Study On Working And Socio-Economic Condition Of Ship Breaking Workers

 

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First of all I am grateful to Almighty, who has kind to complete this research successfully.
 
There after my deepest gratitude and appreciation goes to honorable course teacher Professor (Dr)A.W.M Abdul Huq, Dean Faculty of law, Northern University, Bangladesh. I am grateful to him for his most constructive suggestion and informative guidance through class lecture.
 
I would like to convey my sincere gratefulness to Barrister M. Ashrafuzzaman. Professor Dept. of Law, Northern University Bangladesh; he is a supervisor of my research for his guideline, information, supervise, his guidance and for help ness mind I become able to submit this report.
 
A special thank goes to my respected teacher Mr. Md. Reead Uddin because of his valuable suggestion, guidelines and his friendly behavior  help me to complete this report.
 
I want to give thanks to other teacher and my classmates to make such a project that help of learn about the real life experience. It helps not only education but also it help to provide wider range knowledge about social condition and working condition of the ship braking worker.
 
I will also be pleased to show our acknowledged sincerity to those, who are indirectly involved in preparing this report by giving us, necessary information to prepare this report as comprehensive and informative, as limited resource would allow.
 
At last I want to thank my best friend Sultana Raihana Siddiqua Hira; for her cooperation and help I able to make it. 

  of Transmittal
26 June 2008
Barrister M. Ashrafuzzaman.
Professor Dept. of Law,
Supervisor of this research.
Northern University Bangladesh
 
Subject: Submission of an research.
 
Dear Sir,
It is great pleasure to place before you my recent study is “A Study On Working And Socio-Economic Condition Of Ship Breaking Workers (A Case Study On Chittagong)”. This study has been performed as partial requirement of LL.B program.
 
This report attempts to describe my observations, learning and experience gained during the study conducted with the help of journals, web sites, articles, report and survey. I tried my level best to work sincerely to cover all the aspects regarding the matter, though I  faced some limitation in preparing the report, I really enjoyed it.
 
I shall be highly obliged if you kindly accept our report and hope that you would be kind enough to accept any mistakes that might have taken place beyond our view and will.
 
Finally I shall be glad to answer any kind of query relating to this report, if necessary.
 
Thanking you best.
 
Sincerely Yours,
MD. ENAMUL HAQUE SHAMIM
LL.B. (Hon’s)
ID. NO: LL.B. 050200370
1Oh Semester; Summer-2008.

 
 
 
Declaration
 
I, Md. Enamul Haque Shamim, hereby, declare that the work, present in this Research is the outcome of the investigation, performed by me under the supervision of Dr. A. W. M. Abdul Huq, Dean, Department of Law, Northern University, Bangladesh. I also declare that- this thesis or no part thereof has been or is being submitted elsewhere for the award of any degree or Diploma.
 
 
 
           Countersigned                                                                Signature
    
          …..……………..                                                                   ……………….
     Mr. Mr. Ziaur Rahman,                                         Md. Enamul Haque Shamim
            (Supervisor)                                                                (Candidate)
 

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS & SYMBOLS
 
A
AIDS = Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrom
B
BILS = Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies
 
D
DEVCO = Committee on Developing Country Matters
DNV = Det Norske Veritas
 
H
hr = hour
I
ILO = International Labour Organization
ICS = The International Chamber of Shipping
IMO = International Maritime Organization
 
K
Km = kilo meter
L
LDT = Lightweight Tonnage
M
MEPC = Marine Environment Protection Committee
M.S. = Mild Steel
N
NGO = Non Government Organization
No = Number
NOC = No Objection Certificate.
O
OSH = Occupational Safety and Health
OSHE: Occupational safety and health and the environment.
P
PPE = Personal Protective Equipment
S
SHEC = Safety-health-environmental concept
T
TV = Television
U
UNCED = United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
UNCRC = United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child
UNDP = United Nations Development Programme
UNDHR = Universal declaration of human rights
UNEP = United Nations Environment Programme
USD = United States Dollar
V
VCR = Video Cassette Recorder
VAT = Value Added Tax
W
WHO = World Health Organization
Y
YPSA= Young Power in Social Action
 
SYMBOL
% = Percentage
& = And
/ = Per
< = Less than

 

  1. INTRODUCTION
 
Bangladesh is a developing country, with poor Industrial background. The economic development can be achieved by increasing the productivity of present industrial establishment and establishing new industries. The present numbers of Industries both large & small are insignificant. During British rule East Bengal was virtually a neglected area. There was limited number of industries in this region. The then East Pakistan was also neglected in the Pakistan period. After independence of the country, new area had been searched for industrialization. Due to availability of cheap labour force in our country, various types of industries were setup. One of these Industrial sectors is Ship Breaking Industry. Ship breaking has started in Bangladesh through an accident in early sixties. There are 79 ship recycling yards located on the beach of the Bay of Bengal under Sitakundu Police Station of Chittagong. At present only 19 ship-recycling yards are operating though not on regular basis. On an average 10 to 20 ships are recycled annually in those yards. Labourers at the along ship breaking yard are migrant labour. The mass migration and unorganized nature of ship breaking activities create problems with working and living conditions. Those labourers who do not have social relations in nearby villages face more difficulties as they do not get integrated into the local population. They stay in isolated labour camps near the ship breaking yard. Bangladesh is a small and densely populated country with an area of about 1, 47,370 square kilometers. It has a long coastal belt of about 710 km which is enriched with natural resources specially fish and other aquatic species of different varieties and has been the focal point of different economic activities. Most of these seashore areas are situated in Chittagong. Sitakund is a seashore area situated a few kilometers north of Chittagong where most of the ships breaking yards are concentrated. Ship breaking industry has not been developed in a day. It has been developed gradually in Bangladesh passing through various stages of its development at an international level. Though the ship breaking in Bangladesh started in sixties, commercially it started in late seventies. The only ship breaking industry of the country has been developed in Sitakund areas, Chittagong. There are about 20 forward and backward linkage industries based on this ship breaking. Now, there are about 20 ship breaking yards in Sitakund where thousand and hundreds of labours are working. The workers are all engaged in dangerous physical labour but they don’t have safety equipments like helmets, goggles, gloves, boots and work suits, medical facilities and moreover financial security. “Over the last twenty years more than 400 workers have been killed and 6000 seriously injured according to the Bangladeshi media. The explosion of the Iranian tanker TT Dena on 31 may 2000 alone is said to have caused 50 deaths. To this toll must be added thousands of cases of irreversible disease which have occurred and will occur in future due to the toxic materials that are handled and inhaled without minimum precautions or protective cares.”[1] It can be said that the human rights are seriously violated in this significant and potential industry in our country. Ship breaking is a potential industry for Bangladesh. At present, the position of Bangladesh is third in the world for ship breaking. The largest ships of the world are cut in the shipyard of Bangladesh. This industry pays about 700 crore taka each year to the government of Bangladesh. Bangladesh needs eight million tons of building materials per year, in which most needed material is iron and ship breaking industry is supplying 90% iron materials to the country. There is no distinct and well-balanced policy for ship breaking industries. Actually, still now it is not declared as industry by the government. Due to unconsciousness and unpatronization of government, the industry is facing several internal and external problems. Above all, to solve all these problems a distinct and well-balanced policy is necessary for ship breaking industries. That is why a baseline study was conducted to know the real situation of labour, staffs and businessmen of ship breaking industry. Expressing grave concern over the environmental impact and hazardous working condition in the ship breaking industries in Chittagong, economists, academics and human rights activists at a national dialogue yesterday suggested formulation of a national policy for this sector.
 
1.2 BACKGROUND INFORMATION
 
The history of ship breaking is as nearly old as ship building. A ship is relatively a large vessel capable of operating in the deep ocean. The term 'vessels' applies to vessels of over 5000 tons and that can navigate in open seas.
 
Ship breaking started as a business in Bangladesh in 1972. Prior to that, 2/3 ships were scrapped during Pakistan period. It started automatically when a 20,000 D.W.T. vessel was driven ashore by the devastating tidal bore of 1965. That was the first ship scraped on the Chittagong Sea beach. In 1970, by a devastating cyclone, some ships were also driven ashore which were scraped later on as it was a failure to salvage them en masse. These ship breaking scrapes turned into a good source of raw materials in still rerolling mills to produce iron products.
 
Later on ships damaged during the war of 1971 were also scraped in the same way. These events strengthened the idea of breaking older ships to get raw materials for iron products and make business with the scrapes. At present ship-breaking is conducted by 20 Ship breaking Yards in an area of about 8 km2 starting from a point near 'Baro Awlia' under police station Sitakundu of Chittagong to Kumira-Kattoly of Chittagong all along the sea beach of the bay of Bengal. It is note worthy that more than one company operates in a yard.
 
Ship breaking, scraping and scrap handling are done simultaneously in the yards almost round the year. All the 70 companies are registered as Commercial Enterprises under the Companies Act, 1913. Only 8 ship breaking yards are registered as Factories with the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment of the Government of Bangladesh. The over all conditions of all the ship breaking yards are almost the same.
 
Ship breaking is done in open yards on the beach of the Bay of Bengal. They are not scientifically or technically organized and the management is also primitive. The Ship-breaking yards look like temporary arrangements to conduct some seasonal activities, though ship breaking continues round the year. Workers are not protected by sheds and are required to work under open sky round the year in very difficult working conditions exposing themselves to various hazards.
 
This working condition exposes the workers to a variety of physical, chemical, biological, mechanical and agronomical hazards causing them to suffer from a wide range of morbidities.
 
The life of a steel vessel is usually 20 years. Whatever conversion or modifications might have been carried out, it cannot be extended beyond 25 years. Steel used for building a vessel must sustain fatigue due to rolling and other reaction during voyage. The International Maritime Organization, therefore, has fixed 25 years as lifetime for a vessel. The ship owners find it profitable to declare a vessel unfit for service on the expiry of 20 years life span than repairing and modifying the vessel for further voyages. Starting from the Second World War, steel body vessels are the main means of transport of goods internationally. Insurance coverage of cargo is a very important factor for the consignees. Insurance Companies hesitates to provide insurance coverage to Cargo booked on a ship of over 20 years of age. So, procuring cargo or business for the over aged vessels becomes difficult. At this state ships are declared, unfit and unserviceable and are sold for scraping. Parking of unserviceable vessels in harbor area is also costly and tedious.
 
The scraping work needs huge labour and capital; scrapping operations involve high risks and problems. So, the owners of the vessels prefer to sell out the unserviceable vessels to the countries where there is demand for scrapped steel and other items of old ships, where labour cost is relatively low and where there is less concern about hazards, toxicity and environmental pollution.
 
Unserviceable vessels are sold on the basis of lightweight Tonnage (LDT) of the vessel. A ship is measured mainly on the basis of its Dead Weight capacity. Dead weight of a ship is defined as 'weight of cargo plus fuel and consumable stores' while light weight of a vessel is the 'weight of the hull including, machinery and equipment'. The length, breath, depth, and displacement are also very important factors for buying and selling of an unserviceable ship.
 
Generally 95% of a ship's body is made of mild steel (M.S.), 2% of stainless steel and 3% of miscellaneous metals, such as brass, aluminum, copper, gun metal and other alloys which are important factors of ship breaking. Stores and other materials that may be available from a ship purchased for beaching are also considered very important. In fixing the price of a ship, consideration is given to the factor of whether it is a dead ship or a running one along with ships store ranges from foodstuff to clothing, from electrical to electronics, machinery of most type, life saving equipment, drugs, communication equipment etc.
 
1.3 LITERATURE REVIEW
 
Due to the lack of available literature on the problematic under consideration, there are not able to conduct a comprehensive literature review. A few, publications though much less than enough may be helpful in this respect.
 
Md. Arifur Rahman and Muhammed Ali Shahin said in his article “Ship breaking industry in Bangladesh Needs Modernization and Policy Planning” here also provide National committee on Ship breaking Industry formed to ensure workers rights and protection from environmental pollution. But IN Bangladesh, Ship breaking is now considered as formal industry by law. Forty years after the first yards opened, there are still no laws in Bangladesh specifically relating to ship breaking. However, many of the existing laws relating to the industry, the environment and workers' rights as well as the importing of scrap ships, do apply to ship breaking yards. Amongst the most important of these are Environment Protection Law (1995) and Environment Protection Rules (1997). The Labour law 2006, the Employment Standing Orders Act (1965), The Workman Compensation Act (1923) are also relevant regarding workers' rights. But what is the real situation?[2]
 
Dr. Bishwajit Roy in his article “Health Problems Among The Workers In Ship Breaking Industry” (Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies – BILS: 7th Year, 2nd Issue, April–June 2000) provides that the health status of the industrial workers are poor due to poor wages, illiteracy, poverty, poor housing, bad cultural practices, lack of basic and environmental sanitation. Etc. The workers are also increasingly exposed to new health hazards with ill developed occupational health services. Although defective implementations of the age old factory act, which contain insignificant health safety and welfare facilities are also liable for that.[3]
 
A report named `Stuck in mud: On Ship breaking, Labour Conditions and Environment in Chittagong, Bangladesh’ is published in 2000. In this report Morten Ronning revealed that, ninety percent internal demand of iron-steel was being supplied by the ship breaking industry. He presented the horrible condition wage rate, working security, accommodation and all other things related with the environment.[4]
 
GENEVA (ILO Online) – The dispatch of the aircraft carrier 'Clemenceau' from France to the world's largest ship graveyard on India's west coast for scrapping has focused new attention on the human and environmental dangers inherent in ship breaking. While breaking ships and selling of the scrap and hardware from retired vessels provides work and income for tens of thousands of persons in Bangladesh, China, India and Pakistan, the work is dangerous and can cause deaths due to work accidents as well as serious acute and chronic health problems, especially due to exposure to hazardous substances such as asbestos. ILO Online spoke with ILO ship breaking expert Paul Bailey.[5]
 
In 1999 Mr. Ataur Rahman and A Z M Tabarukullah wrote a report entitled ‘Ship Breaking Industry of Bangladesh’. In this report they mentioned that there was no arrangement for the safety of labour. No lifting process was available here in ship breaking yards to load and move the iron pieces. The whole risky works were done by the unskilled labour of the industry. Besides, there was no system to provide anything for eye protection, uniform, glove and boots. It was also mentioned in the report that without making the ship gas free, the ships were beached to be scraped. As a result it becomes a great cause for the sea pollution and a threat to the local environment.[6]
 
About 25,000 workers are engaged in the ship breaking industry, majority of which are from poverty affected northern part of the country. Usually the workers are not given appointment letter; moreover there is no formal contract between the employee and the employer. The workers have been working in the scrap yard years after years; they have not been allowed to form Trade Union to bargain on their due rights. The workers are categorized according to their efficiency, wages are different accordingly. The workers are classified as general worker, sardar (who supervise the work of about 15-20 general worker) and Foreman (who supervise the work of 3-4 sardar of 50-60 workers). The contractors usually signed agreement with the ship owner (importer) for a particular section of the ship and deploy the workers over there. In practice there is no relationship between the workers and the ship owners. It was revealed in the study that majority of the workers were of the age group of 17-37 years. In addition, there was some child labour involved in light works like washing, cleaning and repeat collections. The workers are deprived of proper compensation for accidents due to lack of valid contract. The safety measures taken for the workers during work are very old in some cases. In order to maximize profit, the ships are scrapped in a way having high risk of accident. As the workers are poor they work silently without any protest. Accidents have been a common phenomenon in the ship breaking industry since its inception. (Babul, A.R. 2000)
 
Sanfrancisco based Buddhist Peace Foundation, has recently (01/09/2000) published a report titled `Ship breaking’. Mr. Alan senauke came to know for the first time the workers of ship breaking yard of Bangladesh from an art exhibition of a Brazilian photographer Mr. Sebasteoy salgoder held in Honlolo Academy of Arts. In the exhibition ship breaking workers of Bangladesh were presented there. Then he visited Chittagong ship breaking yard to have an idea on working environment and occupational safety measures that have been prevailing in the scrap yard which he highlighted in his report. He also discussed other relevant issues like, gradual relocation of ship breaking industry from Europe to Asia and its underlying reasons, environment degradation caused by the industry and the role of the developed world in this regard. It has been appeared in his report that most of the ship breaking workers are from the poverty stricken northern region of Bangladesh where opportunity of employment is less. Initial wage of these is TK 60.00 for a day of eight working hours having a scope of earning more as overtime allowance. However, the skilled labour earns more. Apparently the poor labours are found to be happy with their existing wages. But they are not aware of the detrimental impacts of the hazardous elements they have been dealing with .The report through explained the various detrimental impacts of this industry, there were no highlights on workers death and inquiry caused by the frequent accidents/explosion in the scrap yard.[7]
 
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION in Draft guidelines on safety and health in ship breaking provides that the first of their kind in providing guidance to ensure safe work in ship-breaking within the overall framework of the ILO’s decent work agenda. They are intended to provide advice on the step-by-step transformation of a mainly informal sector activity into the more formal organized economy.
 
