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The High Court Directs the
Government of Bangladesh on Construction Safety
Enforcement Agency
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The High Court has directed the
government of Bangladesh to explain within four
weeks why it’s failure to establish a government
agency to enforce the Bangladesh National Building
Construction Code, 2006 – which became law in
November 2006 – is not in breach of the law. The
order was made on 29 January.
The High Court has also directed the government to
submit a statement to the court setting out what
steps it has taken to secure the safety of
construction workers since the Code became law in
November 2006.
The order followed a public interest petition filed
by the Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and
Environment Foundation (OSHE) and the Bangladesh
Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST).
The petition argued that the failure by the
Government to establish a functioning agency
contributed to the deaths of at least 50
construction workers which were reported in national
newspapers in 2007. The actual number of death of
workers in the construction sector is likely to have
been much higher.
Repon Chowdhury, Executive Director of OSHE said:
“We welcome the court’s decision. The construction
sector is one of the most hazardous sectors in
Bangladesh with significant scale of decent work
deficit. Our research indicates that nearly a third
of all workplace deaths involve construction
workers. The government has no excuse not to set up
a body to enforce the Building Code”
Soma Islam, Deputy Director (Advocacy and Public
Interest Litigation) of BLAST said:
“The Code clearly requires the government to
establish a new body or designate an existing agency
to enforce its legal provisions - but 14 months on
from the Code’s enactment, there is no enforcing
body. There is simply no point in having a law
unless the State takes action to enforce it.”
The Building Code was enacted in 2006 for the
purpose of establishing minimum standards for the
design, construction and maintenance of all
buildings within Bangladesh.
Although the Code has a wide remit, a significant
section deals with workplace safety provisions and
explicitly lays down what owners must do to protect
the health and safety of those working on
construction sites. This includes, for example, the
need to take measures to protect workers falling
from heights, workers coming into contact with
electrical wires and, masonry falling from heights
onto workers. It also includes obligations to
undertake demolition of buildings in a safe manner.
The High Court order was directed towards the
secretaries of the Ministry of Housing and Public
Works, Labour and Manpower, Environment and Forest,
the Chairman of Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha (RAJUK)
and Real Estate & Housing Association of Bangladesh
(REHAB), the developers organisation.
Barrister Tanjib-ul Alam, assisted by advocate
Amatul Karim and advocate Toufiqul Islam took part
in the hearing on behalf of the petitioners. |
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