exports.l The coun-try's comparative advantage is low costs - the minimum wage for workers
is a mere Tk3,000 (S37) per month.2 As keeping costs low has been one of the keys to the sector's success in

Bangladesh, there are strong disincentives to make necessary investments in worker safety. While
improvements have been made over the years, the safety record of the Bangladesh RMG industry remains
poor' There is some disagreement about the number of worker deaths in the industry. According to the
Bangladesh lnstitute of Labour Studies, 43L workers died in L4 major fire incidents between j.990 and ZOI2.3
However, according'to Bangladesh Fire Department,4L4 garment workers were killed in 213 factory fires
between 2006 and 2009 alone.a

Out of compliance
According to Section 62 of the 2006 Bangladesh Labour Law, the following standards are required for all RMG factories:

At least one alternative exit with a stair connecting all the floors of the factory building.
No exit can be locked or fastened during working hours.

o
o An effective and clearly audible means to warn of fires.
o Cleared passages providing access to each escape route.
o

A fire drill at least once a year in each factory where more than fifty workers are employed.

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Several of these and other requirements were violated at Tazreen Fashions:

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The fire originated in the warehouse, which was improperly located on the ground floor beside the
generators. lf the fabric had been stored in an enclosed, fireproof room, as required by law, the fire could
have been contained. lnstead it not only spread but blocked the ground floor exit.
The factory did not have any emergency fire exits that would have allowed workers to circumvent the
ground floor fire.6
The factory failed to annually renew its fire certificate.
The factory lacked a sprinkler system or an outdoor fire escape.
Despite only having permission for a three-story building, the owners had added five extra floors to the
building illegally.
Some fire extinguishers did not functioh, and, despite fire drills, workers were not properly trained in fire
extinguisher use or fire evacuation procedures.T

Perhaps more disturbing than these failings, was the response of the supervisors on the day of the fire. The
supervisors dismissed the fire alarm and told the workers to continue working. The fire took around 30
minutes to spread, while it should have taken only five to seven minutes for the workers to evacuate the
factory. ln addition to demonstrating Tazreen's negligence, such extreme violations raise serious questions
about Bangladesh's fire, building, and occupational health and safety regulators.

Aftermath: The "Post Tazreen Scenario"

As a consequence of the fire, the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the lnternational

Labour
Organization convened a tripartite meeting of government, employers, and workers on fire safety in the
workplace on 1-5 January 2013.8 Subsequently, the ministry formally adopted anaction plan on March
24outlining needed legislative and policy challenges.e

While these represent very positive steps, there are reasons to be concerned. This would not be the first time
that promises to improve worker safety have fallen short. A 2001 fire that killed 24 people was expected to
have a similar turning point. At that time, the High Court directed the government to set up a committee to
oversee the safety of garment workers, a directive which was never implemented.l0 Despite all the attention
garnered by the Tazreen blaze, just two months into the incident, seven workers died in another factory fire
at Smart Garment Ltd. The emergency exit of the building was locked, and those who died were trampled
while trying to rush down the only stairway. Since the Tazreen fire, another 28 factory fires have been
reported, injuring at least 59L workers.11

Shifting the focus to other industries:

lf safety measures are inadequate in the RMG industry, one cannot help but wonder about the situation in
industries that do not garner the international spotlight like the RMG sector. According to the Safety and
Rights Society (SRS), which monitors news accounts of worker deaths, 388 workers were killed in
in 2012. While the Bangladesh lnstitute of Labour Studies (BILS)
SRS estimation is probably fairly conservative as not all such deaths
are reported in the media. ln fact, the ILO contends that 11,000 workers die each year in work-related
accidents in Bangladesh.12 ln the section that follows, weconsider three prominent industries-- ship breaking,
leather and construction-- with a high rate of occupational injuries and deaths.