These guidelines are an attempt to assist ship breakers and competent authorities alike, to implement the relevant provisions of ILO standards, codes of practice and guidelines on occupational safety and health and working conditions aiming at progressive improvement. The practical recommendations contained in these guidelines are intended for use by all those who have responsibility for occupational safety and health in ship-breaking operations. The guidelines are not legally binding nor are they intended to replace national laws, regulations or accepted standards. They have been drawn up with the objective of providing guidance to those engaged in the framing of relevant provisions and the setting up of effective systems, procedures and enterprise regulations, where they do not exist.
The practical use of these guidelines will largely depend on local circumstances, the availability of financial resources, scale of operations and technical possibilities. Technical co-operation would be an important factor in promoting the use of the guidelines. Development of other supportive materials would allow for addressing specific technical tasks to meet the requirements of its provisions. The draft guidelines contain elements taken from the ILO Guidelines on occupational safety and health management systems (ILO-OSH 2001); in the hope they will serve as practical tools for competent national authorities and ship-breaking facilities in achieving continual improvements in OSH performance.[8]
MEDIA RELEASE of United Nations Development Program on 29 June 2004 released “Safer ship breaking could boost Bangladesh industry”. People involved in ship breaking, from workers’ representatives to shipyard owners, agreed that the industry, which makes a vital contribution to the national economy, needed support to improve safety and environmental standards. The consensus was voiced during a workshop organized by the United Nations in Dhaka earlier today.[9]
 
Advocacy for a public policy to ensure human rights in ship breaking industry. YPSA as a voluntary social development organization left behind the 20th year of its journey towards development. It is well known that, unlike many other national and international NGO’s YPSA emerged fully from the community level and community people played the most significant role in the onward movement of YPSA. Hence, from the very beginning YPSA has been working with the people rather than for the people.[10]
 
1.4 KEY CONCEPT USED
 
Yard / Field: Yard/ Field are the place where ships are cut into different pieces. Actually the yards/fields are situated at the seashore areas.
 
Cutter group: Cutter group is one kind of labour group who cut different parts of ship by oxyacetylene flame. The labours that help the cutter are called cutter helper.
 
Plate/Loading group: The kind of workers who carry or load the big iron pieces on their shoulder to the truck is called Plate/Loading group.
 
Wire group: The labour that pull the wire are called Wire group.
 
Hammer group: The labour that hit or beat the joint of iron and loosen the nails are called Hammer group.
 
Foreman: The labours leader who supplies labour to work in the yard and maintain the relationship between the labour and contractors is called Foreman.
 
Contractor: The people, who make contract with the owner to cut the ship, recruit the labour and supervise all the works of cutting, are called Contractor.
 
Supervisor/Clerk: They are the people assigned by the company, engaged in the office of the yard, supervised the official works and documents.
 
Security guard: The people who engaged for the safety of the yard are called Security guard.
 
Re-rolling mill or re-rolling steel mill group: They are the labour from the steel mills based on the iron of ship.
 
Furniture group: The labour who work in the furniture shops are called Furniture group.
These shops are mainly based on the furniture from the ship.
 
Local iron/scrap group: The labour who work in the scrap iron shop are called Local iron group.
 
Oil group: There are some shops of oil that are based on the oil of ship. The labour, work in the oil shop are called Oil group.
Doors group: The labour from the door shops are called Doors group. These shops are based on the doors collected from the ships.
 
Basin/Kitchen group: There are some shops of basin and kitchen items which are collected from the ships. The labour, engaged in those shops are called Basin / kitchen group.
 
Cables group: Some cable shops are established on the basis of cables collected from the ships. The labour working in those shops are called Cables group.
 
Female worker group: There are some female persons who work in the mess of labour are called female worker. They mainly help in cooking.
 
Paints group: There are some shops of paints in the ship breaking yard area, which are based on the paint of the ships. The labour who work in the paint shops are called Paint group.
 
Tea stall group: There are many tea stalls in the area of yard where mainly the labour takes tea and pass their leisure time. The labour work in the tea stall are called Tea stall group.
 
Manager/ Caretaker: There are some peoples who work in the different ship breaking items shop, supervise the work of labour and keep the documents of the shops are called Manager/Caretaker.
 
Businessman: This group is engaged in different ship breaking item business.
 
1.5 OBJECTIVES
Ship-breaking on the beachheads of Asian developing countries is claimed to be among one of the world’s most dangerous and hazardous occupations endangering the safety and lives of thousands of workers. More than 90 per cent of it takes place on the beaches of Bangladesh (Chittagong), India (Alang), Pakistan (Gaddani estate in Baluchistan) and in China.
The occupational safety and health hazards include exposure to asbestos, noxious fumes, explosions, toxic wastes, noise, falling objects, heavy weights, radiation, electric shock, etc. In general, the workers wear no personal protective equipment (PPE), such as goggles, helmets, shoes, gloves, respiratory devices, etc.
 
 
There are:
  • few or no laws;
  • few inspections;
  • no implemented safety regulations;
  • no protective equipment;
  • no dry docks.
 
 
Employment rights are non-existent; there are no unions and no collective bargaining. Working and living conditions mirror a total absence of standards and norms.
 
In addition to the abovementioned factors this issues paper also cover areas of concern for safe work undertaken elsewhere, in particular on the environmental aspects of ship-breaking, in the recent/the current work within IMO, UNEP and other organizations.
 
The procedures used in current ship-breaking have been assessed in accordance with risk/exposure/danger and incident frequency. Further, existing national and international initiatives (legislative or voluntary) aiming to reduce the range of adverse health and safety implications, have been identified and addressed to the extent permitted by available information.
 
Based on the outputs from the tasks described, recommendations for specific measures and actions that may be undertaken by the ILO are presented.
 
The study contains the following objectives:
1. To know the real situation of the labour, staffs and businessmen including their personal information, living condition, job facilities, problems and suggestions there to,
2. To build rapport with labour, staffs and businessmen of the ship breaking industries.
3. To keep or make a document on the present condition of those people.
4. To consider baseline data in order to track down changes in condition of labour through mid term and final evaluation.
5. To review activities and strategies of the project in the light of baseline survey findings.
 
1.6 METHODOLOGY
 
1.6.1 Survey
Here I attempt to take data from field study but due to some difficulties it is not possible for me. As like, my home district is Dhaka and the filed of study on Chittagong district so for this field is far away from my residence. At the initial stage, it was really difficult to get access in the yard and also to talk with the labour. Difficulty in obtaining the access of female staffs in some yards was no fewer handicaps. The officials of some yards did not behave well and cooperate properly. Actually nobody wanted to give any information and the labours were afraid of talking because they thought whether they were going to lose their jobs by telling the truth. So this data is collect from secondary data.
 
1.6.2 Method of data collection
So for I collect my data from a survey which was conducted by the YPSA team on five hundred peoples including labour, staffs and businessmen from September-November 2003. The survey was done by random sampling. Within five hundred peoples, there are 265 labour (in yard), 118 labour (outside the yard), 18 staffs (in yard), 12 staffs (outside the yard) and 87 businessmen. Different labour groups with their numbers (in yard) covered in the survey are Cutter group-105, Plate group-109, Wire group-34, Hammer group-10 and Foreman-7. The foreman is separated from the major force of labour due to various reasons. They are the leaders of labour group; supply labour to the yard from different places and also supervises different problems of labour. Some of them work in the yard and some don’t. Outside the yard, the different groups are Re-rolling mill-27, Furniture-27, Local Iron Shop-17, Oil group-9, Doors shop-9, Basin / Kitchen items shop-7, and Cables shop-6, Female Worker-6, Paints-5 and Teastall-5. The categories of the staff with their numbers in the yard are Contractor-6, Clerk/ Supervisor-6 and Security Guard-6. Staffs outside the yard with their numbers are Manager/ Caretaker-12, and Businessman-87.
 
1.6.3 Method of data analysis
Some reports on ship breaking industries download from internet and some articles of the news papers which are insufficient. The preparation of the report and analysis of data was done by the office management system (MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access, MS Power point) in computer.
 
1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
Very few numbers of studies have been carried out through out the world. In Bangladesh it is extremely hard to find an identically similar study especially in relation to ship breaking workers. By any standard the demolition of ships is a dirty and dangerous occupation. Government and other environment protection agency or labour right protection agency are surprisingly reluctant to interfere in their business. All these factors contribute to the scarcity of relevant paper journal articles and statistics.
 
The research or study reports made on ship breaking industries are mainly on detrimental impacts of such risky activities. Most of the previous studies are based on the environmental effect due to ship breaking industries but rights of labour and their humanitarian life did not get priority in those report. Such kinds of study are not helpful for any future research on human rights.
 
2.0 THE SETTING OF THE STUDY AREA
 
2.1 STUDY LOCATION AND CHARACTERISTICS
In Bangladesh the ship breaking yards are mainly located along 7 km long coastline of Selimpur, Bhatiary, Kumira and Bar Aoulia Unions of Sitakund Upazilla. This area lies along the Dhaka-Chittagong high ways, which is 10km away from Chittagong Metropolitan City. According to official enumeration of population 1991, the population of Sitakund Thana was 274903.The communication of the study area is well developed. The main way of communication of this area is Dhaka- Chittagong highway. The roads towards the yard are made of bricks, mud and iron chips but the chips are very dangerous. The vehicles plying in the study area are bus, truck, maxi, tempo, taxi and rickshaw. Most of the living structures in the research area are generally made of bamboo, sun grass and mud. There are also some semi-buildings with tin-shed. Normally the poor villagers and workers of different industries live in this kind of place. Besides, there are also some multi-storied buildings, just beside the road. The businessmen and industry staffs live in the buildings.
 
2.2 THE AREA IN HISTORICAL SETTINGS
In early sixties, a Greek ship “MD Alpine”, being affected by the sea storm, was confined in Foujdarhat seashore of Sitakund Upazilla. The ship remained there for a long time. In 1964 Chittagong Steal House bought the vessel and scrapped it. During the liberation war in 1971, a Pakistani ship “Al Abbas” was damaged by bomb burst. Later on this was salvaged by a Soviet Salvation Team from Chittagong port; and brought to the Foujderhat seashore. In 1974 the Kharnafully Metal Works Ltd. bought this vessel as scrap, which is considered as introduction of ship breaking in Bangladesh.
 
The ship breaking industry has been developed in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh because of availability of cheap labour, moderate enforcement of laws, low level of environmental awareness, huge demand of iron and steal etc. The industry expanded largely in India at a time when it was squeezing in China in the nineties. But after the explosion in an oil tanker at Alan, Gujarat in 1997 which took several lives, Government of India has taken a hard-line on dismantling of big oil tankers and imposed ban on ship breaking without taking gas free certificate. Following the Government control, the Indian industrialists lost interests in ship breaking business. Although highest numbers of ships have been dismantling in India as of today, all the ships are small in size. While Indian businessmen stopped importing big ships, some Bangladeshi industrialists started to import them being allured by a huge amount of profit in this business. Within a short period Bangladeshi businessmen started to dominate the international market of big scrap ships and established their monopoly in the business. Statistics shows that about 52% of big scrap ships of the world are scrapped in Bangladesh (DNV 1999).
 
 
 
 
 
3.0 LABOUR LAWS AND ITS RELEVANCE TO SHIP BREAKING LABOUR
 
3.1 CONSTITUTIONAL OBLIGATION
3.1.1 Universal declaration of human rights
 
3.1.1.1 Article 23 of Universal declaration of human rights
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interest.
 
The above articles support the following –
 
Constitution of Bangladesh : Article 15
It shall be a fundamental responsibility of the State to attain, through planned economic growth, a constant increase of productive forces and a steady improvement in the material and cultural standard of living of the people, with a view to securing to its citizens-
(a) the provision of the basic necessities of life, including food, clothing, shelter, education and medical care;
(b) the right to work, that is the right to guaranteed employment at a reasonable wage having regard to the quantity and quality of work ;
(c) the right to reasonable rest, recreation and leisure ; and
(d) the right to social security, that is to say to public assistance in cases of undeserved want arising from unemployment, illness or disablement, or suffered by widows or orphans or in old age, or in other such cases.
 
  1. Bangladesh Industrial Relation Law, 1969: Article 3
  2. International Convention of the Civics and Political Rights: Article 22
  3. European Convention of Human Rights: Article 11
 
3.1.1.2. Article 20 of Universal declaration of human rights
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
 
 
The above articles support the following –
 
Constitution of Bangladesh: Article 37
Every citizen shall have the right to assemble and to participate in public meetings and processions peacefully and without arms, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interests of public order or public health.
 
Constitution of Bangladesh: Article 38
Every citizen shall have the right to form associations or unions, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interests of morality or public order:
  1. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Article 21
  2. European Convention of Human Rights: Article 11
 
3.1.1.3 Article 24 of Universal declaration of human rights
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
 
The above article support the following –
Constitution of Bangladesh: Article: 15 (mentioned above)
 
3.1.1.4 Others
 
Others than those there are some other article about labour –
Constitution of Bangladesh: Article 14 (Emancipation of peasants and workers)
It shall be a fundamental responsibility of the State to emancipate the toiling masses- the peasants and workers- and backward sections of the people from all forms of exploitation.
Constitution of Bangladesh : Article 34 (Prohibition of Forced Labour)
(1) All forms of forced labour are prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law.
(2) Nothing in this article shall apply to compulsory labour-
(a) by persons undergoing lawful punishment for a criminal offence; or
(b) required by any law for public purposes.
 
3.2 ILO DECLARATION
The ILO has adopted a large number of international Conventions and accompanying Recommendations directly concerned with OSH issues, as well as elaborated many codes of practice and technical publications applicable to ship breaking. They represent a body of definitions, principles, obligations, duties and rights, as well as technical guidance reflecting the consensual views of the ILO’s tripartite constituents from its 175 member States (as of June 2002) on most aspects of occupational safety and health.
 
