Safety culture : Missing in South Asia
Mohiuddin Babar | Saturday, 19 July 2008
IN South Asia, home of the biggest segment of global population, the culture of occupational health and safety is almost non-existent. This is evident from the fact of high toll of deaths and injuries in accidents on roads and rivers, incidents of fire in mills and factories, loss of huge number of lives in natural calamities, etc. The incidents of Bhopal Gas tragedy in India, repeated outbreak of fire in readymade garments industries in Bangladesh, train accidents in Pakistan and bridge collapse in Nepal are just some of the incidents in which lives of thousands of people could have been saved provided proper safety measures were in place and in practice.
With globalization and free market economy, the region has seen rise of industrialization that has impacted development in other sectors as well. However, almost all countries in the region heavily lack in ensuring proper welfare for the workforce in particular and the common people in general.
There is a predominant dearth of the culture of occupational health and safety in the region. Though there are laws, rules and regulations in this regard, lack of enforcement, coupled with lack of awareness, and individual or societal attitude compel prevalence and rise in occupational health hazards and safety breaches. No wonder, people do not use zebra crossings, do not use seat-belts in transports, do not wear life-jackets in boats, do not take protection measures in using hazardous chemicals, do not use safety harness while working at heights and so forth. It demands both, raising awareness as well as the political, administrative and societal will, to ensure proper implementation. Only then, the culture of occupational health and safety will develop in the societies in South Asian region.
Background: South Asia is a diversified region. While culturally and in religion there is a big divide, there are visible differences in economic outlook towards the countries or societies in the region. We see fast growing economies like India but at the same time we also have few of the bottom-line least developed countries (LDCs) like Bangladesh and Nepal. Topographically too, there are wild differences ranging from high mountains to low delta, from absolute deserts to thick forests.
Because of the geographical sizes and topographical structures, the high figure population stock has to live in small habitable areas making it the most densely populated region in the world. As such, these are the compelling reasons for not having proper approaches towards health and safety in general.
Again, with most of the people living in poverty, the primary focus of their life and living is on the basic norms of survival sustainability which means that they would not care anything but the "shortcuts" to enable them pass their lives whether at work or at home. This is the prima facie of the socially transmitted behaviour patterns, beliefs and acts that constitute the array of hazards resulting in increased fatalities on roads, in fields, in offices, in mills and factories.
Current Status: As is known, there are about two million deaths per year globally due to accidents or illnesses at workplaces. Of these, a big segment is in the south Asian countries, quite obviously because the stock of population is very heavy and respect to protection and prevention measures with regard to safety are at low ebb. Though population count is an important factor, there are several other reasons that contribute to this situation and they include mainly lack of proper policies, lack of implementation of correct policies or rules, lack of standards and guidelines, corruption, lack of technology, lack of financial strengths etc. Nevertheless, the vital factor is the cultural attitude, both from the policy makers as well as the common people.
Reporting: As occupational health and safety is an ignored or half-heartedly attended, reporting on casualties is not organized. Due to lack of structured system of collecting data, there is always underreporting of occupational accidents. That is why a true picture about the extent of casualties at workplaces is difficult to be gauged. Moreover, there is no transparency about the compensation schemes and hence, reporting does not create any urgency or importance.
Reasons for increased fatalities: It is evident that fatalities at workplaces in the South Asian region have increased manifold during the past few decades. As most of the workforce in the region have been engaged in agriculture, fatalities in the sector have always been too many but never reported. News about occupational fatalities started coming to forefront after the region swung into industrialization. The Bhopal gas leak disaster in 1984 was, however, the main propeller of highlighting all about occupational health and safety.
Globalization and trade liberalization steered a massive industrialization spree in the region. While several multinational companies seized the opportunity and set up chain of factories or relocated their operations from elsewhere because of the availability of cheap market and due to a huge market of billions of consumers, the region have also been seeing an unfolding of industrialization at different levels -- from heavy industries to small and medium enterprises by local entrepreneurs. This propelled increasing competition which resulted in enforcing the enterprises to race for high profitability but with lower cost of production.
