Workplace accidents claimed the lives of a total of 758 workers in 639 mishaps across the country in 2024, with a slight decrease from 772 recorded in 2023, according to a survey conducted by the Safety and Rights Society (SRS).
Workers who died in road accidents on their way to work were also included in the survey based on newspaper reports (15 national and 11 local).
SRS executive director Sekender Ali Mina shared the findings at a press conference in the city on Tuesday.
The transport sector recorded the highest number of worker fatalities, totaling 379 individuals. Some 129 fatalities were reported in service establishments, including workshops, gas and electricity supply establishments.
Construction sector ranked third, with 92 workers killed, followed by 70 fatalities in factories and other productive establishments. The agriculture sector recorded 86 worker fatalities, according to SRS findings.
Road structure, unfit vehicles, incompetent drivers, uncontrolled transport systems, obstruction in law enforcement, reckless driving, were cited as causes of accidents in the transport sector.
Causes of accidents in the manufacturing sector include not taking permission from the concerned department for construction of factories, not training the workers on safety issues, inefficiency in the use of chemicals and connecting electrical lines without any safety measures in the construction sector, working on scaffolding without using safety belts and septic tanks or SRS identified the lack of necessary precautions in working on water tanks.
Another report by the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), which analysed newspaper reports published between January 1 and December 15 of 2024, showed some 707 workers died in workplace accidents while 292 others injured in 2024 which was 709 and 482 respectively in 2023.
Of the deceased 707, some 705 were male and two were female workers.
Some 113 workers died and 100 were injured falling victim to torture at their respective workplaces during the period, the BILS report mentioned.
Of the deceased 707, some 273 workers died in the transport sector, 102 in agriculture, 91 in construction, 43 rickshaw, 38 migrant workers while 32 of them were day labourers.
Some 22 succumbed to electrocution, 19 in the fisheries sector, 10 in shipbreaking and 9 steel mills, 8 in water transport, 7 in an oxygen factory, six in manufacturing, each five in hotel-restaurants, wielding, shops and rice mills, and the rest in other sectors.
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