3.2.1 Relevant ILO Conventions and Recommendations
3.2.1.1 Fundamental ILO Conventions and accompanying Recommendations
Eight ILO Conventions have been identified by the ILO’s Governing Body as being fundamental to the rights of human beings at work, irrespective of levels of development of individual member States. These rights are a precondition for all the others in that they provide for the necessary implements to strive freely for the improvement of individual and collective conditions of work.
 
Freedom of association
  • Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948
  • Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949
 
The abolition of forced labour
  • Forced Labour Convention, 1930
  • Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957
 
Equality
  • Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 and Recommendation
  • Equal Remuneration Convention,1951 and Recommendation
 
The elimination of child labour
  • Minimum Age Convention, 1973  and Recommendation
  • Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999  and Recommendation
 
3.2.1.2 Conventions and Recommendations on occupational safety and health and working conditions
 
  1. Radiation Protection Convention, 1960 (No. 115) and Recommendation, 1960 (No. 114)
  2. Reduction of Hours of Work Recommendations, 1962 (No. 116)
  3. Guarding of Machinery Convention, 1963 (No. 119) and Recommendation, 1963 (No. 118)
  4. Employment Injury Benefit Convention, 1964 (No. 121 and Recommendation, 1964 (No. 121)
  5. Workers' Representatives Convention, 1971 (No. 135)
  6. Maximum Weight Convention, 1967 (No. 127) and Recommendation, 1967 (No. 128)
  7. Benzene Convention, 1971 (No. 136) and Recommendation, 1971 (No. 144)
  8. Occupational Cancer Convention, 1974 (No. 139) and Recommendation, 1974 (No. 147)
  9. Working Environment (Air Pollution, Noise and Vibration) Convention, 1977 (No. 148) and Recommendation, 1977 (No. 156)
  10. Occupational Safety and Health (Dock Work) Convention, 1979 (No. 152) and Recommendation, 1979 (No. 160)
  11. Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155) and Recommendation, 1981 (No. 164)
  12. Protocol of 2002 (recording and notification of occupational accidents and diseases) to the Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 2002
  13. Occupational Health Services Convention, 1985 (No. 161) and Recommendation, 1985 (No. 171)
  14. Asbestos Convention, 1986 (No. 162) and Recommendation, 1986 (No.172)
  15. Chemicals Convention, 1990 (No. 170) and Recommendation, 1990 (No. 177)
  16. Night Work Convention, 1990 (No. 171) and Recommendation, 1990 (No. 178)
  17. Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) and Recommendation, 2002 (No. 191)
  18. List of Occupational Diseases Recommendation, 2002 (No. 194)
 
3.2.2 Selected ILO Codes of practice with provisions which are relevant and applicable to ship breaking activities
 
  1. Safety and health in shipbuilding and ship repairing, 1974
  2. Protection of workers against noise and vibration in the working environment, 1977
  3. Occupational safety and health in the iron and steel industry, 1983
  4. Safety in the use of asbestos, 1984
  5. Safety, health and working conditions in the transfer of technology to developing countries, 1988
  6. Safety in the use of chemicals at work, 1993
  7. Accident prevention on board ship at sea and in port (2nd edition), 1996
  8. Management of alcohol and drug-related issues in the workplace, 1996
  9. Recording and notification of occupational accidents and diseases, 1996
  10. Protection of workers personal data, 1997
  11. Ambient factors in the workplace, 2001
  12. Safety in the use of synthetic vitreous fiber insulation wools (glass wool, rock wool, slag wool ), 2001
  13. HIV/AIDS and the world of work, 2001
  14. Safety and health in the non-ferrous metals industries, 2003
 
3.3 RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS
 
ILO: Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up, adopted by the International Labour Conference at its 86th Session, 1998. Geneva, 1998
  1. Encyclopedia of occupational health and safety, Geneva, 4th edition, 1998; 4-volume print version and CD-ROM.
  2. Inspection of labour conditions on board ship: Guide-lines for procedure, Geneva, 1990
  3. Technical and ethical guidelines for workers' health surveillance, Occupational Safety and Health Series, No. 72. Geneva, 1998
  4. Guidelines on occupational safety and health management systems ILO-OSH 2001, Geneva 2001
  5. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED): Agenda 21 (Chapter 19 on environmentally sound management of chemicals).[11]
 
WHO: Hazard Prevention and Control in the Working Environment: Airborne Dust. Occupational and Environmental Health Series, World Health Organization, Geneva, 1999.
 
IMO: Recycling of ships – Development of Guidelines on Recycling of Ships. Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), [12]
 
Basel Convention: Technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management for full and partial dismantling of ships. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Geneva, December 2002.[13]
 
US EPA: A Guide for Ship Scrappers: Tips for Regulatory Compliance, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, EPA 315-B-00-001, Summer 2000
 
Environment Canada: Cleanup Standards for Ocean Disposal of Vessels and Cleanup Guidelines for Ocean Disposal of Vessels, Environmental Protection Branch, Pacific and Yukon Region, February 1998
 
Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit: Guidelines for the Development of a National Environmental Contingency Plan.
 
ICS: “Industry Code of Practice on Ship Recycling” and “Inventory of Potentially Hazardous Materials on Board”, International Chamber of Shipping, London, 2001.[14]
 
Det Norske Veritas:
  1. Decommissioning Guidelines the GUIDEC Approach.[15]
  2. Technological and Economic Feasibility Study of Ship Scrapping in Europe,[16]
 
The London Convention 1972 "Specific Guidelines for Assessment of Vessels" Scientific Group, Report LC/SG 24/11, Annex 6, the Twenty-second Consultative Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Convention 1972.[17]
 
IMO: Recycling of ships – Development of Guidelines on Recycling of Ships. Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), [18]
 
Basel Convention: Technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management for full and partial dismantling of ships. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Geneva, December 2002.[19]
 
US EPA: A Guide for Ship Scrappers: Tips for Regulatory Compliance, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, EPA 315-B-00-001, Summer 2000
 
Environment Canada: Cleanup Standards for Ocean Disposal of Vessels and Cleanup Guidelines for Ocean Disposal of Vessels, Environmental Protection Branch, Pacific and Yukon Region, February 1998
 
Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit: Guidelines for the Development of a National Environmental Contingency Plan.
 
4.0 SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
 
4.1 LABOUR IN YARD
There are many forward and backward linkage industries, which depend on ship breaking. Many labour’s engage in these industries bearing earlier bitter experiences of hard working in ship breaking industries. The labour inside and outside the yard stay together in some places. The outside labour realize the problems of labour in the yard, they feel the pain honestly as because they are also deprived from their rights in many aspect. Inside labour’s are in backward position than the outside labour of the yard.
 
4.1.1 Age of labour
                
Figure 1: Age group of labour (%) in the yard
 
The figure shows that majority of the labour (40.75%) are under age group 18-22 year and only 1.13% labour are under age group 46-50 year. The most important finding is that 10.94% labours are child. It is clear that young labour force is dominant in this sector which also indicates that less experienced and untrained labour force are forced to accept such jobs mainly due to poverty. Another thing is that the labours above 45 years are very less in this sector because more physical strength is necessary to work here.[20]
 
 
4.1.2 Child & adult
Child-10.94%, Adult Male-89.06%[21]
 
4.1.3 Educational qualification of labour
       
Figure 2: Educational qualification of labour (%) in the yard
It is observed from the figure that a huge number of labours (46.42%) are illiterate and 43.02% labours are educated up to primary education. The huge uneducated labour force has less scope for better professional jobs within and outside the sector. Less accessibility to different opportunities including information for exercising rights, as they are less exposure to education and information, etc.[22]
 
4.1.6 Condition of food, sanitation and habitat of labour

Figure 3: Condition of food, sanitation and habitat of labour (%) in the yard
 
The figure shows that in case of food 61.89% labour said the food is not good, 54.72% labour said that the sanitation facilities are very bad and 62.26% labour said the habitat facilities are not good. There was no specific range of the criteria very good, good, not good and very bad from questionnaire point of view. It was done by the opinion of a labour’s own point of view. The yard contractor provides the sanitation and residence facilities but the food arrangement is absolutely the labour’s responsibility.[23]
 
4.1.7 Medical facility of labour

                          Figure 4: Medical facilities of labour (%) in the yard
It is clear from the figure that 90.19% labour don’t get any medical facilities from the yard, 5.66% labour said they get all medical facilities and 4.15 % labour get medical facilities but in a nominal way like first aid treatment, small amount of money etc. Another point is that this figure only shows general medical treatment facilities except the accidents in yard.[24]
 
4.2 LABOUR OUTSIDE THE YARD
There are many forward and backward linkage industries, which depend on ship breaking. Many labours engage in these industries bearing earlier bitter experiences of hard working in ship breaking industries. The labour inside and outside the yard stay together in some places. The outside labour realize the problems of labour in the yard, they feel the pain honestly as because they are also deprived from their rights in many aspect. But outside labour are in better position than the inside labour of the yard.
 
4.2.1 Age of labour

              Figure 5: Age group of labour (%) outside the yard
From the figure it is observed that 10.17% labour are child, 27.12% labour are under age 18-22 year, 27.97% labour are under the age 22-26 year and 22.03% labour are under age 26-30 year. These are the major age groups of the labour outside the yard.[25]
 
4.2.2 Child & adult
Child-9.32%, Adult Male-82.20%, Adult Female-8.47%[26]
4.2.3 Educational qualification of labour

Figure 6: Educational qualification of labour (%) outside the yard
The above figure shows that 35.59% labour are illiterate, 42.37% labour have only primary education and 6.78% labour are S.S.C passed which is the most important finding. The educational qualification of the labour outside the yard is better than the labour inside the yard.[27]
 
4.2.4 Condition of food, sanitation and habitat of labour

Figure 7: Condition of food, sanitation and habitat of labour (%) outside the yard
The figure shows that 44.92% labour said standard of food is good, 38.98% labour’s point of view the food is not good and 11.02% labour said food is very good. Most of the labour arranges their food in their own effort. In case of sanitation, 54.24% labour said the condition of sanitation is not good, 27.97% labour told that the condition of sanitation is very bad and 17.80% labour said good / well. But 70.34% labour said the habitat is not good.[28]

4.2.5 Medical facilities of labour

Figure 8: Medical facilities of labour (%) outside the yard
 
It is observed from the figure that 86.44% labour said they get no medical facilities from the owner, 5.93% labour said they get all sorts of medical facilities,5.93% labour said they get medical facilities but in a nominal way or first aid treatment and 1.69% labour told some times they get medical facilities and some times not.[29]
 
5.0 CONDITION OF WORK: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
 
5.1 LABOUR IN YARD
 
5.1.1 Contract paper of job
 
In yards 100% labour said -there is no contract paper of their job. The labour force complained that due to lack of evidence in job-they are deprived from their rights and also facing problems in the permanency of job. They well understand the importance of the contract paper and also want to change this situation but they can’t dare it as they are afraid of loosing the job.
 
5.1.2 Working hour and salary of labour[30]
 
CUTTER GROUP
 

Working hr/day Percentage of Labour Average salary (taka) /day
8 8.57 85.56
9 3.81 98.75
10 24.76 115.96*
11 20.00 109.31*
12 31.43 121.81
13 9.52 158.00
14 0.95 168.00
16 0.95 200 00
 
Table 1: Working hour and salary of cutter group
 
 
 
PLATE GROUP
 
Working hr/day Percentage of Labour Average salary (taka) /day
8 8.57 85.56
9 3.81 98.75
10 24.76 115.96
11 20.00 109.31
12 31.43 121.81
13 9.52 158.00
14 0.95 168.00
16 0.95 200 00
 
Table 2: Working hour and salary of Plate group
 
WIRE GROUP
 
Working hr/day Percentage of Labour Average salary (taka)/day  
8 16.67 72.50
9 13.89 86.00
10 19.44 87.14
11 19 44 85.93
12 8 33 90.00
13 8 33 104.00
15 8.33 138.33
 
Table 3: Working hour and salary of Wire group
 
HAMMER GROUP
Working /Hr Percentage of Labour Average salary (taka) Day
8 10.00 150.00
10 20.00 150.00
11 30.00 150.00
12 40.00 108.00
 
Table 4: Working hour and salary of Hammer group
 
FOREMAN
Working hr/day Percentage of Labour Average Salary (taka) / month
10 14.29 4800.00
11 28.57 3300.00'
12 28.57 3975.00
13 14.29 4050.00
14 14.29 5400.00
 
 
Table 5: Working hour and Salary of Foreman.
 
 
The wage/salary of labour/foreman varies not only depending on working hours but also depends on skill ness of labour that’s why the wage/salary in the above tables are like that.
 
5.1.3 Different facilities of labour in yard

Figure 9: Different facilities of labour (%) in the yard
 
Here, Different facilities are-
No (no facilities), Bonus, Overtime, M.A= Medical Allowance, M.A (nominal) = Medical Allowance (nominal), H.A= Housing Allowance, Increment
 
From the figure, it is observed that 65.28% labours get no facilities from the yard except wages. Rest of others get some facilities where 5.28% labour get bonus, 15.09% get overtime facilities, 9.81% labour get medical allowance, 2.64% labour get medical allowance but at a nominal rate which is not sufficient, 15.09% labour get housing allowance and only 0.38% labour get increment from the yard.[31]
 
5.1.4 Break in work
Labour (100%) in yards enjoys one and half an hour break- one hour for lunch and fifteen minutes each for tea break in the morning and afternoon.[32] As it is very hard work, the break they are getting is not enough. The labours are not paid for the break time. For this reason, they actually don’t enjoy the break and always feel tense whether they are becoming late in work.
 
5.1.5 Vacation in job
Actually, there is no formal vacation for the Labour. “Work and pay” is the motto of the yard. Actually they are not aware about their salary, benefit etc. while they accept the job. They need work for their livelihood that is why they are working. They know-they are deprived from their rights and different facilities but nothing to do.
5.1.6 Facilities of labour in accident

Figure 10: Different types of facilities of labour (%) in accident (yard)
 
Here, Different types of facilities of labour are-
1 = Medical treatment (it include all sorts of medical facilities)
2 = Medical treatment (only medicine)
3 = Medical treatment (nominal)
4 = Medical treatment (only for 2/3 days)
5 = Medical treatment (give some money)
6 = Leave with salary
7 = Leave without salary
8 = Leave without salary (nominal)
9 = Compensation
10 = Compensation (nominal)
11 = others
12 = Wage in the first few days
13 = Give money sometimes
14 = No facility
 
From the figure, it is found that 27.92% labour get medical treatment which includes all sorts of medical facilities, 11.32% labour get medical treatment (nominal) that means primary treatment or first aid treatment, 43.77% labour get medical treatment (only for 2/3 days) means the labour get medical facilities only for 2/3 days, 21.51% labour get leave without salary in case of accident, 4.15% labour get compensation when accident happened in the yard and there are other sorts of facilities which are got by very little portion of labour.[33]
 

5.1.7 Satisfaction of labour in job

Figure 11: Satisfaction of labour (%) of yard in their job
 
The above figure indicates that 53.58% labours are very dissatisfied (financially), 40.75% labours are dissatisfied (financially) and only 5.66% are satisfied in their job. The labour (49.43%) said they are very dissatisfied, 42.26% are dissatisfied and only 5.28% are satisfied (other facilities) in their job. There were no specific criteria of satisfaction and dissatisfaction level from questionnaire point of view. It was done by the opinion of a labour’s own point of view.[34]
 
5.1.8 Problems of labour

Figure 12: Major ten problems of labour (without foreman) in the yard
 
Here, in the figure the major ten problems of labour (without Foreman) are –
 
1. Very risky job / threats of accident/ fear to work on the top of the ships.
2. Wages are not paid accurately and timely.
3. Lack of pure drinking water.
4. Hands and legs are always burned, feel pain in body and chest.
5. Too much working pressure but fewer wages.
6. Necessary tools and elements (like dresses, gloves, helmet, shoes & welding glass) are not provided.
7. Lack of healthy toilet.
8. No security of life.
9. Legs are often cut and injured. 10. Have to work in hot and rainy days because the undeclared rule is “no work no money”.
 
