Daily Times

Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), here on Friday, demanded a high-level judicial inquiry into the death of six workers at a construction site in Clifton last week to bring the responsible owners, contractors and government officials to books. The consultation meeting organised by PILER, including civil society activists, trade unions leaders, government officials, occupational health and safety experts and lawyers, called for an investigation into the negligence of various government departments while announcing a fresh campaign for the improvement of occupational health and safety in Sindh. Calls were also waged to become a party in all legal battles against the violators of relevant laws.

They also expressed serious concerns over the negligence of the Sindh government, which has failed to either make relevant rules of business or notify the relevant council to implement the given law, even thought Sindh Health and Safety Law 2017 was enacted two years ago. The panel urged the provincial government to immediately notify the relevant council and implement effective occupational health and safety laws.

The meeting urged the builders association, especially Association of Builders And Developers of Pakistan (ABAD), to come forward and condemn the builders not taking health and safety measures seriously. They demanded monetary compensation worth Rs 50 million per family of the deceased workers.

The consultation was attended by South Karachi Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Investigation Tariq Raza Dharejo, briefed the participants about the case and said that police had filed the case on behalf of the state against owners, contractors and petty-contractors of the high-rise construction project. A contractor was under arrest whereas owners and main contractors had acquired bail before arrest.

Labour institute demands high-level inquiry into 6 construction workers’ death

He pointed out that such workplace accidents are frequently happening in Karachi, in which people lose their lives. SSP Dharejo maintained, “We understand that this is exploitation and misuse of authority, negligence on part of builders and profit-making companies, which should be stopped at once.”

He added that the government departments responsible for such incidents should also be made accountable.

Dharejo asserted that he had personally visited the under-construction site and found no safety measures available for workers there. On the day of the incident, police were said to have found that three workers had died while three others were injured, yet no medical facility was extended to them. He further added, “When we contacted the owners for arranging medical support to injured workers’, they refused to respond.” The injured workers were reportedly shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) by police, but they did not survive.

The official claimed that police had made a questionnaire with the help of experts to be sent to owners and government departments in order to inquire about the available facilities at the site. He also said that police had also hired experts who were looking at the violations of relevant labour laws and safety manuals.

Speaking on the occasion, Sindh Labour Department’s Joint Director of Occupational Health and Safety, Ali Ashraf Naqvi, said that a 22-step Joint Action Plan had been prepared in the wake of the 2012 Baldia factory incident, through tripartite arrangements. Earlier, he added that Health and Safety was a part of Factories Act 1934, which has now become obsolete.

The director continued that the action plan had also recommended making a new law for health and safety, and therefore, a separate law on Occupation Health and Safety was created. He claimed Sindh to be the first province to get such separate legislation. However, the Health and Safety Council had not been constituted so far, he remarked.

PILER’s Executive Director, Karamat Ali, appreciated the role of police in registering the case and taking up this issue. He regretted that a proper system for occupational health and safety did not exist in Pakistan while recalling that labour inspection had stopped during the era of General Ziaul Haq.

“Presently, inspection is non-functional,” he claimed

Ali maintained that there was no training institute available to train labour inspectors on occupational health and safety matters.

He said that trade unions could play a key role in the provision of health and safety at workplaces, but unfortunately only one per cent of the workforce is registered with the trade union. PILER’s director noted that official data suggested the presence of trade unions in only 1300 organisations whereas over 80 per cent of the workers were engaged with the informal sector and, thus, could not access their legal rights due to not being able to join any trade union.

Occupational health and safety experts, Naeem Sadiq and Dr Asad Jamal, said that the existing working conditions in many sectors, especially in the construction sector, were quite vulnerable for the workers and while thousands of such incident had occurred, most of them were not even reported.

PILER’s official, Zulfiqar Shah, also spoke on the occasion and said that though there was no data available on fatal industrial accidents, the latest labour force survey indicated that four per cent workers suffer from occupational health and safety injuries in Pakistan.

Construction sector remained the second largest sector suffering from occupational diseases and injuries, he maintained. Shah directed attention to a large number of high rise buildings being constructed in Karachi selling apartments and showrooms for millions. There was, therefore, a need to strictly regulate the construction sector, particularly with reference to occupational health and safety.

He regretted that the Sindh government’s negligence in approving the rules of business of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) law, 2017 and delaying the notification of the OSH Council was condemnable.

Those present on the occasion included senior labour leader, Haibibuddin Junaidi, human rights expert, Iqbal Detho, Sindh Building Control Authority officer, Refi Raza, Qamarul Hassan, Zahid Farooque, Abdul Hayee, Nasir Mansoor, Saeed Baloch, Seema Shaikh, Naghma Shaikh, Palwasha and others.