Machine and material at the cost of man
OUR human workforce is the mainstay of our economy. Many of them are illiterate, but are often the only rice earner for their family. Yet, their life in the working environment, supposed to be made safe by their employee for compliance with national and international legal bindings, is fraught with dangers. One of the elements that constantly threaten them, to which they are largely unaware, is fire.
Today we present two pieces, one by Lt. Cdr. (Retd.) A. H. M Mahmud, a person having education on fire safety, and another by myself.
In 'Fire safety in the workplace: the Bangladesh perspective', Mahmud tries to draw parallel with international standards and practice, and emphasises on fire risk assessment as a more recent development as opposed to fire certificate.
My article is a repetition of what I have been saying over the years at seminars and in my writings even in this page. But, we have to keep on hitting hard the facts to awaken the dormant conscience of some of our owners and employers, who are bowled over by the system in the countries they regularly visit, but are unable to assume similar responsibilities in their home unit. Sadly, many of them consider machine and materials more important than the 'man' factor, read also woman.
While the costly machine is kept spick and span (perhaps insured too), and the expensive imported materials are protected, the human constituent in our industries (not only limited to garment factories), is taken for guaranteed. Taking advantage of their dire economic condition, many owners abuse the rights of the workers in having a safe and hygienic working environment. The viewpoint of some owners and employers is that workers will go and workers come, because there are too many of them looking for jobs.
The attitude is changing at a slow pace, but in some factories the Middle Ages is alive and kicking.