The labour in the yard has fifty four (54) different types of problems; here only ten (10) major problems are presented through graph. Each labour mentions more than one problem.
 
FOREMAN
 
The foreman is separated from the major force of labour due to various reasons. They are the leaders of labour group; supply labour to the yard from different places and also supervises different problems of labour. Some of them work in the yard and some don’t. That is why the foremen are separated from the mainstream labour.
 
The major ten problems of Foreman and their percentage are-
1. Working pressure is high but the wage is low.
2. Threats of accidents.
3. No arrangement for pure drinking water.
4. Force to work quickly.
5. Salary is not paid timely.
6. No hygienic toilet.
7. Contactors don’t pay the bill regularly that’s why foremen can’t pay the Labour timely and most of the time they have to pay the Labour from their own pocket.
8. Arrangement of taking meal is not good.
9. To get a contract-a foreman have to face competition with other foremen.
10. Have to work in the rain.
 
5.2 LABOUR OUTSIDE THE YARD
 
5.2.1 Contract paper of job
Outside the yards 100% Labour said -there is no contract paper of their job. They know the importance of the contract paper but the owners don’t care about it.
 
5.2.2 Working hour and salary of labour[35]
 
 
REROLLING MILL GROUP
 

Working he/day Percentage of Labour Averaqe salary (taka) / day
6 3-70 102.00
8 55 56 88.00
9 370 8000
10 370 100.00
11 3.70 105.00
12 20.63 65.63
 
 
Table 6 : Working hour and salary of the labour of Recoiling mill
 
FURNITURE GROUP
 
Working hr/day
 
Percentage of Labour
 
Average salary (taka) / day
 
8 11.11 118.33
10 11.11 116.67
11 3.70 70.00
12 40.74 117.09
13 25.93 152.14
14 7.41 185.00
 
 
Table 7 : Working hour and salary of the labour of Furniture shop.
 
 
LOCAL I RON GROUP
 
 
Working hr/day Percentage of Labour Average salary (taka)/ day
8 23.53 123.75
9 5.88 90.00
10 17.65 100.00
12 17.65 176.67
13 35.29 170.00
 
Table 8: Working hour and salary of the labour of Local Iron shop.
 
 
Oil Group
 
Working hr/day Percentage of Labour Average salary (taka)/ day
8 11.11 60.00
9 11.11 90.00
10 11.11 150.00
12 22.22 130.00
13 44..44 167.50
 
Table 9: Working hour and salary of the labour of Oil Group.
 
 
 
 
 
 
DOORSGROUP
 
Working hr/day Percentage of Labour Average salary (taka)f day
8 44.44 86.25
10 22.22 80.00
12 33.33 81.67
 
Table 10: Working hour and salary of the labour of Doors shop.
 
BASIN; KITCHEN ITEMS GROUP
 
Working hr/day Percentage of Labour Average salary (taka)/ day
8 4286 30.00
9 14.29 100.00*
10 14.29 70.00'
11 1429 50.00
12 14.29 70.00
 
Table 11: Working hour and salary of the labour of Basin/Kitchen items shop.
 
 
CABLES GROUP
Working hr/day Percentage of Labour Average salary (taka)/ day
8 33.33 30.00*
10 50.00 36.67*
15 16.67 30.00*
 
Table 12: Working hour and salary of the labour of Cables shop.
 
FEMALE WORKER
 
Working hr/day Percentage of Labour Average salary (taka)/ day
5 16.67 50.00*
6 16.67 45.00*
8 16.67 30.00*
10 16.67 20.00*
12 33.33 25.00*
 
Table 13 : Working hour and salary of Female worker.
PAINTS GROUP
 
Working hr/day Percentage of Labour Average salary (taka)/ day
12 60.00 43.33
Not Specified 40.00 40.00
 
Table 14 : Working hour and salary of the labour of Paints shop.
 
TEA STALL GROUP
 
Working hr/day Percentage of Labour Average salary (taka)/ day
12 40.00 35.00*
14 60.00 13.33'
 
Table 15 : Working hour and salary of the labour of Tea stall
 
* The wage/salary of labour varies not only depending on working hours but also depends on skill ness of labour that’s why the wage/salary in the above tables is like that.
 
 
5.2.3 Different facilities of labour outside the yard

Figure 13: Different facilities of Labour (%) outside the yard.
 
 
Here, the different facilities of labour are-
No= No facility
Bonus
Bonus (nominal)
Bonus (400 taka in two Eid)
Bonus (500 taka in two Eid)
Overtime
M.A=Medical Allowance
M.A (nominal) = Medical Allowance (nominal)
H.A=Housing Allowance
Increment
 
The figure shows that 36.44% labour said they get no facility, 29.66% labours agreed they get no bonus, 21.19% labour said they get overtime facility and 9.32% labour get medical allowance. These are the major findings of the figure.[36]
 
 
5.2.4 Break in work
Labour (100%) outside the yards enjoys one and half an hour break- one hour for lunch and fifteen minutes each for tea break in the morning and afternoon. Though the work outside the yard is less hard than the work inside the yard, the labour feel that the break is not sufficient or the owner can pay for the break time.
 
5.2.5 Vacation in job
Actually, there is no formal vacation for the labour. “Work and pay” is the motto of the yard. The fact for the outside labour is same as inside labour of yard in case of vacation.
 
5.2.6 Facilities of labour in accident

Figure 14: Different types of facilities of Labour (%) in accident (outside the yard).
 
Here, different facilities of labour in accident are-
1= Medical treatment,
2= Medical treatment (nominal),
3= Medical treatment (only for 2/3 days),
4= Medical treatment (give some money),
5= Leave with salary,
6= Leave without salary,
7= Compensation,
8= others,
9= No facility
From the above figure, it is clear that in case of accident 48.31% labour get medical facilities means all sorts of treatment, 41.53% labour get primary or first aid treatment which is nominal, 20.34% labour get leave without salary in accident but no treatment and 7.63% labour get compensation.[37]
 
5.2.7 Satisfaction of labour in job

Figure 15: Satisfaction of Labour (%) outside the yard in their job.
The figure shows that 33.90 % labour are very dissatisfied (financially), 50.85% labour is dissatisfied (financially) and 13.56% are satisfied in their job. The labour (31.36%) said they are very dissatisfied, 43.22% are dissatisfied and 23.73% are satisfied (other facilities) in their job. There were no specific criteria of satisfaction and dissatisfaction level from questionnaire point of view. It was done by the opinion of a labour’s own point of view. But the satisfaction level is better than the labour inside the yard.[38]
 
5.2.8 Problems of labour
 
The problems of labour outside the yard and their percentage are given below-
 
REROLLING MILL GROUP
1. Too much working pressure but fewer wages.
2. Contractors, supervisors, and official staffs behave badly.
3. Threats of accident, have to work with risk are common.
4. The wage is less.
5. No bonus and overtime.
6. No arrangement of pure drinking water.
7. The job is not permanent and no contract paper.
8. Lack of pure drinking water in yards.
9. No arrangement for immediate treatment.
10. Wages are not paid regularly.
 
FURNITURE GROUP
1. Wage is not enough.
2. Condition of living and food are not good.
3. Very much working pressure.
4. Bonus is not paid.
5. No system for compensation.
6. No system for medical facility.
7. Wage is not paid regularly.
8. Highly competitive market.
9. No rest or break at working period.
10. No permanency of job.
 
LOCAL IRON GROUP
1. Have to buy necessary / essential things by their own money (such as glass, musk, gloves etc).
2. No arrangement of compensation.
3. Have to work hard but there is no proper facility.
4. No arrangement of Medicare.
5. Risk of accidents.
6. Hands and legs are injured by falling iron.
7. Feel pain in chest and eyes.
8. Less salary.
9. Tough to take breath easily.
10. Can’t tell problems to the proprietors.
 
 
OIL GROUP
1. Working environment is not healthy.
2. Very much working pressure.
3. Wage is less according to the work
4. The necessary elements are supplied like gloves, shoes, glasses, thick cloths etc.
5. Feel pain in hands, legs and other parts of the body.
6. Hard to take breath freely because of the smell of oil.
7. Face problems for food.
8. No freedom at work.
9. Feel scabies on the hand.
10. Infections on the hands.
 
DOORS GROUP
1. Job is not permanent.
2. Wage is not enough according to work.
3. Have to look for job in a different place if there is no work to do.
4. Face problems if there is no ship is the yard.
5. The number of workers has increased but scope of job is limited.
6. Stay in the shop in case of sickness.
7. Labour are not treated as a human being.
8. Sometimes quarrel happens among the labour.
 
BASIN/ KITCHEN ITEMS GROUP
1. Wage is not enough to maintain the living cost.
2. Too much working pressure.
3. Competition is very high.
4. Have no work if there are not enough goods in the shop.
5. Local people behave badly.
6. Can’t send money at home.
7. Poor people get no help from the government.
8. No time for break or rest.
 
CABLES GROUP
1. Wage in not enough.
2. Have to look for job in a different place if there is no work to do.
3. Competition is going high day by day.
4. Ships don’t come in a large scale.
5. No specific work to do.
6. Face problems to work with women.
7. Government does not help at all.
 
FEMALE WORKER
1. Wage is not enough.
2. The labour behaves badly for any mistake.
3. Some labour disturb very much.
4. Too much working pressure.
5. Women have to face so many problems in this kind of job.
6. Tough to maintain the living cost.
7. Don’t pay the wage regularly.
8. Can’t do the heavy works.
9. Give rice in stead of money.
10. No reply.
 
PAINTS GROUP
1. Wage is less.
2. Working pressure is high.
3. Face problems when buy through tender.
4. If there is no ship then there are lots of problems.
5. We can’t study at school.
6. There are not so much problems because of our family business.
7. Sometimes there is a problem due to tax.
 
TEA STALL GROUP
1. Wage is less.
2. There is no scope to study.
3. No problems.
4. Have to sleep in the stall.
5. No medical facility in case of sickness.
6. No freedom here.
7. No reply.
8. Working pressure is high.
9. Wage is not sufficient to survive.
10. At the end of month –there is no money in our pocket.

6.0 COMMON HAZARDS THOSE ARE LIKELY TO CAUSE WORK-RELATED INJURIES AND DEATH, ILL HEALTH, DISEASES AND INCIDENTS AMONG SHIP BREAKERS
 

Serious accident hazards
• fire and explosion: explosives, flammable materials • falls from height inside ship structures or on the ground
• being struck by falling objects • struck by moving objects
• caught in or compressed • slipping on wet surfaces
• snapping of cables, ropes, chains, slings • sharp objects
• Handling heavy objects
• Access in progressively dismantled vessels (floors, stairs, passageways)
  oxygen deficiency in confined spaces
  Lack of PPE, housekeeping practices, safety signs
Hazardous substances
• Asbestos fibers, dusts • PCBs & PVC (combustion products)
• Heavy and toxic metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, copper, zinc, etc.) • welding fumes
• organ metallic substances (tributyltin, etc.) • volatile organic compounds (solvents)
• lack of hazard communication (storage, labeling, material safety data sheets) • inhalation in confined and enclosed spaces
• batteries fire-fighting liquids • compressed gas cylinders
Physical hazards
• noise • vibration
• extreme temperatures • poor illumination
• electricity • radiation (UV, radioactive materials)
Mechanical hazards
• trucks and transport vehicles • Shackles, hooks; chains
• scaffolding, fixed and portable ladders • cranes, winches, hoisting & hauling equipment;
• impact by tools, sharp-edged tools, • lack of safety guards in machines
• Power-driven hand tools, saws, grinders and abrasive cutting wheels; • Poor maintenance of machinery and equipment
Biological hazards
• toxic marine organisms • animal bites
• Risk of communicable diseases transmitted by pests, vermin, rodents, insects and other animals that may infest the ship • Infectious diseases (TB, malaria, dengue fever, hepatitis, respiratory infections, others)
Ergonomic and psychosocial hazards
• Repetitive strain injuries, awkward postures, repetitive and monotonous work, excessive workload • Mental stress, human relations (aggressive behaviors, alcohol and drug abuse, violence)
• Long working hours, shift work, night work, temporary employment • Poverty, low wages, minimum age, lack of education and social environment
General concerns
• lack of safety and health training • inadequate accident prevention and inspection
• poor work organization • inadequate emergency, first-aid and rescue facilities
• inadequate housing and sanitation • lack of medical facilities and social protection
 
6.1.1 International Labour Organization (ILO) for the protection of ship breaking workers
The ILO unanimously endorsed for publication by the Governing Body at its 289th session (March 2004) a set of criteria to govern the disposal and recycling of ships. The criteria are outlined in Safety and Health in Ship breaking: Guidelines for Asian Countries and Turkey, a document directed at those who have responsibility for occupational safety and health in ship breaking operations, including ship breaking employers, workers, and authorities.
The Guidelines were drafted to contribute to:
  1. The protection of ship breaking workers from workplace hazards and the elimination of work-related injuries, diseases and deaths.
  2. Assisting and facilitating the improved management of occupational safety and health issues in the workplace.
The ILO Guidelines are not legally binding, nor are they intended to replace national laws, regulations or accepted standards. They are intended as guidance in establishing effective national systems, procedures, and regulations to govern ship breaking, particularly in those regions where such regulations are under development or are nonexistent.
The Guidelines suggest a national framework defining the general responsibilities and rights for employers, workers and regulatory authorities in ship breaking. In addition, the Guidelines provide recommendations on safe ship breaking operations including the management of hazardous substances, protection and preventative measures for workers against hazards and suggestions for a competency based training program.
The ILO approach is to facilitate step-by-step improvements to the practice of dismantling ships on beaches. The Guidelines suggest that this can be achieved by:
  • Ensuring there is an inventory of hazardous materials on board;
  • Decontamination and gas-freeing;
  • Planning for safe demolition;
  • Recycling and;
  • Safe waste management.
6.1.1.1 Human and labor rights violations
A lack of occupational health and safety standards, training or personal protection equipment provided.
  • Limited or no access to treatment, emergency services and compensation when a worker is injured or killed on the job.
  • Less than minimum wages.
  • Use of child labor.
  • Extensive working hours with no right to overtime, sick or annual leave.
  • Lack of job security: no work no pay.
  • No right to join or form a trade union
In the majority of the shipyards, workers are being deprived of their rights. They work under risky conditions but have no access to safety equipment, job security or a living wage.
 