At the same time, technological developments fanned favour to the enterprises in terms of employment of workers. As a result, there have been new trends in employment with lesser permanent employees but massive number of occasional or seasonal employees. In this context, the employers take to the path of undertaking investments as little as possible for the welfare of the employees. That is why we see today unhealthy working conditions in the mills and factories (other than the well-reputed multinational enterprises), use of child labour, violence against women workers and absence of insurance or good compensation packages for the workers. On the other hand, the poor employees continue to do their work despite their illnesses or diseases as because they suffer from income insecurity, lack of institutional support and lack of awareness about their job benefits, not to talk about their rights on health and safety.
Taking the case of Bangladesh, the readymade garments manufacturing industries started growing fast since the late eighties. Today, over two million workers are employed in this sector that fetches 75 per cent of the country's export earnings. However, almost the entire segment of these workers are vulnerable to innumerable occupational hazards ranging from fire to diseases due to unhealthy conditions prevailing at their workplaces. Since 1990, as many as 22 fire incidents took place in this sector taking lives of over 300 workers. Thousands of others have been maimed. Despite the repeated accidents, owners try not to invest in safety measures nor do they ever train the workers on safety. The entrepreneurs find these actions as barriers to their trade.
On the other hand, the workers continue to work under such conditions as they don't want to miss out the opportunity of their earning, even if it was only twenty US dollar a month.
In the agriculture sector, blasts of boilers in the rice husking and drying units are almost regular. About 40 blasts took place in 2007 with fatalities of hundreds. The reason is that the boilers are made bypassing technical necessities and that there are no inspections by competent authorities.
The situation is deplorable in the informal sector which has grown rapidly over the years. The case is similar in almost all the countries in the region. While some multinational companies do have strict safety measures for their workers, the informal sector is far away from any norm of safety and health concerns for the workers.
Attitude and habits: Attitude and habits play a dominant role in ensuring safety in our lives. The lifestyle of the people in south Asia has been erratic due to economic conditions and absence of the cult of discipline which is normally philosophized and sensitized by stable socio-political leadership. As is known, almost all countries in the region have legacies of historic socio-political turmoil which genuinely impacted the behaviour of the masses. Individual or societal growth always depended on the theory of "survival sustainability" which meant steering life compromising with the hazards.
There can be plethora of examples to this effect but for obvious reasons, every one turns a blind eye towards reorganizing the lifestyle to a more meaningful one with increased concerns for safety. That is why, despite governmental or institutional efforts to create awareness about safety, the habit of disrespect or "couldn't care less" attitude reign supreme in the minds of the people. The AsiaNews.IT, a web journal recently dubbed the workplace safety situation in Bangladesh as "homemade" problem. They commented that "factory owners are failing to ensure safety standards, the authorities make laws but do not monitor enforecement. So workers in Bangladesh try to take care of themselves".
Again, the cultural stubbornness also plays havoc. For an example, concerned authorities in Bangladesh give repeated instructions for not plying boats in stormy weather conditions. However, the boats disregard the instructions as the boatmen or the passengers believe that the fate of their life or death is in the hand of God.
Conclusion: In conclusion, it can be said that the culture of occupational safety and health is a matter traditionally ignored in south Asian region wherein the priority is on gaining security of food, shelter, education, healthcare and an improved lifestyle in any manner which may even entail the practices of "shortcuts". This enhances the risks in all fronts and there is need to raise awareness that continued negligence to the standards of occupational health and safety impacts productivity, due to even loss time injuries -- not to mention about deaths due to accidents or diseases due to unhealthy working conditions.
The mistaken belief of the entrepreneurs in the region has to be changed so that welfare of the employees with regard to their safety and health is given priority over profitability. This makes sense for sustainability as competition would continue to grow. There should be strong impetus from the policy makers as well as the civil society including the worker unions and concerned institutions to bring about a change in the culture of occupational safety and healthy in the south Asian region.
