Staff Reporter :
Around 40 lakh construction workers in Bangladesh are risking their lives every day due to unsafe working environments, weak legal protections, and lack of accountability, stakeholders of the sector said on Tuesday.
They raised the key concerns at an event titled “Media Consultation on Worker Rights in Tea, Construction, RMG and Shrimp Sector” held at the Solidarity Center office in the capital on Tuesday. Abdur Razzaque, General Secretary of Imarat Nirman Sramik Union Bangladesh (INSUB), Office Secretary Md Azizur Rahman Aziz, and Mohammad Nazrul Islam, Programme Officer at the Solidarity Centre, Bangladesh.
The event was attended by Kazi Abdul Hannan, President of the Bangladesh Labor Rights Journalists Forum (BLRJF), and Ataur Rahman, its General Secretary. Abdur Razzaque shared that despite the large number of construction workers, only 70 thousand are union members, including around three thousand women.
He also highlighted the problems caused by weak laws and the absence of clear agreements between contractors and building owners. He noted that when accidents happen, the compensation is just Tk 2 lakh-far too little to support grieving families.
He also criticized the common practice of recording construction site deaths as “unnatural deaths” at police stations without further investigation. Mohammad Nazrul Islam drew attention to the frequent absence of supervisors at construction sites and the lack of safety gears, adding that even when gear is provided, workers sometimes refuse to use it.
This combination of negligence and non-compliance significantly raises the likelihood of accidents, he said.
Sayera Khatun, a women leader affiliated with INSUB, shed light on the unique challenges faced by female construction workers. She emphasized the scarcity of toilets at worksites, describing it as a critical issue for women workers that often drive them away from construction jobs.