6.1.1.2 OSH, accidents and diseases
Over the last twenty years more than 400 workers have been killed and 6000 seriously injured according to the Bangladeshi media. These are the ones that have been reported. The explosion of the Iranian tanker TT Dena on 31st May 2000 alone is said to have caused 50 deaths. To this toll, the thousands of cases of irreversible diseases which have occurred and will continue to occur due to the toxic materials that are handled and inhaled without any precautions or protective gear need to be considered[39].
On average, one worker dies in the yards a week and everyday a worker is injured (End of Life Ships: the Human Cost of Breaking Ships). It seems like nobody really cares: ship breaking workers are easily replaceable to the yard owners: if one is lost they know another 10 is waiting to replace him due to the lack of work. The Government collects the taxes and turns a blind eye.
Ship breaking carries a very real risk to life. By any standards, the demolition of ships is a dirty and dangerous occupation. The hazards linked to ship breaking broadly fall into two categories: intoxication by dangerous substances and accidents on the plots. Explosions of leftover gas and fumes in the tanks are the prime cause of accidents in the yards. Another major cause of accidents is workers falling from the ships (which are up to 70 m high) as they are working with no safety harness. Other sources of accidents include workers being crushed by falling steel beams and plates and electric shocks.
Workers are not aware of hazards to which they are exposed. The overwhelming majority of workers wear no protective gear and many of them work barefoot. There is hardly any testing system for the use of cranes, lifting machinery or a motorized pulley. The yards re-use ropes and chains recovered from the broken ships without testing and examining their strength. There is no marking system of loading capacity of the chains of cranes and other lifting machineries.
Consequently, workers suffer from lung problems which cause temporary loss of working capacity. The hatches and pockets of vessel may contain explosive or inflammable gases. The cutters, if they understand from experience, drill small holes in order to release gases or fumes. This still however, often cause severe explosions.
Gas cutters and their helpers, cut steel plates almost around the clock without eye protection. This leaves their eyes vulnerable to effects of welding. They do not wear a uniform and most don't have access to gloves and boots. Those that are ‘unskilled’ carry truck able pieces of iron sheets on their shoulders and there are no weight limits to the sheets they carry. Usually, these workers carry weights far above the limit prescribed in the Factories Act and Factories Rules.
The beaches are strewn with chemicals and toxic substances, small pieces of pointed and sharp iron splinters causing injuries. Workers enter into the areas without wearing or using any protective equipment. Occupational health and safety is clearly not a priority for the owners and as for the workers their desperate need to find employment to support their families means that their livelihoods take precedence over their lives.
 
6.1.1.3 Treatment and compensation[40]
When there is an injury some immediate treatment may be given but there is no long term treatment for those who have a long term or permanent injury. In terms of compensation, only a nominal amount of compensation given and often only when there is public pressure.
When a worker becomes disabled by a major accident, he gets a maximum of 10 to 15 thousand taka (1 USD=71 taka) and forced back to his home district. In most cases a worker will only get transportation costs to go back to their home district.
When a worker killed in an accident, the contractor, who is responsible for the workers, will only pay the costs of sending the body back to the victim’s family and arranging for their burial.
In the case of local workers from the area, if they die on the job, their family receives more than 50,000 taka as compensation. This is mainly due to the fact that the yard owners and contractors cannot avoid the locals who yield some power and pressure them. Prior to 2006, the labor laws in Bangladesh had a lot of limitations. The Workers Compensation Act 1965, only 30,000 taka was proposed for a 100% disable worker and 21,000 taka for dead worker’s family. The recently passed Labor Law Act 2006 now stipulates that a 100% disabled worker will receive 100,000 taka and a deceased worker’s family will receive xxx taka.

6.1.1.4 Child labor
In Bangladesh, most poor families are more or less dependent on the children’s income for survival. The Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BASF) has identified 430 risky jobs. Within these 67 professions are classified as very much risky and 11 are classified as dangerous. Ship breaking is falls in the latter.
YPSA’s baseline survey in 2003, 10.94% of the labor force is made up with children (age up to 18). Most of the children come from the northern regions of Bangladesh. It was noticed that ship breaking contractors prefer to recruit children as they are less expensive than their adult counterparts.
The children work mainly as gas cutters assistants and move small iron pieces from one place to another. They either work in the yard from sunrise to sunset or do the night shift. On average they receive 50-60 taka a day for their efforts. There are no educational or recreational facilities.
Bangladesh has adopted the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1990. Bangladesh has a number of laws for the protection of children. For instance articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution, a child has the right to social security rights. Act no. 28, the state has been given power to impose special ordinance for serving the child’s interest. Act no. 34 prohibits the coercion of children into doing hard labor. The Children Act (1974) has banned the use of vulnerable child labor yet we still see children working in the ship breaking yards in Bangladesh.

6.1.1.5 Other conditions
In addition to the health and safety issues, workers work extremely long hours for little pay (please see table one for details). For all this they have no entitlement to sick leave, annual leave or overtime and as they are hired on a hourly basis, they have no idea whether they’ll have work the following day. Add to this the number of people seeking work the contractors and employers have a huge advantage over the workers. This has also made it difficult for them to organize as they are threatened with their livelihoods if they join or try and form a union to bargain for better conditions. It is no hollow threat either. With such a power imbalance, the Government has to develop a policies and legislation to ensure their rights.
 
6.1.2 Ship breaking Industry in Bangladesh Needs Modernization and Policy Planning[41]
National committee on Ship breaking Industry formed to ensure workers rights and protection from environmental pollution
 
IN Bangladesh, Ship breaking is now considered as formal industry by law. Forty years after the first yards opened, there are still no laws in Bangladesh specifically relating to ship breaking. However, many of the existing laws relating to the industry, the environment and workers' rights as well as the importing of scrap ships, do apply to ship breaking yards. Amongst the most important of these are Environment Protection Law (1995) and Environment Protection Rules (1997). The Labour law 2006, the Employment Standing Orders Act (1965), The Workman Compensation Act (1923) are also relevant regarding workers' rights. But what is the real situation? We should have a look on it. If it's formal and laws are enforceable to this then all the activities regarding Ship breaking should be formalized. There are no government bodies which especially deal with the Ship breaking activities; instead the issue is dealt with by several Govt. departments. There is no enforcement of the Labour laws, no legal binding framework in complying the international commitments, no environmental standard set for the industry, no institutional arrangement for monitoring pf the ship breaking activities. There are no consolidated policies or strategies or guidelines in Bangladesh for ship dismantling. Unfortunately this is not a situation unique to Ship breaking. Ship breaking is the process of dismantling an obsolete vessel's structure for scrapping or disposal. It's the last destination of ships, where the ships go to die. Sitakund (Bhatiary to Barwalia), a few kilometers north of Chittagong on the Bay of Bengal, where the ship breaking industry, 4n Bangladesh, is concentrated.
 
The ship breaking industry has started its operation in 60's and it was widely spread in 80's in Sitakund. It's a very-big and profitable industry for our country. The activities contributed in many ways; those are:
1.  Production of steel: the scrapping of ships provides the country's main source of steel and in doing so saves substantial amount of money in foreign exchange by reducing the need to import steel materials. Bangladesh needs 8 million tons of building materials per year, of which iron is a major component. The iron from recycled ships supplies around 90% of iron materials in the country. This does mean however, that the owners have more power and control over the amount of steel that is sold and the price it is sold at.
2.  Almost everything on the ship and the ship itself is recycled, reused and resold. The scrapping of ships supplies raw materials to steel mills, steel plate re-manufacturing, as well as providing furniture, paint, electrical equipment and lubricants, oil to the number of businesses that have spouted up specifically as a result.
3.  It generates large amounts of revenue for various Government authorities through the payment of taxes. Every year the Government collects almost 9000 million taka in revenue from the Ship breaking industry.
4.  Employment. Despite the conditions that the workers are employed under, this is an industry that employs more than 30,000 people directly and 250, 000 more indirectly. It provides employment for some of the poorest people from the north of Bangladesh who would otherwise have no employment.
 
These mainly economic benefits have made Ship breaking a powerful industry. But these economic benefits should be considered together with the social and environmental costs. Together, with better regulation ship-breaking can also bring social and environmental benefits. Though Ship breaking has earned a good reputation for being a profitable industry in developing countries, there are a number of human rights violation and environmental and human health hazards. According to the researchers the whole coastal area in Chittagong is in high risk by pollution generated from the Ship breaking activities. Toxic chemicals and hazardous materials, of scrap ships, are not managed in an environmentally sound way; the beach is black due to oil spills, and fish have started to disappear. Also the Ship breaking activities has impact on the Human health, directly to the workers; it has impacts on the food chain, on physiochemical properties of seawater, impacts of ship breaking, inter tidal sediments and soil and above all the on the biodiversity .
 
Over the last twenty years more than 400 workers have been killed and 6000 seriously injured according to the Bangladeshi media. These are the ones that have been reported. The explosion of the Iranian tanker TT Dena on 31st May 2000 alone is said to have caused 50 deaths. To this toll, the thousands of cases of irreversible diseases which have occurred and will continue to occur due to the toxic materials that are handled and inhaled without any precautions or protective gear need to be considered.
 
On average, one worker dies in the yards a week and everyday a worker is injured (End of Life Ships; the Human Cost of Breaking Ships; Greenpeace, FIDH and YPSA; December 2005). It seems like nobody really cares: Ship breaking workers are easily replaceable to the yard owners: if one is lost they know another 10 is waiting to replace him due to the lack of work. Further occupational health and safety precautions do not exist. Ship breaking in Bangladesh is work intensive, all the work, from cutting to loading, is conducted manually. Ship breaking carries a very real risk to life. By any standards, the demolition of ships is a dirty and dangerous occupation. The hazards linked to Ship breaking broadly fall into two categories: intoxication by dangerous substances and accidents on the plots. Explosions of leftover gas and fumes in the tanks are the prime cause of accidents in the yards. Another major cause of accidents is workers falling from the ships (which are up to 70 m high) as they are working with no safety harness. Other sources of accidents include workers being crushed by falling steel beams and plates and electric shocks.
 
 
Workers are not aware of the danger and hazards to which they are exposed. The overwhelming majority of workers wear no protective gear and many of them work barefoot. There is hardly any testing system for the use of cranes, lifting machinery or a motorized pulley. The yards reuse ropes and chains recovered from the broken ships without testing and examining their strength. There is no marking system of loading capacity of the chains of cranes and other lifting machineries.
 
Consequently, workers suffer from lung problems which cause temporary loss of working capacity, also leading them to dangerous future diseases. The hatches and pockets of vessel may contain explosive or inflammable gases. The cutters, if they understand from experience, drill small holes in order to release gases or fumes. This still however, often cause severe explosions. There are different groups of workers in the ship yard. Those are: Cutting group (who cut the big piece of the ships and iron), Loading group (who load the cut iron to the truck), wire groups (who pulls the wire to make tie between the pulling machine and big iron piece), Hammer group, etc. Gas cutters and their helpers, cut steel plates almost around the clock without eye protection. This leaves their eyes vulnerable to effects of welding. They do not wear a uniform and most don't have access to gloves and boots.
 
Those that are 'unskilled' carry truck able pieces of iron sheets on their shoulders and there are no weight limits to the sheets they carry. The workers of the wire groups don't wear any protective or provided any personnel protective equipment like other workers. The beaches are strewn with chemicals and toxic substances, small pieces of pointed and sharp iron splinters causing injuries. Workers enter into the areas without wearing or using any protective equipment. Occupational health and safety is clearly not a priority for the owners and as for the workers their desperate need to find employment to support their families means that their livelihoods take precedence over their lives.
 
In case of treatment facilities and compensation, there is nothing provided formally to the Ship breaking workers. When there is an injury some immediate treatment may be given but there is no long term treatment for those who have a long term or permanent injury. In terms of compensation, only a nominal amount of compensation given and often only when there is public pressure.
 
In case of disabled worker by any major accident, he gets a maximum of 10 to 15 thousand taka (1 USD=69 taka) and forced back to his home district. In most cases a worker will only get transportation costs to go back to their home district.
 
If a worker killed in an accident, the contractor, who is responsible for overall activities of the shipyard, will only pay the costs of sending the body back to the victim's family and arranging for their burial.
 
In addition to the health and safety issues, workers work extremely long hours for little pay. For all this they have no entitlement to sick leave, annual leave or overtime and as they are hired on an hourly basis, they have no idea whether they'll have work the following day. Even the workers are not being provided any ID and there is no contract with the workers. It is also difficult for them to organize as they are threatened with their livelihoods if they join or try and form a union to bargain for better conditions. Child workers are seen working in the most dangerous activities of the shipyard. There are no training and precaution before involving the workers in the Ship breaking yards.
 
In this way the labour laws, including the labour laws 2006 is not enforcing at all in the Ship breaking industry to protect the workers' rights.
 
As mentioned, in Bangladesh, there is a lack of resources, and in some cases goodwill, to control the import of toxic vessels. Normally when a ship breaker Businessman wants to buy a ship he has to apply for a 'No Objection Certificate' (NOC) from the authorized ministry. In most cases the documents received from ship-breakers are not that satisfactory which ensure compliance with existing legislation. The Basel Convention (convention on the Trans boundary movement of hazardous waste and their disposal, 1989) which is supposed to regulate the import of end-of life- vessels is being completely ignored.
 
The ships on the beach in Chittagong are in large coming from the developed world. Many of the shipping companies are based in Europe. These ship-owners are making huge profits as well by selling their ships to Bangladesh. The principle of not transferring harm to developing countries is currently not being respected at the international level. Most of the materials on ship like (asbestos, PCBs, lead, cadmium, organotins, arsenic, zinc and chromium, Black oil, burned oil) have been defined as hazardous waste under the Basel Convention. In Bangladesh, ships containing these materials are being cut up by hand, on open beaches, with no consideration given to safe and environmentally friendly waste management practices.
 
Ships are not properly cleaned before beaching. Generally, an eyewash test is carried out to certify that a ship is free from dangerous chemical and fumes. Ship breaking activities is a threat to both the terrestrial and marine environment as well as to public health. It can be mentioned that poor countries and their territories are not dustbins or any dumping place for the developed world. People who live in developing countries have the same right to a decent job; they also need to breathe fresh air and live in a protected environment. Keeping these catastrophe in mind YPSA started the first long term advocacy campaign program to influence the policy makers to formulate a policy for the Ship breaking industry in Bangladesh. YPSA has done researches, surveys; lobby with highest policy level personnel's, organized different civil society organizations in national and local level, and also made effort to influence the international policy makers. It can be said YPSA tried to introduce Ship breaking in Bangladesh to the world in more detail and that we are working very intensively on the issue. Many national and international institutions, organizations, the media and individuals involved with YPSA for getting need information. In the field YPSA has been running activities to make workers more aware about their safety and their rights. The local community is gradually becoming more organized and responsive to the rights of workers through the formation of different forums, led by local journalists, civil society representatives, and students. In the beginning it was very difficult to get information and access to the shipyards but as we have established sources, it has become very difficult to hide information and the activities going on in the yards.
 
However, finally the government has taken initiatives for a policy. An inter ministerial meeting was held regarding this and later a committee is formed; called National Committee on Ship breaking Policy. After finalizing the draft the policy will be approved. We welcome this initiative of the government. This policy should ensure the workers' rights and protect the environment from the pollution generated by the Ship breaking activities. It also should ensure the compliance with international commitment like Basel Convention, the environmentally sound management of Ship breaking, implementation of the labour laws and environment protection rules and law, a regulatory board for the industry, and regular monitoring in the yards.
 