The paper was presented by the writer at the recently concluded World Congress on Occupational Safety and Health in Seoul. The writer can be reached at e-mail: Babar.mohiuddin@gmail.com
With globalization and free market economy, the region has seen rise of industrialization that has impacted development in other sectors as well. However, almost all countries in the region heavily lack in ensuring proper welfare for the workforce in particular and the common people in general.
There is a predominant dearth of the culture of occupational health and safety in the region. Though there are laws, rules and regulations in this regard, lack of enforcement, coupled with lack of awareness, and individual or societal attitude compel prevalence and rise in occupational health hazards and safety breaches. No wonder, people do not use zebra crossings, do not use seat-belts in transports, do not wear life-jackets in boats, do not take protection measures in using hazardous chemicals, do not use safety harness while working at heights and so forth. It demands both, raising awareness as well as the political, administrative and societal will, to ensure proper implementation. Only then, the culture of occupational health and safety will develop in the societies in South Asian region.
Background: South Asia is a diversified region. While culturally and in religion there is a big divide, there are visible differences in economic outlook towards the countries or societies in the region. We see fast growing economies like India but at the same time we also have few of the bottom-line least developed countries (LDCs) like Bangladesh and Nepal. Topographically too, there are wild differences ranging from high mountains to low delta, from absolute deserts to thick forests.
Because of the geographical sizes and topographical structures, the high figure population stock has to live in small habitable areas making it the most densely populated region in the world. As such, these are the compelling reasons for not having proper approaches towards health and safety in general.
Again, with most of the people living in poverty, the primary focus of their life and living is on the basic norms of survival sustainability which means that they would not care anything but the "shortcuts" to enable them pass their lives whether at work or at home. This is the prima facie of the socially transmitted behaviour patterns, beliefs and acts that constitute the array of hazards resulting in increased fatalities on roads, in fields, in offices, in mills and factories.
Current Status: As is known, there are about two million deaths per year globally due to accidents or illnesses at workplaces. Of these, a big segment is in the south Asian countries, quite obviously because the stock of population is very heavy and respect to protection and prevention measures with regard to safety are at low ebb. Though population count is an important factor, there are several other reasons that contribute to this situation and they include mainly lack of proper policies, lack of implementation of correct policies or rules, lack of standards and guidelines, corruption, lack of technology, lack of financial strengths etc. Nevertheless, the vital factor is the cultural attitude, both from the policy makers as well as the common people.
Reporting: As occupational health and safety is an ignored or half-heartedly attended, reporting on casualties is not organized. Due to lack of structured system of collecting data, there is always underreporting of occupational accidents. That is why a true picture about the extent of casualties at workplaces is difficult to be gauged. Moreover, there is no transparency about the compensation schemes and hence, reporting does not create any urgency or importance.
Reasons for increased fatalities: It is evident that fatalities at workplaces in the South Asian region have increased manifold during the past few decades. As most of the workforce in the region have been engaged in agriculture, fatalities in the sector have always been too many but never reported. News about occupational fatalities started coming to forefront after the region swung into industrialization. The Bhopal gas leak disaster in 1984 was, however, the main propeller of highlighting all about occupational health and safety.
Globalization and trade liberalization steered a massive industrialization spree in the region. While several multinational companies seized the opportunity and set up chain of factories or relocated their operations from elsewhere because of the availability of cheap market and due to a huge market of billions of consumers, the region have also been seeing an unfolding of industrialization at different levels -- from heavy industries to small and medium enterprises by local entrepreneurs. This propelled increasing competition which resulted in enforcing the enterprises to race for high profitability but with lower cost of production.
