Workplace safety situation worsened sharply in 2025, with at least 1,190 workers died and 222 were injured in job-related accidents across the country, according to a new report released on Tuesday.
The death toll marked a significant rise from 2024, when 905 workers died and 218 were injured. The increase of 285 fatalities in a single year points to deep and unresolved problems in how workplace safety is managed.
The findings were revealed in an annual monitoring report of the Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment (OSHE) Foundation. The report was unveiled at a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity.
OSHE Foundation said the report has been prepared with information from national and local newspapers, electronic and online media, trade union sources, and verified field-level data collected by the organisation.
One of the most disturbing findings is the fatality rate itself. More than eight out of every ten reported workplace accidents in 2025 ended in death. This suggests that when accidents happen, workers often do not survive them. The report links this to weak preventive safety systems, delayed rescue efforts, and limited access to emergency medical care.
The report also shows that most accidents occurred in the informal sectors. Around 84 per cent of workplace accidents took place in the jobs that are outside effective labour law coverage.
OSHE Foundation described this as the single biggest structural challenge to improving workplace safety, warning that meaningful progress would remain difficult unless informal workers are brought under labour law enforcement and social protection schemes.
As in previous years, transport sector recorded the highest number of accidents. It was followed by industrial and manufacturing sector, service sector, agriculture, and construction and infrastructure. Jobs involving long hours, heavy machinery, high mobility, and informal employment were found to be especially risky.
Road accidents were the leading cause of workplace deaths, followed by electrocution, falls from height, fires and explosions, lightning strikes, and incidents of violence and harassment. The report noted that most of these accidents could be prevented with basic safety planning and supervision.
OSHE Foundation placed several recommendations. These included strengthening labour inspections, forming safety committees at workplaces with workers' participation, ensuring minimum compensation for families of the dead workers, conducting regular safety audits in high-risk sectors, creating a government-run national database on workplace accidents, and extending social protection to informal sector workers affected by accidents.
Without serious attention to workplace safety, OSHE Foundation warned, it would be difficult to protect workers' lives, sustain productivity, or support long-term development. The organisation stressed that preventing accidents must be prioritised over responding to them after the damage is done.
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