6.1.3 Dialogue on Ship-breaking Industry: Most hazardous, need national policy[42]

Expressing grave concern over the environmental impact and hazardous working condition in the ship breaking industries in Chittagong, economists, academics and human rights activists at a national dialogue suggested formulation of a national policy for this sector.
While ship breaking is yet to be recognized as an industry in the country, the government already earns more than Tk 900 crore a year in revenue from the sector that employs over 20,000 people, they noted.
This sector has tremendous prospects but the issues of environment and workers’ rights should be addressed on an emergency basis, they said.
The Prothom Alo and Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), an NGO, organised the dialogue on crisis and prospects of ship breaking industry in Bangladesh, in association with Manusher Jonno Foundation and held at Cirdap auditorium in the capital.
There is no specific statistics on ships imported for breaking, investment and annual profit and no information on how the industry impacts environment and how workers’ rights are ensured, Dr Debapriya regretted. “Unless such information is gathered, we cannot take any position.”
Bangladesh has the second largest ship breaking industry, next to India’s. While investment in the sector is around Tk 3,000 crore, workers get only Tk 70 to 80 a day, which is lower than that of agricultural workers, the economist mentioned.
In his presentation, YPSA Programme Officer Mohammad Ali Shaheen said workers of the industry neither have job security nor arrangements for compensation when needed.
Unnayan Samannay Chairman Dr Atiur Rahman said production of fish in seawater is declining due to pollutants from the industry, sanitation facilities for 50 to 60 per cent workers are very poor and 10 per cent workers are vulnerable to AIDS. “He suggested setting up a laboratory for chemical tests and strengthening inspection system so that ships with toxic chemicals cannot enter the country. Certification system could be introduced to this end, and the industries minister can take the lead in this regard.”
He said- Stressing the need for ensuring workers’ rights and facilities, the economist said, “We don’t want a situation in ship breaking industry as in garments sector in recent time.”
Marine Science Professor Maruf Hossain of Chittagong University (CU) said “ship breaking industries are located in developing countries as those are environmentally too hazardous.”
LK Siddiqui MP criticized “owners of the ship breaking industries saying that they employ workers through contractors who take no responsibility for their safety, health hazards or accidents.”
Manusher Jonno Foundation Executive Director Shaheen Anam said the information collected from the surveys of different researchers should be coordinated to assess the actual condition of ship breaking industry.
The workers, owners and the government have to look into the matter jointly, she said. The NGOs and civil society can only facilitate the process.
“We are not against ship breaking, but human being is the first priority. So, the workers who are subjected to rights violation, should be given their due dignity,” Shaheen Anam said.
Captain Enam Chowdhury, member of Ship Breaking Owners’ Association tried to defend the owners saying the industry has a big role in the national economy and that they are trying to improve the working condition.
Deputy Editor of the Prothom Alo Sajjad Sharif moderated the dialogue.
Other speakers included Shamsul Alam and Farid Ahmed of the Directorate of Factory Inspection, Mirza Shawkat Ali of Department of Environment, Imam Hossain of industries ministry, Tobarak Mollah, advisor to Chittagong BGMEA, Sultan Mahmud of BILS, journalist Omar Kaiser and Mamun Abdullah, Rina Roy of Manusher Jonno, workers leaders ATM Nasiruddin and Salimullah Selim.
 
6.1.4 Some example of its hazard ness
 
6.1.4.1 “2 ship-breaking workers fall into ballast water tank, die”[43]
Two ship breaking workers were killed by a suffocative injury, on 20th April 08, in a ship yard named GS Trading (renamed SN Corporation) owned by Mr. Shawkat Ali, Vice president of Bangladesh Ship breakers Association.
The workers are Abdul Rajjak (30) and Abdul Majed (28). Another one is severely injured in the same accident. They both were adult workers. It was known that the workers were instructed to go inside of a tank, which was full of toxic ballast water with high toxic substances. It was also known that the ships were not properly checked before ordering the workers to go inside the tanks. Some workers are saying that knowing the presence of the toxic substances in the tanks the yard authorities told them to go inside the tanks.
The home district of the dead workers is Lohaghara thana, Jamalpur district. The local people informed that the dead bodies were sent to their home immediately at the very night of the accident. They managed to hide the whole accident at nigh so that no one can come to know and see the dead workers.
The Gate of the yard is closed when the people informed about the accident today (Monday). The yard authorities and owners’ representatives are not telling anything about the accident and not letting any one to go inside the yards.
 
6.1.4.2 SC issues show cause notice on govt.[44]
 
The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday issued a show cause notice asking the government to explain why it should not be directed to take steps to protect ship-breaking industry workers or adequately compensate them for injury or death.
 
A division bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury issued the show cause notice following a writ petition filed by Bangladesh Environment Lawyers' Association (Bela).
 
The bench also asked the chief inspector of factories and establishment and the deputy commissioner of Chittagong to submit a report within three months stating how many ship-breaking workers have died or been injured at work, the reasons of death and injury, the amount of compensation given to the victim and their families and the steps taken to prevent such incidents.
 
Adv Obaidul Hasan Shaheen moved the petition on behalf of Bela.
 
6.1.4.3 Petition to improve the working conditions[45]
The ship breaking workers in Chittagong, Bangladesh; have now started to demand their rights be fulfilled. As they become increasingly aware of the violation of their rights they now know what they deserve. They have signed a petition stating their demands indicating their pain and suffering have become intolerable. Their major demands are:
1. Job security: we want to be recognized as permanent workers and afforded the same rights as any worker under international conventions and national legislation.
2. Security in workplace: we want a safer working environment, access to the medical facilities, rehabilitation and compensation for injured and deceased workers.
3. Pre-clean ships: we want legislation to ensure that ships that come in for dismantling are pre-cleaned of hazardous materials such as asbestos, heavy metals, oil residues and poisons.
These demands have come from their heart. So, day by day the signatures on the papers are increasing. At least two hundred fifty workers have already signed the joint petition and it’s continuing.

6.1.4.4 Safer ship breaking could boost Bangladesh industry[46]
People involved in ship breaking, from workers’ representatives to shipyard owners, agreed that the industry, which makes a vital contribution to the national economy, needed support to improve safety and environmental standards. The consensus was voiced during a workshop organized by the United Nations in Dhaka earlier today.
 
“Ship recycling in its current state is under scrutiny,” said Mr. Aage Bjorn Andersen, an international shipping expert who participated in the workshop. In recent years ship recycling in South Asia has come under a lot of criticism mainly because the public has become more aware of the difficult conditions workers experience, he said.
 
The huge task of dismantling ships is done manually in Bangladesh, with basic protection like helmets, gloves or goggles not provided to the workers. Each year many workers are injured, disabled or die. Despite the danger faced by them, their wages, hours of work and overtime payments, fail to meet minimum labour standards. Moreover, the improper disposal of harmful chemicals around ship-breaking yards is hazardous for the workers and a serious source of pollution in the surrounding environment.
 
Until now this industry has never been regulated and falls short of national and international standards.
 
However, it is an industry that Bangladesh can ill afford to lose. The nation has no domestic sources of iron ore and is faced with high prices for “new” steel in the international markets. Ship breaking produces 80 percent of the steel Bangladesh needs. The industry also provides an important source of revenue for the Government, and generates much-needed employment.
 
Vice President of the Bangladesh Ship Breakers Association, Mr. Yasin Ali said during the workshop that shipyard owners had already drawn up a number of recommendations for improving practices. However, until now, there had been little support for introducing change to this vital industry. Therefore, he welcomed the proposed activities to be undertaken by the Government’s Safe and Environment Friendly Ship Recycling project (SEFSR), supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
 
The three-year initiative is ultimately aimed at regulating ship breaking in Bangladesh. It seeks to achieve this by bringing together all concerned parties — the relevant ministries, the Bangladesh Navy, importers, the Ship Breakers Association, survey companies, banks, traders, related industries, and workers. The workshop earlier today was the first activity under this project.
 
“I hope through this project we would be able to reach a consensus between the Government, employers and workers to strengthen the ship breaking industry, so that safer jobs and more jobs could be created,” said Mr. Ashikul Alam Chowdhury of the National Coordination Committee of Workers Education.
 
Experts believe if the industry can meet agreed standards the nation could benefit greatly. Mr. Andersen explained that the International Maritime Organization is closely monitoring ship breaking practices in South Asia. “Bangladesh could attract an increasing number of vessels for disposal if the industry here demonstrates better environmental and occupational safety standards,” he said.
 
The next activities under the project will include the establishment of an office in Chittagong, a national workshop to involve an even broader group of stakeholders, and some initial safety training for workers.
 
7.1 RECOMMENDATIONS
 
ILO involvement
The recent 279th Session of the ILO’s Governing Body (November 2000) endorsed a conclusion of the Tripartite Meeting on the Social and Labour Impact of Globalization in the Manufacture of Transport Equipment (May 2000), stating that, as a first step, the ILO should draw up a compendium of best practice adapted to local conditions leading to the preparation of a comprehensive code on occupational safety and health in ship-breaking, and that governments should be encouraged to require ships to have an inventory of hazardous materials on board that is updated throughout the life of the vessel, and requested the Director-General to bear this in mind when drawing up proposals for the future work of the Office. The draft Programmed and Budget for 2002-03 also identifies the improvement of working conditions at Asian ship-breaking sites as a priority area for extra-budgetary activities (paragraph 166, page 42).
 
The issues involved in current practices related to the decommissioning of ships for disposal, (ship scrapping), have given rise to considerable concern among a number of agencies, institutions and organizations. In general, these concerns focus on two main areas:

  • workers’ safety and health;
  • the environment.
Any ILO involvement would be expected to deal with traditional occupational safety and health issues. However, the environmental aspects have a considerable impact on the life of the workforce engaged in ship scrapping and associated activities, and should therefore also be addressed.
The very nature of ship demolition creates a matrix of procedures linking different areas:
  • ship;
  • environment;
  • occupational/social safety and welfare;
  • developing economies; and involving a number of stakeholders in addition to intergovernmental agencies.
The process of identifying initiatives for improvements cannot only single out specific areas, but will have to interact with all others. Consequently, it becomes evident that the process will require the involvement of stakeholders representing all areas. However, it becomes equally evident that a lead role should be played by one organization. Taking into account the broad interrelations between the main issues, those addressing environmental concerns and those addressing concerns related to occupational safety and health, it is evident that the ILO should have a major role to play. It is further suggested that the other agencies involved, e.g. IMO and UNEP, should participate. Important contributions may also be provided by UNDP, GEF, ISO (DEVCO – Committee on Developing Country Matters) and other organizations.
 
Some recommendations which is focused by this research  
  • Formulation and implementation of a national policy on of ship-breaking, better employment practice, safe working conditions, OSH facilities, workers rights, welfare and social security and protection  of both human and the environmental hazards in the vicinity of a ship-breaking site.
  • Enactment of a national legislation on ship-breaking industries and worker with tripartite and national consultations and there should be concerned changes to the existing laws and legislation.
  • Reflection of the guidelines issued by ILO, the IMO and the Basel Convention of there national policies, legislations, ship-breaking activities.
  • Recognisation of industry status of ship-breaking work.
  • The entire Stakeholders in the ship-breaking process should be responsible their respective duties and responsibilities for the right of workers and preventive measures should be taken to protect workers from the every hazard involved in ship-breaking.
  • There should be mechanisms for waste management and protection of environment.
  • There should be assessment of hazards, risks and control measures and appropriate occupational health surveillance.
  • There should be proper reporting, documentation, announcement, investigation and compensation of work-related injuries, diseases and provision of occupational health services for ship-breaking workers.
  • There should be proper implementation of labour laws and good working conditions and employment conditions.
  • There must be fixed working time, breaks, leave and proper wages, etc.
  • There should be prohibition on certain highly hazardous processes or substances.
  • The employer and the contractors must owe the responsibility for the protection of the workers in respect of the rights, safety, and health and should provide training and facilities for OSH activities as prescribed by national laws, instruments and regulations. They should take preventive measures to reduce the risk caused by hazardous work, OSH, HIV/AIDS. They should also conduct periodic assessment of those risks to reduce them.
  • There should be arrangement to handle work-related injuries and diseases, ill health and accidents.
  • The sites should be inspected in the presence of the employers and workers representative by the government authorities, to enforce the labour laws, other relevant laws and working conditions.
  • Worker should demand for OSH and safety training and should follow with safety and health measures.
  • Worker should be aware of their personal as well as safety of others and proper training should be given to handle and prevent accidents, OSH, HIV/AIDS, etc.
  • Workers should demand for the elimination of hazards and risks at work place.
  • They should also demand for protective clothing, devices, helmet, gloves, spectacles, mask, shoes, facilities and equipment placed at their disposal for this purpose and employers and authorities should provide them.
  • They should resist from working and report if any danger foreseen at the work place or in connection with work.
  • The yards should have emergency plans and facilities to deal with oil spills, gases, accidents, fire and other accidents with hazardous substances.
  • Yards should have first aid facilities and fire fighting equipments and the workers should be trained in using them.
  • The yards should have bathroom facilities, sanitation and safe drinking water facilities.
  • There should be separator to deal sludge, oil and any waste should not be throw out in the sea equipments should be made available to destroy the waste and toxic material so that no harm done to the environment.
  • Central trade union should see that statutory minimum wages are provided to the ship-breaking workers.
  • There should be safe and clean housing facilities far from the ship-breaking sites with proper sanitation and water.
  • At last, the workers should have good contracts with trade unions and trade unions should organize them. Creation of strong and democratic trade unions in the ship-breaking industries in urgently needed.
There is a decent way to break ships:[47]
 
GENEVA (ILO Online) – The dispatch of the aircraft carrier 'Clemenceau' from France to the world's largest ship graveyard on India's west coast for scrapping has focused new attention on the human and environmental dangers inherent in ship breaking. While breaking ships and selling of the scrap and hardware from retired vessels provides work and income for tens of thousands of persons in Bangladesh, China, India and Pakistan, the work is dangerous and can cause deaths due to work accidents as well as serious acute and chronic health problems, especially due to exposure to hazardous substances such as asbestos. ILO Online spoke with ILO ship breaking expert Paul Bailey.
 
ILO Online: The dispatch of the French aircraft carrier 'Clemenceau' to India for scrapping has attracted attention to the working conditions in ship breaking yards. What is the situation there?
 
Paul Bailey: Worker safety has clearly not been a top priority at ship breaking facilities in the region, and laborers seldom have access to basic personal protective equipment such as hard hats, gloves and goggles for steel cutting activities. Many are killed and thousands injured working in often tortuous conditions. Titanic-sized vessels are floated ashore and cut up by workers who are often exposed to deadly toxins, exploding gases, falling steel plates and other dangers.
 
ILO Online: Asbestos is among these deadly toxins…
 
Paul Bailey: That's correct. On average, a ship that is being dismantled contains about five to six tons of asbestos. Almost everything on such a ship will get recycled, including the asbestos. There is no harm in recycling safe products, but scrapping and repackaging asbestos from the ships without any protection devices is unacceptable. In the case of the Clemenceau, the matter has caused quite some controversy. While a large amount of the asbestos has already been removed, various estimates put the amount of asbestos remaining at between 45 and 1,000 tons. The question is where will this asbestos go, and how will it be handled. Will adequate safety training and protective equipment be provided?
 
ILO Online: Ship breaking activities have almost entirely moved to South and Southeast Asia, what are the reasons?
 
Paul Bailey: Before Bangladesh, China, India, and Pakistan became the world's leading ship breakers, vessels were taken apart where they were built: in industrialized countries. But high costs and environmental restrictions have driven ship-owners to look elsewhere for a way of disposing these vessels. There are also technical reasons: strong tides and tapering beaches in India and Bangladesh mean that there is no need for costly dry docks.
 
