The vulnerability of tannery workers
Z A M Khairuzzaman :
Leather sector is one of the oldest segments in Bangladesh. As a source of national export earnings, this sector is second to ready-made garments. Tannery workers are vital for the leather industry.
But they live a wretched life and their fate does not change with the changing atmosphere and time.
The country’s tannery industry is still addressing the challenge of ensuring occupational safety and health. Most workers lack personal protective equipment although toxic chemicals are used indiscriminately in the leather tanning process.
Above all, there is a burning health crisis among the workers. Most common health problems of tannery workers are nail rotten problem, skin and lung disease, jaundice, chronic headache, gastrointestinal problem, ophthalmological diseases, trauma, cardiovascular disease, hearing problem, pain in joints and frequent fever. But the leather factories do not have any primary healthcare facilities.
There is no hospital at Savar Tannery Industrial Estate. The absence of a dedicated hospital for immediate treatment exacerbates situations, leaving the workers to bear various long-term sufferings.
Although 51 years of Victory Day passed by, the cycle of life of tannery workers did not change. Even though the workers know that the toxic chemicals are dangerous and poisonous, yet they have no second option.
They keep doing the job amid extremely unhealthy and life-threatening working conditions. However, the ailing workers remain deprived of their minimum health benefits.
Most of the roads inside the tannery estate are in bad shape, causing delay in shifting ailing workers to distant hospitals in times of emergencies.
In some cases, they face untimely deaths. Here is a tragic incident that happened in recent past. It was around 2:00 PM, a worker named Mahbub Hossain was working at a rawhide processing plant named Prince Leather Industry at the tannery estate in Hemayetpur.
He was pickling (a method of preparing hides for tanning by immersing in a salt solution) rawhide in a tank, where it was being processed in a mixture of chemicals.
All of a sudden, the 50-year-old worker felt sick and lost consciousness. At this stage, two of his co-workers, Hasan Mia and Moazzem Mia, rushed for his help.
But inhaling poisonous gas, they also fell ill. Later, other workers took the three to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka where on-duty doctors declared Hasan, 25, dead at around 4:00PM.
At a certain stage, the other two were referred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. But on arrival there, Mahbub was declared dead by the physicians at around 5:30 PM.
After staying at the hospital for a week, Moazzem was taken to his village home in Noakhali where he recovered gradually. Both the deceased left behind families who are not only grieving the irreparable loss, but also struggling to survive. The two workers died due to lack of emergency treatment. If there was a hospital inside the tannery estate, they could have survived.
While working at tanneries, a good number of workers died or were wounded. But the victims did not get compensation as per the standard of the International Labour Organisation.
Most tanneries have little occupational and health safety system for workers. After shifting the tanneries from Dhaka’s Hazaribagh to Hemayetpur of Savar, the health condition of workers improved little.
Most of these workers moved to Savar’s Hemayetpur from their village homes in different districts to support themselves and their family members. Having spent a significant part of their life there, they lament the way things have changed, with their daily income, they run their families at the villages and meet their daily demands, including food.
They cannot save money with their meager income. Once they fall sick, they are destined to suffer for a long period without treatment. There is none to pay heed to their woes. Time has changed quickly, but very little change has come to their lives.
Bangladesh has celebrated its 52nd Victory Day on December 16 this year. Although 51 years of victory Day passed by, the cycle of life of tannery workers did not change. The authorities concerned should do the needful to change the fate of the hapless workers.
(The writer is a journalist
and columnist.)