occupational accidents in 2011 and 490

estimates the numbgr to be far lower, the

The ship breaking industry

Each year hundreds of decommissioned ships are brought to the beaches of the Bay of Bengal, where ship
breakers, including many minors,tt use blowtorches and sledge hammers to tear the great ships apart for
monthly salaries that range from Tk3,000 to 5,000 (US$37-62).14 Most of the defunct ships contain a variety

of hazardous materials, including asbestos, PCBs, ozone depleting substances, lead, heavy metals, liquid
wastes, and acidic wastes, all of which pose a major threat to the environment and worker health and
safety.ls

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BANGLADESH

ln addition to chemical exposure, workers operate without protective gear and use unsafe and untested
cranes, lifting machinery, and ropes and chains recovered from the very ships being dismantled.16 During the
years 2009-20LL, 3L laborers were reportedly killed in accidents, and the actual number may be much
higher.17 The main causes of accidents include falling steel beams and plates, gas flames and explosions,
suffocation and inhalation of poisonous gases. In a recent survey of 2'J,6 workers, respondents reported that
severe cuts and broken bones were common and that burns and even loss of limbs occurred.ls

Although the ILO issued guidelines in 2004 for ship breaking in Asian countries, and although Bangladeshi
workers are supposed to be protected under the 2006 Labour Law Act, enforcement and compliance are
almost nonexistent.tt ln 2009, the Supreme Court placed a ban on all ship breaking due to the hazardous
materials onboard. The industry seemed likely to collapse until the government loosened regulations and the
Supreme Court placed a stay on its decision. A final judgment is still pending, but the industry has to date
failed to take steps to improve worker safety.

The leather industry:

Over the last ten years, leather exports have grown by an average of Tk 328 crore (USS41- million) per year.'o
Unfortunately, according to a Human Rights Watch study, ninety percent of workers employed in the 150
tanneries located in the Hazaribagh section of Dhaka face occupational hazards ranging from exposure to

to potential

accidents causing limb amputations.2l Workers soak raw hides in toxic

chemicals such as chromium, sulphur and manganese, cut the hides with razor blades and handle corrosive
substances with bare hands in stuffy, dark rooms. During the process they rarely wear any protective
clothing, like boots, gloves, or masks.

tanning chemicals

The Bangladesh Government has consistently failed to enforce labor or environmental laws in Hazaribagh, and it
has failed to act on High Court orders to clean up the tanneries and move them out of Dhaka to a safer location
where the industry's effluent can be properly treated. ln theory, worker safety issues should also be improved in a
new location; however, this is far from guaranteed. While international buyers (under pressure from consumers)
have played a role in promoting worker safety in the RMG industry and the leather goods manufacturing industry,
that pressure has not been extended further down the supply chain to the tanning process.

The construction' [ndustry

Section 7 of the Bangladesh National Building

Code (2006) has a section dedicated to safety measures for

workers and clearly states that workers should wear helmets and safety harnesses and that all temporary
stairs, ladders, and scaffolds should be, "substantially constructed so as not to create any unsafe situation for
the workmen using them or the workmen and general public passing under, on or near them". "Howeve4
even casual observation would reveal that these provisions are frequently if not always violated. According
to Safety and Rights Society (SRS)there were 149 deaths in the con struction industry in2O12, L83 deaths in
2O'J.1,73 in 2010,56 in 2009 and 100 deaths in 2008.

However, the actual figures are suspected to be much higher. The Dhaka Medical College morgue and its
emergency departrn.ent alone report receiving one or two such victims of construction site accidents every
day.23 Unlike the export-oriented industries, the construction industry does not receive any pressure for
reforms from the foreign b\yers (and their consumers). Perhaps as a result, there is no enforcement body to
ensure that worker safety legislation is enforced. ln 2010, the High Court asked the government to establish
a National Building Code Enforcement Authority, but no such authority has been created, leaving worker
safety rules entirely unenforced.