 
ILO Online: What is the economic impact of ship breaking in the region?
 
Paul Bailey: South Asian countries stepped in with a solution that also feeds the local economies. Before ship breaking, Bangladesh, for example, imported all of its scrap steel. Today the wrecked ships satisfy 80 per cent of its needs. But scrap steel is not the only value imported from the gaping holds of these ships. Lining the streets close to the ship breaking yards are various shops selling anything from bathtubs and toilets to boilers and generators removed from the ships after they are beached. The shipyard owners estimate around 200,000 Bangladeshis benefit indirectly from this business conducted on their shores. In India, the biggest ship breaking nation, the figure is half a million.
 
ILO Online: And the industry is likely to grow…
 
Paul Bailey: Demand for ship breaking services is likely to increase significantly in future years. The European Union (EU) approved a ban on single-hulled vessels in 2004 while the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has an advanced phase-out programmed in place. These ships will ultimately have to be disposed of, and dismantling in one of the Asian ship breaking yards is the most practical, cost-effective method. Nevertheless, we have a long way to go before all the necessary safety measures are in place which would permit dismantling in a more environmentally sound manner.
 
ILO Online: What can be done to make ship breaking decent work?
 
Paul Bailey: Although the problem might seem insurmountable, there are a number of practical measures that can be taken, including providing training for the workers, safety equipment and hygienic living quarters. Workers alone will not be able to solve the problem. We need a global partnership of ship-owners, ship breakers, employers, trade unions and, of course, government inspectors who will see that these standards are enforced. This is yet again a test for globalization and decent work.
 
ILO Online: What is the role of the ILO and other international agencies?
 
Paul Bailey: Representatives of government, employers' and workers' organizations from heavyweight ship breaking nations Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan and Turkey adopted ILO Guidelines on Safety and health in ship breaking: Guidelines for Asian countries and Turkey (Note 1)[48] for the industry in 2004. These measures will build on other recent positive developments in the form of international instruments aimed at ensuring a less hazardous and more decent work environment for those employed in one of the world's most dangerous occupations. As far as asbestos and other toxins present on the ships are concerned, the ILO provides various solutions based on its international standards, including Conventions, Recommendations and Codes of Practice. The ILO Conventions 139, 148, 162 and 170 on occupational cancer, working environment, safety in the use of asbestos, and safety in the use of chemicals have received 116 ratifications by the ILO member States.
 
ILO Online: What are the next steps?
 
Paul Bailey: The next step will see the ILO carrying out consultations with national authorities in countries concerned, including an assessment and auditing process, as well as identifying areas where technical assistance may be provided to aid implementation. One project, funded by United Nations Development Programmed, is currently underway in Bangladesh and some preparatory activities have been undertaken in India. Basic knowledge is now available on better ship breaking methods through the various sets of international guidelines on ship scrapping, especially in the ILO Guidelines on Safety and health in ship breaking: Guidelines for Asian countries and Turkey. What is needed now is practical application and training on how to use them. ILO, IMO and the Secretariat of the Basel Convention on the Control of Trans boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal also try to develop an integrated approach to regulation in this area. A Joint Working Group on ship scrapping concluded its second meeting last December. The Group discussed the development of a legally binding instrument on ship recycling which would provide global regulations on the design, construction, operation and preparation of ships so as to facilitate safe and environmentally sound recycling. In parallel to the development of a new international treaty on ship recycling, the possibility of establishing of an International Ship Recycling Fund is being explored to upgrade capacities of ship breaking facilities.
 
Another some related recommendations
 
 Most of the breaking majors have national regulations or guidelines addressing the issues at stake. In general, it can be claimed that these are not adhered to nor implemented. Measures or initiatives must take into account national or local legislative realities and be developed from actual and specific circumstances.
 
The challenges associated with occupational safety and health issues include environmental concerns. Changes are required at many levels and will include a number of topics. The involvement of all relevant stakeholders is essential and will include responsibility and commitment from:
 
  1. intergovernmental agencies;
  2. governments;
  3. national/local authorities;
  4. the industry stakeholders;
  5. the workers.
 
The identification of a project programmed “Sustainable ship decommissioning for disposal and recycling” is recommended. The programmed should not only have an overall objective and vision but also a local reference and include action and measurement of implementation schemes. A project programmed should rest on inputs from the ship scrapping industries and from views of local/national authorities as well as from involved agencies, institutions and governments. The main areas to be addressed include that of the ship, the breaking facility and the social welfare of workers involved. Items of priority include those of a technical and social nature, incentives/implementation and awareness. The overriding issues are occupational safety, health and environmental concern.
 
 
Table 4:  Actions of improvements – Offshore/decommissioning and sale for scrapping[49]
 

Table 5: Actions of improvements – Inter-tidal zone – Demolition – Principles of the breaking process[50]
 

Table 6: Actions of improvements – Shore – Disposal and recycling (extraction and sorting)[51]
 

7.2 ANNEXES
 
7.2.1 Annex I: Workers’ health surveillance.[52]
1 General principle
1.1 Competent authorities should ensure that laws and regulations governing workers’ health surveillance are properly applied.
1.2 Workers’ health surveillance should be carried out in consultation with workers and/or their representatives:
(a) With the central purpose of primary prevention of occupational and work-related injuries and diseases;
(b) Under controlled conditions and within an organized framework, as may be prescribed by national laws and regulations and in accordance with the ILO Occupational Health Services Convention, 1985 (No. 161), and Recommendation, 1985 (No. 171), and the ILO Technical and ethical guidelines for workers’ health surveillance (Geneva, 1997).
 
2. Organizations
2.1 The organization of workers’ health surveillance at different levels (national, industry, enterprise) should take into account:
(a) The need for a thorough investigation of all work-related factors and the nature of occupational hazards and risks in the workplace which may affect workers’ health;
(b) The health requirements of the work and the health status of the working population;
(c) The relevant laws and regulations and the available resources;
(d) The awareness of workers and employers of the functions and purposes of such surveillance;
(e) The fact that surveillance is not a substitute for monitoring and control of the working environment.
 
2.2 In accordance with the needs and available resources, workers’ health surveillance should be carried out at national, industry, enterprise and/or other appropriate level. Provided that surveillance is carried out or supervised by qualified occupational health professionals, as prescribed by national laws and regulations, it can be undertaken by:
(a) Occupational health services established in a variety of settings, e.g. within one enterprise or among enterprises;
(b) Occupational health consultants;
(c) The occupational and/or public health facilities available in the community where the enterprise is located;
(d) Social security institutions;
(e) worker-run centers;
(f) Contracted professional institutions or other bodies authorized by the competent authority;
(g) a combination of any of the above.
 
2.3 A comprehensive system of workers’ health surveillance should:
(a) Include individual and collective health assessments, occupational injury and disease recording and notification, sentinel event notification, surveys, investigations and inspections;
(b) Comprise the collection of information from various sources, and the analysis and evaluation with regard to quality and intended use;
(c) Determine action and follow-up, including:
(i) Guidance on health policies and occupational safety and health programmers;
(ii) Early warning capabilities so that the competent authority, employers, workers and their representatives, occupational health professionals and research institutions can be alerted to existing or emerging occupational safety and health problems.
 
 
3. Assessments
3.1 Medical examinations and consultations as the most commonly used means of health assessment of individual workers, either as part of screening programmers or on an as-needed basis, should serve the following purposes:
(a) The assessment of the health of workers in relation to hazards or risks, giving special attention to those workers having specific needs for protection in relation with their health condition;
(b) Detection of pre-clinical and clinical abnormalities at a point when intervention is beneficial to individual health;
(c) Prevention of further deterioration in workers’ health;
(d) Evaluation of the effectiveness of control measures in the workplace;
(e) Reinforcement of safe methods of work and health maintenance;
(f) Assessment of fitness for a particular type of work with due regard for the adaptation of the workplace to the worker, taking into account individual susceptibility.
 
3.2 Pre-assignment medical examinations, where appropriate, carried out before or shortly after employment or assignment, should:
(a) Collect information which serves as a baseline for future health surveillance;
(b) be adapted to the type of work, vocational fitness criteria and workplace hazards.
 
3.3 During employment, medical examinations should take place at periodic intervals, as prescribed by national laws and regulations, and be appropriate to the occupational risks of the enterprise. These examinations should also be repeated:
(a) On resumption of work after a prolonged absence for health reasons;
(b) at the request of the worker, for example in the case of change of work and, in particular, change of work for health reasons.
 
3.4 Where persons have been exposed to hazards and, as a consequence, there is a significant risk to their health in the long term, suitable arrangements should be made for post-employment medical surveillance for the purposes of ensuring the early diagnosis and treatment of such diseases.
 
3.5 Biological tests and other investigations should be prescribed by national laws and regulations. They should be subject to the workers’ informed consent and performed according to the highest professional standards and least possible risk. These tests and investigations should not introduce unnecessary new hazards to the workers.
 
3.6 Genetic screening should be prohibited or limited to cases explicitly authorized by national legislation, in accordance with the ILO Code of practice Protection of workers’ personal data.
 
4. Use and records of data
4.1 Workers’ personal medical data should:
(a) be collected and stored in conformity with medical confidentiality, in accordance with the ILO Code of practice Protection of workers’ personal data (Geneva, 1997);
(b) be used to protect the health of workers (physical, mental and social well-being) individually and collectively, in accordance with the ILO Technical and ethical guidelines for workers’ health surveillance.
 
4.2 The results and records of workers’ health surveillance should:
(a) be clearly explained by professional health personnel to the workers concerned or to persons of their choice;
(b) not be used for unwarranted discrimination, for which there should be recourse in national law and practice;
(c) be made available, where requested by the competent authority, or to any other party agreed by both employers and workers, to prepare appropriate health statistics and epidemiological studies, provided anonymity is maintained, where this may aid in the recognition and control of occupational injuries and diseases;
(d) be kept during the time and under conditions prescribed by national laws and regulations, with appropriate arrangements to ensure that workers’ health surveillance records are securely maintained for establishments that have closed down.
 
7.2.2 Annex II: Surveillance of the working environment.[53]
 
1. The surveillance of the working environment should include:
(a) Identification and evaluation of the hazards and risks which may affect the workers’ safety and health;
(b) Assessment of conditions of occupational hygiene and factors in the organization of work which may give rise to hazards or risks to the safety and health of workers;
(c) Assessment of collective and personal protective equipment;
(d) Assessment where appropriate of exposure of workers to hazardous agents by valid and generally accepted monitoring methods;
(e) Assessment of control systems designed to eliminate or reduce exposure.
 
2. Such surveillance should be carried out in liaison with the other technical services of the undertaking and in cooperation with the workers concerned and their representatives in the undertaking and/or the safety and health committee, where they exist.
 
3. In accordance with national law and practice, data resulting from the surveillance of the working environment should be recorded in an appropriate manner and be available to the employer, the workers and their representatives in the undertaking concerned or the safety and health committee, where they exist.
 
4. These data should be used on a confidential basis and solely to provide guidance and advice on measures to improve the working environment and the safety and health of workers.
 
5. The competent authority should have access to these data. They may only be communicated to others with the agreement of the employer and the workers or their representatives in the undertaking or the safety and health committee, where they exist.
 
6. The surveillance of the working environment should entail such visits by the personnel providing occupational health services as may be necessary to examine the factors in the working environment which may affect the workers’ health, the environmental health conditions at the workplace and the working conditions.
 
7. Without prejudice to the responsibility of each employer for the safety and health of workers in his/her employment, and with due regard to the necessity for the workers to participate in matters of occupational safety and health, personnel providing occupational health services should have such of the following functions as are adequate and appropriate to the occupational risks of the undertaking:
(a) Carry out monitoring of workers’ exposure to hazards and risks, when necessary;
(b) Advise on the possible impact on the workers’ health of the use of technologies;
(c) Participate in and advise on the selection of the equipment necessary for the personal protection of the workers against occupational hazards;
(d) Collaborate in job analysis and in the study of organization and methods of work with a view to securing a better adaptation of work to the workers;
(e) Participate in the analysis of occupational accidents and occupational diseases and in accident prevention programmers;
(f) Supervise sanitary installations and other facilities for the workers, such as drinking-water, canteens and living accommodation, when provided by the employer.
 
8. Personnel providing occupational health services should, after informing the employer, workers and their representatives, where appropriate:
(a) Have free access to all workplaces and to the installations the undertaking provides for the workers;
(b) have access to information concerning the processes, performance standards, products, materials and substances used or whose use is envisaged, subject to their preserving the confidentiality of any secret information they may learn which does not affect the safety and health of workers;
(c) be able to take for the purpose of analysis samples of products, materials and substances used or handled.
 
9. Personnel providing occupational health services should be consulted concerning proposed modifications in the work processes or in the conditions of work liable to have an effect on the safety and health of workers.
 
 
7.2.3 Annex III: Establishing an OSH management system.[54]
1 Introduction
1.1 The positive impact of introducing occupational safety and health (OSH) management systems at the enterprise level, both on the reduction of hazards and risks and on productivity, is now recognized internationally by governments, employers and workers. The mutual benefits that accrue from the introduction of such systems should not be ignored if progress on improving safety and health and productivity in the ship-breaking industry to be achieved. While systems need to be specific to a ship-breaking facility and appropriate to the size and nature of activities, many elements of the ILO-OSH 2001 Guidelines are generic and assistance from other industry sectors should not be difficult to obtain when implementing such a system. The design and application of OSH management systems at national and facility levels for ship breaking should be guided by the ILO Guidelines on occupational safety and health management systems ILO-OSH 2001.
 
1.2 The competent authority should:
(a)  Promote the implementation and integration of OSH management systems as an integral part of the overall management of ship-breaking facilities;
(b) elaborate national guidelines on the voluntary application and systematic implementation of OSH management systems based on the ILO Guidelines on occupational safety and health management systems (ILO-OSH 2001) or other internationally recognized safety and health management system compatible with ILO-OSH 2001 taking into consideration national conditions and practice;
(c) Encourage the elaboration by authorized institutions of specific (tailored) guidelines on OSH management systems in ship-breaking facilities;
(d) provide support and technical guidance to labour inspectorates, OSH services and other public or private services, agencies and institutions dealing with OSH, including health-care providers;
(e) Ensure that guidance is provided to employers and workers to assist them comply with their legal obligations under the policy;
(f) Ensure cooperation between employers whenever two or more facilities engage in activities on the same project;
(g) Recognize the need, so long as the safety and health of workers are not compromised, to protect confidential information that could potentially cause harm to an employer's business.
 
