Abstract
Essential to steel production in Bangladesh, the ship recycling industry has become a vital component of the country’s economy. After four decades of growth, Bangladesh continues to compete with India to lead the international ship recycling industry. In the Chittagong area, the ship recycling sector, and related downstream activities, provides employment and resources to nearby communities. Despite its profitability and income generation, poor working practices and low environmental standards tarnish the image of the sector at national and international levels. Numerous accidents and fatalities in ship recycling processes highlight the lack of adequate Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) standards. Seasonal migrant workers, many of whom unfamiliar with industrial settings, represent the majority of workers in ship recycling yards. Recruited by subcontractors, most of the workers in Bangladesh lack sufficient hazard awareness and basic safety requirements necessary to work in a ship recycling yard. For these reasons, as identified by the Bangladesh High Court and subsequent national rules, training of workers must be addressed in yards in Bangladesh. In this study, associated with the IMO-NORAD SENSREC project, existing conditions, solely about workers’ training, has been addressed, assessed, and compared in accordance with IMO’s Hong Kong Convention and ILO requirements, where detailed recommendations were provided to enhance OHS training in the yards.
Highlights
The ship recycling industry in Bangladesh had emerged as a result of a vessel grounding in 1964, together with further wreck removal requirements after the 1971 Pakistan war (FIDH et al 2008)
Some of the trainers may not have the ship recycling industry background; this may result in low training quality, irrelevant examples, and superficial content
The adoption of the International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s Hong Kong Convention (2009) and EU Ship Recycling Regulations (2013) tends to accelerate the willingness of major ship recycling countries to comply with international standards
Summary
The ship recycling industry in Bangladesh had emerged as a result of a vessel grounding in 1964, together with further wreck removal requirements after the 1971 Pakistan war (FIDH et al 2008). Clarkson Research, in its 2017 database, depicts that Bangladesh has recently overtaken India and Pakistan and currently leads world ship recycling industry in LDT (NGO Ship Breaking Platform 2017); a result which transpired when Bangladesh, disregarding favourable geographical factors and weather conditions (Hossain and Islam 2006), was able to propose better prices to ship owners selling their ships for recycling in comparison to India and Pakistan (Galley, 2014). This competitive advantage is a definitive result of low labour costs, limited infrastructures/investments/maintenance, and limited environmental constraints. After evidence was provided during the ILO-SAFEREC project in 2005, an NGO group including FIDH, YPSA, and NGO Ship Breaking Platform investigated the circumstances and published a report regarding child labour in the ship recycling industry in Bangladesh (FIDH et al 2008)
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