UNIVERSITY OF LIBERAL ARTS BANGLADESH

ln summary: Keeping costs low and protecting workers

Bangladesh's comparative advantage continues to be its cheap labor; and competitive

pressures incentivize
businesses to cut costs as much as possible - even at the price of worker safety. Nonetheless, cheap labor
does not or should not imply devaluation of life itself. Moreover, it is worth asking at which point is such
short term cost cutting contrary to long term financial gain. Tazreen Fashion's negligence certainly did not
help its bottom line. Providing safety training, purchasing safety gear (e.g. hard hats and gloves), and
ensuring the use of safety harnesses do not require major investments. Small investments in worker safety

would not only prevent tragedies such as the Tazreen fire, but they could lead to a more dedicated,
productive, and efficient workforce.
lJim

Yardley, Julfikar Ali Manik and Steven Greenhouse. 2012. "Horrific Fire Revealed a Gap in Safety

for Global Brands". New York

Times: Dec 6.
2Blcirn

Claeson. 2012. Deadly Secrets. WashingtonDC: lnternational Labour Rights Forum.

3Moinul

Haque. 2013. "Over 700 Dead

alocked

in 22years". New Age: March

8.

doors and lost lives"The Star. Vol. 9(49):24 December, 2010.

TSEBA

Lirit"d. "Working Paper on Salient Features of the Bangladesh Labour Law 2006 Related to RMG Sector."Dhaka: BangladeshGerman Development Cooperation.

6The

o*ne,

was not aware of the necessity of emergency exits, which illustrates how far removed some factory owners are from

issues of worker safety. Julhas Alam. 20L2. "Bangladesh Factory Boss !Didn't Know Fire Exits Needed'." Thelrrawaddy: Nov 30.
7

Yardley."Horrific Fire."
tlLO.
2013."Tripartite Meeting on Fire Safety in the Workplace in Bangladesh." lnternational Labour Organization: January 15.
tlLO.
2013."Fire Safety - Tripartite Partners Adopt National Tripartite Plan of Action on Fire Safety for the Ready-Made Garment Sector
ln Bangladesh." lnternational Labour Organization: March 25.
10Arun

Devnath and Ketaki Gokhale. 2012. "Death in Panic shows Fear of Fire for Bangladeshi Workers." Washington Post: Dec L2
Theuws, Marieette van Huijstee, Pauline Overeem, Jos van Seters, and Tessel Pauli. 2013. Fatal Fashion. Amsterdam: Clean
Clothes Campaign and Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations.

l1Martle

t'S.f"ty

and health at Work". lnternational Labour organization. http://www.ilo .org/dhaka/Areasofwork/safety-and-health-at-

work/la ng-en/index. htm

ttYPSA.

toMd.

2012. "Ship Breaking in Bangladesh" Young Power in Social Action.http://www.shipbreakingbd.info/

M. Maruf Hossain and Mohammad Mahmudul lslam. 2006. "Ship breaking activities and its impact on the coastal zone of
Chittagong, Bangladesh: Towards Sustainable Management."Chittagong: Young Power in Social Action.
lssyeda
Rizwana Hasan. 2012. "Ship Breaking: Environmental and Human Disaster along the Coast". Forum,The Daily Star: June
tt

"

Ibid.
Ibid.

ttM.

Sh.h.d.t Hossain, Sayedur R. Chowdhury, S. M. Abdul Jabbar, S.M. Saifullah, and M. Ataur Rahman. 2008. "Occupational Health
Hazards of Ship Scrapping Workers at Chittagong Coastal Zone, Bangladesh". Chiang Mai Journal of ScienceVol. 35(2): 370-381
t'YPsA.

"Ship Breaking in Bangladesh."

'oHrtrn

Rights Watch. 2Ot2.Toxictanneries: The Health Repercussions of Bangladesh's Hazaribagh Leather. Human Rights Watch

"rbid.

"Volrr" 1: Main Text- Di:partment

"M R.hr.n.

of Environment. 2010. May.

2011. "Construction Sites go Unwatched." The Daily Star: April 3.

The Center for Enterprise Society (CES) seeks to advance understanding of the opportunities and challenges to business
and societal development in Bangladesh through objective, academic study. For more information, to access to our

blog, to find previous analyses in this series, and for other resources, please visit: http://www.ulab.edu.bd/CES/centerfor-enterprise-a nd-society/