1.3 With a view to developing, implementing and operating OSH management systems, employers should:
(a) Set out in writing their respective OSH policy, programmers and safety and health protection arrangements as part of the general facility management policy;
(b) Define the various safety and health responsibilities, accountability and authority levels and communicate these clearly to their workers, visitors or any other persons working in the facility, as appropriate;
(c) Ensure effective arrangements for the full participation of workers and their representatives in the fulfillment of the OSH policy;
(d) Define both the necessary OSH competence requirements for all persons and the consequent individual training
(e) Ensure workers have sufficient information, in a form and language that they understand, to protect their health from hazardous ambient factors;
(f) Establish and maintain appropriate documentation and communication arrangements;
(g) Identify the hazards and carry out assessments of the specific risks to safety and health of workers presented in the workplace;
(h) Establish hazard prevention and control measures including emergency prevention, preparedness and response arrangements;
(i) establish procedures for the compliance with OSH requirements in purchasing and leasing specifications and for contractors working on the site;
(j) develop, establish and review procedures to monitor, measure and record OSH performance, taking into consideration the results of the investigations of work-related injuries and diseases, OSH compliance audits and reviews of the OSH system by management; and
(k) identify and implement preventive and corrective actions and opportunities for continual improvement.
2 Occupational safety and health policy
 
2.1 The management of safety and health should be considered as a high priority management task. Consistent with the general policy of the ship-breaking facility, the employer should set out an OSH policy, which should:
(a) Be specific to the facility and appropriate to its size and the nature of its activities;
(b) Recognize OSH as an integral part of the overall management structure and OSH performance as an integral part of the business performance of the facility,
 
2.2 The OSH policy should include, as a minimum, the following key principles and objectives to which the facility management is committed:
(a) Recognizing OSH as an integral part of the overall management structure and OSH performance as an integral part of the establishment's business performance;
(b) Protecting the safety and health of all members of the establishment by preventing work-related injuries, ill health, diseases and incidents;
(c) Complying with relevant OSH national laws and regulations, voluntary programmers, collective agreements on OSH and other requirements to which the establishment subscribes or may wish to subscribe;
(d) Ensuring that workers and their representatives are consulted and encouraged to participate actively in all elements of the OSH management system; and
(e) Continual improvement of the performance of the OSH management system.
 
2.3 The extent and precise nature of a safety and health policy will clearly depend on the size and scope of the ship-breaking facility, but certain key components should be incorporated. These are:
(a) The recruitment and training of personnel;
(b) The identification of those personnel who have been assigned specific responsibilities in the area of safety and health;
(c) The provision of equipment and substances in order to ensure a safe and healthy working environment;
(d) Arrangements for liaison with other concerned bodies, for example legislators, workers' organizations, public utilities such as water and electricity authorities, and organizations responsible for environmental conservation;
(e) The function and constitution of the safety and health committee;
(f) Procedures for the enforcement of safety requirements adopted by the establishment whether by laws and regulations or otherwise;
(g) Procedures for the reporting of accidents, dangerous occurrences and occupational diseases;
(h) The means by which the policy will be communicated to all those involved including the date on which the policy will be reviewed and, as necessary, revised;
(i) Emergency procedures.
 
3. Worker participation
 
3.1 Worker participation should be an essential element of the OSH management system in the facility. The employer should ensure that workers and their safety and health representatives are consulted, informed and trained on all aspects of OSH associated with their work, including emergency arrangements,
 
3.2 The employer should ensure, as appropriate, the establishment and efficient functioning of a safety and health committee and the recognition of workers' safety and health representatives, in accordance with national laws and practice. Safety and health committees should include workers or their representatives, employers' representatives and as far as practicable an occupational safety and health expert. Safety and health committees should meet regularly and participate in the decision-making process related to occupational safety and health-related issues.
 
4. Responsibility and accountability
 
4.1 The employer should have overall responsibility for the protection of workers' safety and health and provide leadership for OSH activities and initiatives in the facility.
 
4.2 The employer and senior management should allocate responsibility, accountability and authority among the personnel for the development, implementation and performance of the OSH management system and for OSH matters. These matters should constitute part of their overall responsibilities and be incorporated into job descriptions as part of management tasks. Measures should be taken to ensure that the personnel are competent and have the necessary authority and resources to perform their duties effectively.
 
4.3 Irrespective of the size and structure of the enterprise, senior managers should be appointed to develop, oversee and control safety and health standards. They should be the focal points to which problems will be addressed, including the recording and notification of occupational accidents and diseases.
 
4.4 Managers and supervisors should:
(a) Implement the facility's safety and health policy, including through the selection of safe equipment, work methods and work organization and the maintenance of high levels of skill.
(b) (c) (d) (e) endeavor to reduce risks and hazards to safety and health in the activities for which they are responsible to as low a level as possible; ensure that workers and contractors receive adequate information on safety and health regulations, policies, procedures and requirements and satisfy themselves that this information is understood; assign tasks to their subordinates in a clear and precise way. Managers and supervisors should satisfy themselves that workers understand and implement the safety and health requirements;  ensure that work is planned, organized and carried out in such a way as to minimize the risk of accidents and the exposure of workers to conditions that may lead to injury or damage of their health.
 
4.5 In consultation with workers, managers and supervisors should assess the need for additional instruction, training or further education of workers by monitoring compliance with safety requirements.
 
4.6 Supervisors should be responsible for monitoring the compliance by contractors and their workers with the requirements for occupational safety and health. In the event of non-compliance, supervisors should provide appropriate instruction and advice to contractors and their workers accordingly.
 
4.7 Workers should be made clearly aware of their rights and individual and collective duties for safety and health matters, as prescribed by national laws and regulation or adapted regulations of the facility.
 
4.8 Contractors employing workers for ship breaking should be regarded as employers for the purposes of these guidelines and the provisions pertaining to the responsibilities and duties of employers should apply accordingly.
 
4.9 Contractors and labour supply agents should:
(a) Be registered or hold licenses where required by national laws or regulations or subscribe to recognized voluntary schemes where they exist;
(b) Make them aware of and operate according to the commissioning parties' policies and strategies for the promotion of safety and health and should comply and cooperate with related measures and requirements.
4.10 Contractors should comply with national laws and regulations concerning terms of employment, workers' compensation, labour inspection and occupational safety and health.
 
5 Competence and training
The necessary OSH competence requirements should be defined by the employer, and appropriate training arrangements established and maintained to ensure that all persons are competent to perform their present or future safety and health duties and responsibilities.
 
7.2.4 ANNEX-IV: EMERGENCY ADVICE FOR SHIP BREAKING WORKS
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• Abyiƒc cÖwZK‚j cwiw¯’wZ‡Z Zvr¶wYK e¨e¯’v wn‡m‡e evZvm PjvPj †hvM¨ Kvco w`‡q bvKgyL †X‡K gvwU‡Z ï‡q co–b| N‡ii mg¯Í `iRv-Rvbvjv eÜ ivLyb|
 
MYcÖRvZš¿x evsjv‡`k miKvi
cwi‡ek Awa`ßi, PÆMÖvg wefvM
8.1 CONCLUSION
 
Such an inventory may include a mutual section for practices related to the identification and handling of materials items and hazards and should cover environmental aspects as well as occupational safety and health as these are closely interconnected. This approach may lead to the identification of minimum requirements for the ship, the ship-breaking facility (and operations) and the associated recycling facilities. It should also address incidents and associated requirements (contingency preparedness). At a developed stage, such inventory will in effect provide a safety-health-environmental concept (SHEC) for ship decommissioning for disposal process. Just as it is unacceptable to exploit a workforce through low-paid work in an unsafe environment or by utilizing children, it is likewise unacceptable to dispose of materials and substances in a fashion which may cause harm to the workforce, the society, to our environment or to the future generations. The application of the principles of sustainability to resource management is achieving broad acceptance and recognition by employers and workers and also in society in general. This is mirrored by the fast-growing acceptance of reuse and recycling of materials wherever possible. Developing countries are aware of the importance of the principles of sustainable development as well as those of the protection of human safety and health. Agriculture and fisheries are the backbone of these economies and the importances of protecting these are obvious. However, strained economies and acute challenges in other sectors may prohibit the long-term strategic focus necessary for making lasting changes both in respect to human health, workers’ safety and the environment. These are all heavily dominated by corporations and institutions established in the industrialized world. The non-commit mental attitude adopted by the shipping industry with respect to ship disposal up to this point is mirrored by the obvious non-observance of any standards. On the one hand, the developing economies cannot afford to lose the income provided from scrapping and recycling industries; on the other, the shipping industry as a whole has not been willing pay the price of safe disposal. The SHEC approach may be developed to represent as a methodical tool for a specific (national) scenario containing references to relevant norms, standards, regulations, etc. and should address and make provisions for implementation, maintenance and continuous improvement including monitoring. Social conditions and general worker rights are also issues. Challenges related to these topics may be considerably more complex than those related to the actual scrapping, disposal and reuse cycling. However, some priority subjects with considerable impact to the overall issue are obvious: housing and living conditions; the provision of health services (health monitoring); employment contracts and agreements.
 
It is also revealed through the study that the workers are suffering different health problems and they work in the hazards places, but they have no other option to earn their minimum livelihood.
 
So in light of the study it is clear that the work organization has not developed in this particular industry. The prevailing situation at the workplace constitutes gross violation of industrial codes and mandates of safe work and healthy work place environment. And it is group of workers who are to suffer and suffer with their health and life.
 9.1 BIBLIOGRAPHY
 
1.Basel Convention Press Release, http://www.basel.int/press/TWGOctDay2.html
2.Buddhist Peace Foundation, recently published a report on (01/09/2000) titled `Ship breaking’
3.Dr. Bishwajit Roy; Article on Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies – BILS: 7th Year, 2nd Issue, April–June 2
4.http://www www.un-bd.org.
5.http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/gb/docs/gb289/pdf/meshs- 1.pdf
6.ILO Guidelines on occupational safety and health management systems ILO/OSH 2001)
7.ILO Technical and ethical guidelines for workers’ health surveillance, 1997).
8.Interregional Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Safety and Health in Ship breaking for Selected Asian Countries and Turkey “Bangkok, 20-27 May 2003”
9.Occupational Health Services Recommendation, 1985 No. 171)
10.Report of the Bangladesh Observer; (Page 4); Dhaka Friday November 9, 2007.
11.Report `Stuck in mud: On Ship breaking, Labour Conditions and Environment in Chittagong, Bangladesh’ is published in 2000.
12.United Nations Development Programme; MEDIA RELEASE on 29 June 2004
13.Workers In Ship Breaking Industries: A Base Line Survey Of Chittagong (Bangladesh)
……….. Implemented by- YPSA
14.Aage Bjørn Andersen  ……………Worker safety in the ship-breaking industries (Working Papers\2001-03-0210-1.doc).
 

 

[1] Workers In Ship Breaking Industries: A Base Line Survey Of Chittagong (Bangladesh)
……….. Implemented by- YPSA. First published 2005.
 
[2] Report of the Bangladesh Observer; (Page 4); Dhaka Friday November 9, 2007.
[3] Dr. Bishwajit Roy; An Article on Health Problems Among The Workers In Ship Breaking Industry ………….. Published by Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies – BILS: 7th Year, 2nd Issue, April–June 2
[4] Report `Stuck in mud: On Ship breaking, Labour Conditions and Environment in Chittagong, Bangladesh’ is published in 2000.
[5] http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/gb/docs/gb289/pdf/meshs- 1.pdf
[6] Report ‘Ship Breaking Industry of Bangladesh’ wrote by Mr. Ataur Rahman and A Z M Tabarukullah
[7] Buddhist Peace Foundation, recently published a report on (01/09/2000) titled `Ship breaking’.
[8] Interregional Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Safety and Health in Ship breaking for Selected Asian Countries and Turkey “Bangkok, 20-27 May 2003”
[9] United Nations Development Programme; MEDIA RELEASE on 29 June 2004// (www.un-bd.org).
[10] Workers In Ship Breaking Industries: A Base Line Survey Of Chittagong (Bangladesh)
 ……….. Implemented by- YPSA. First Published on 2005.
[11] Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1992.
[12] 48th session. Report of the Working Group,  MEPC 48/WP.12/Add.1, 9 October 2002
[13] www. basel. int
[14] www.marisec.org.
[15] DNV Report No. 2000-3156, 2001
[16] DNV Report No. 2000-3527, 2001
[17] http://www.londonconvention.org
[18] 48th session. Report of the Working Group,  MEPC 48/WP.12/Add.1, 9 October 2002
[19] www. basel. int
[20] Workers In Ship Breaking Industries: A Base Line Survey Of Chittagong (Bangladesh)
……….. Implemented By- YPSA. First Published on 2005.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Workers In Ship Breaking Industries: A Base Line Survey Of Chittagong (Bangladesh)
……….. Implemented by- YPSA. First Published on 2005.
[23] Ibid.
[24] WORKERS IN SHIP BREAKING INDUSTRIES: A BASE LINE SURVEY OF CHITTAGONG (BANGLADESH) ……….. Implemented by- YPSA.
[25] Workers In Ship Breaking Industries: A Base Line Survey Of Chittagong (Bangladesh)
                                                                                ……….. Implemented by- YPSA. First Published on 2005.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Workers In Ship Breaking Industries: A Base Line Survey Of Chittagong (Bangladesh)
                                                                                ……….. Implemented by- YPSA. First Published on 2005.
[28] Ibid.
[29] Workers In Ship Breaking Industries: A Base Line Survey Of Chittagong (Bangladesh)
                                                                                ……….. Implemented by- YPSA. First Published on 2005.
[30] Ibid.
[31] Ibid.
[32] Ibid.
[33] Workers In Ship Breaking Industries: A Base Line Survey Of Chittagong (Bangladesh)
                                                                                ……….. Implemented by- YPSA. First Published on 2005.
[34] Ibid.
[35] Workers In Ship Breaking Industries: A Base Line Survey Of Chittagong (Bangladesh)
                                                                                ……….. Implemented by- YPSA. First Published on 2005.
[36] Workers In Ship Breaking Industries: A Base Line Survey Of Chittagong (Bangladesh)
                                                                                ……….. Implemented by- YPSA. First Published on 2005.
[37] Workers In Ship Breaking Industries: A Base Line Survey Of Chittagong (Bangladesh)
                                                                                ……….. Implemented by- YPSA. First Published on 2005.
[38] Workers In Ship Breaking Industries: A Base Line Survey Of Chittagong (Bangladesh)
                                                                                ……….. Implemented by- YPSA. First Published on 2005.
[39] Report of the Bangladesh Observer; (Page 4); Dhaka Friday November 9, 2007.
 
[40] Report of the Bangladesh Observer; (Page 4); Dhaka Friday November 9, 2007.
 
[41] Report of the Bangladesh Observer; (Page 4) written by Md. Arifur Rahman and Muhammed Ali Shahin
; Dhaka Friday November 9, 2007.
 
[42] http://www.bangladeshnews.com.bd/2006/09/14/dialogue-on-ship-breaking-industry-most-hazardous-need-national-policy. Posted on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 at 2:57 pm.
[43]  Report of the Daily Star (News Paper)………. Published On: 2008-04-22
[44] Report of the Daily Star (News Paper)………..Published On: 2008-01-08
[45] Ibid.
[46] United Nations Development Programme; MEDIA RELEASE on 29 June 2004// (www.un-bd.org).
[47] http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/gb/docs/gb289/pdf/meshs- 1.pdf
 
[48] Note 1 Safety and health in ship breaking: Guidelines for Asian countries and Turkey, ISBN 92-2-115289-8, International Labour Office, Geneva, 2004.
[49] Worker safety in the ship-breaking industries ………….Aage Bjørn Andersen (Working Papers\2001-03-0210-1.doc)
 
[50]  Worker safety in the ship-breaking industries  ………….Aage Bjørn Andersen (Working Papers\2001-03-0210-1.doc).
[51] Worker safety in the ship-breaking industries  ………….Aage Bjørn Andersen (Working Papers\2001-03-0210-1.doc).
 
[52] ILO Technical and ethical guidelines for workers’ health surveillance, 1997
[53] Occupational Health Services Recommendation, 1985 No. 171
[54] ILO Guidelines on occupational safety and health management systems ILO/OSH 2001