At the same time, technological developments fanned favour to the enterprises in terms of employment of workers. As a result, there have been new trends in employment with lesser permanent employees but massive number of occasional or seasonal employees. In this context, the employers take to the path of undertaking investments as little as possible for the welfare of the employees. That is why we see today unhealthy working conditions in the mills and factories (other than the well-reputed multinational enterprises), use of child labour, violence against women workers and absence of insurance or good compensation packages for the workers. On the other hand, the poor employees continue to do their work despite their illnesses or diseases as because they suffer from income insecurity, lack of institutional support and lack of awareness about their job benefits, not to talk about their rights on health and safety.
Taking the case of Bangladesh, the readymade garments manufacturing industries started growing fast since the late eighties. Today, over two million workers are employed in this sector that fetches 75 per cent of the country's export earnings. However, almost the entire segment of these workers are vulnerable to innumerable occupational hazards ranging from fire to diseases due to unhealthy conditions prevailing at their workplaces. Since 1990, as many as 22 fire incidents took place in this sector taking lives of over 300 workers. Thousands of others have been maimed. Despite the repeated accidents, owners try not to invest in safety measures nor do they ever train the workers on safety. The entrepreneurs find these actions as barriers to their trade.
On the other hand, the workers continue to work under such conditions as they don't want to miss out the opportunity of their earning, even if it was only twenty US dollar a month.
In the agriculture sector, blasts of boilers in the rice husking and drying units are almost regular. About 40 blasts took place in 2007 with fatalities of hundreds. The reason is that the boilers are made bypassing technical necessities and that there are no inspections by competent authorities.
The situation is deplorable in the informal sector which has grown rapidly over the years. The case is similar in almost all the countries in the region. While some multinational companies do have strict safety measures for their workers, the informal sector is far away from any norm of safety and health concerns for the workers.
Attitude and habits: Attitude and habits play a dominant role in ensuring safety in our lives. The lifestyle of the people in south Asia has been erratic due to economic conditions and absence of the cult of discipline which is normally philosophized and sensitized by stable socio-political leadership. As is known, almost all countries in the region have legacies of historic socio-political turmoil which genuinely impacted the behaviour of the masses. Individual or societal growth always depended on the theory of "survival sustainability" which meant steering life compromising with the hazards.
There can be plethora of examples to this effect but for obvious reasons, every one turns a blind eye towards reorganizing the lifestyle to a more meaningful one with increased concerns for safety. That is why, despite governmental or institutional efforts to create awareness about safety, the habit of disrespect or "couldn't care less" attitude reign supreme in the minds of the people. The AsiaNews.IT, a web journal recently dubbed the workplace safety situation in Bangladesh as "homemade" problem. They commented that "factory owners are failing to ensure safety standards, the authorities make laws but do not monitor enforecement. So workers in Bangladesh try to take care of themselves".
Again, the cultural stubbornness also plays havoc. For an example, concerned authorities in Bangladesh give repeated instructions for not plying boats in stormy weather conditions. However, the boats disregard the instructions as the boatmen or the passengers believe that the fate of their life or death is in the hand of God.
Conclusion: In conclusion, it can be said that the culture of occupational safety and health is a matter traditionally ignored in south Asian region wherein the priority is on gaining security of food, shelter, education, healthcare and an improved lifestyle in any manner which may even entail the practices of "shortcuts". This enhances the risks in all fronts and there is need to raise awareness that continued negligence to the standards of occupational health and safety impacts productivity, due to even loss time injuries -- not to mention about deaths due to accidents or diseases due to unhealthy working conditions.
The mistaken belief of the entrepreneurs in the region has to be changed so that welfare of the employees with regard to their safety and health is given priority over profitability. This makes sense for sustainability as competition would continue to grow. There should be strong impetus from the policy makers as well as the civil society including the worker unions and concerned institutions to bring about a change in the culture of occupational safety and healthy in the south Asian region.
The paper was presented by the writer at the recently concluded World Congress on Occupational Safety and Health in Seoul. The writer can be reached at e-mail: Babar.mohiuddin@gmail.com