The shipbreaking industry is important to the economy, but no industry’s economic value can ever determine the value of a worker’s life.
The deaths of workers in our country often make newspaper headlines. A few investigation committees are formed, promises of compensation are made, and then life returns to normal. But for the families of the workers, life never returns to normal.
The deaths of nine workers from toxic gas at Ferdaus Steel Ship Recycling Industries in Sitakunda are not merely an accident. They raise serious questions about a catastrophic failure of industrial safety measures.
The most disturbing fact is that safety deficiencies at the factory had already been identified during a government inspection before the accident occurred.
On February 9, the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments found various irregularities concerning safety and workers’ facilities there.
These included inadequate awareness among workers about safe working procedures, failure to provide risk-assessment reports, and allegations that workers were made to work beyond the prescribed hours.
After multiple notices and show-cause orders failed to elicit an adequate response, a case was filed with the Labour Court in July. Within a month of that case being filed, nine workers died.
The question here is very simple: a company was issued notices and a case was filed, but why was there no assurance that its working environment had actually been made safe? The nature of the accident itself is horrific.
The 30,770-tonne vessel MT Rasi had previously been used to transport LNG. A preliminary investigation has indicated the presence of toxic gases, including hydrogen sulfide, while a section of the vessel was being cut.
After one worker collapsed unconscious, other workers were exposed to the toxic gas one after another while attempting to rescue him.
In such circumstances, a trained rescue team, appropriate breathing equipment, and established emergency procedures are essential to protect rescuers.
According to a Fire Service official, an LNG carrier must be properly gas-free before it is cut apart. Officials from the Department of Explosives have also said that various toxic gases could remain in small chambers outside the cargo tanks.
Therefore, checking only one particular tank before cutting a vessel cannot be considered sufficient. Every confined space needs to be tested for gas, adequate ventilation must be ensured, and there must be a written procedure for certifying the space as safe.
Another aspect of the incident is even more tragic. According to workers’ accounts, several of those affected were rescued alive, but there was no ambulance, doctor, or oxygen cylinder at the factory at the time.
The Fire Service received the call at 10:50 a.m., even though workers had begun to be affected around 9:00 a.m. If emergency medical and rescue arrangements are put in place only after an accident occurs, they cannot truly be called emergency arrangements.
The investigation committee’s work must therefore go beyond merely determining the cause of the accident. It must establish which officials issued which safety clearances, whether gas testing had been conducted, who had declared the worksite safe, whether the deficiencies identified during the earlier inspection had been rectified, and why emergency medical and rescue facilities were not in place. These questions must also be answered publicly.
Following this accident, risk assessments at all shipbreaking yards should be carried out afresh. The safety systems of such facilities must be comprehensively reviewed, with mandatory gas testing and gas-free certification, trained rescue teams, and adequate medical equipment ensured.
Nine families now face nine profound absences. Compensation cannot fill those voids. But lawful and fair compensation, accountability for those responsible, and effective measures to prevent future accidents can at least demonstrate that the deaths of these nine workers were not entirely in vain.
