Safety engineer has no training, only HSC passed: RAB

China Gezhouba Group Corporation, a contractor of Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit project, appointed Zulfikar Ali Shah as the safety engineer in 2021. His duty was to ensure safety on the site from Shahjalal International Airport to Azampur in Uttara, reports bdnews24.com.
After arresting Zulfikar, 39, and nine others over the deaths of five people in a crash of a girder under the project, the Rapid Action Battalion says he received Secondary School Certificate only, let alone any technical training.
RAB spokesman Khandaker Al Moin briefed the media on Thursday about information they gathered after the arrests, revealing how contractor Gezhouba put lives at risk to cut costs.
No safety barrier had been put in place before a crane dropped the girder on a passing car on Monday. The company did not assign enough people to control traffic.
The estimated time of the project's completion was five years.
But the work has not ended in 10 years and the cost has doubled. The RAB, however, said the company tried to cut corners at the expense of safety that had caused girder accidents at least two times earlier.
The crane involved in the latest accident expired after being in use for at least 26 years. The arrestees said it still can comfortably lift up to 50 tonnes.
Its capacity to carry heavy objects decreases when it is used sideways, according to them.
This caused the man, Rakib Hossain, 23, who was operating the crane, to lose control and the crane tilted on its side while putting the 70-tonne concrete box girder on a trailer.
The crane's designated operator, 25-year-old Al Amin Hossain Hridoy, was instructing him through signals from outside the construction vehicle when the accident occurred, the RAB said.
The other arrestees are traffic men Md Rubel, 28, and Afroz Miah, 50, of the Four Brothers Guard Service providing security at the construction site, IFS CON Bangladesh Limited owner Iftekhar Hossain, 39, whose company provided heavy equipment for the project, Head of Operations Azharul Islam Mithu, 45, Tofazzal Hossain Tushar, 42, the marketing manager of Build Trade Company, which provided cranes to the project, and administrative officials Ruhul Amin Mridha, 33, and Manzurul Islam, 29.