Since the beginning of 2022, out of the eighteen accidents that shook the Bangladeshi shipbreaking industry, six have taken place at yards owned by Kabir Steel Re-Rolling Mills (KSRM), says NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
In the last week of January, a worker was fatally hit by an iron girder. In February, while scrapping the vessels Pioneer and Med, another worker lost his life, whilst two more got severely injured. On May 25, a man, who was working as a cutter foreman on the Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) vessel Ladinda, suffered a spine injury due to the fall of a big iron plate.
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This series of accidents follows years of deaths and injuries at Kabir’s yards. In 2020, three accidents took the lives of three workers and impaired another three. In 2021, out of five incidents at KSRM yards, one was fatal.
Despite the repeated interventions of the Bangladesh Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments and the Ministry of Industries, which included a ban on operations and imports at one of the KSRM yards for four months, Kabir’s management continues to put the lives of workers at risk.
said NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
Commenting on the fatalities, Ingvild Jenssen – Executive Director – NGO Shipbreaking Platform, stated that “all corporations have an obligation to conduct human rights due diligence throughout their supply chain. KRSM’s repeated failure to protect its workers from the many risks involved in ship recycling has resulted in the death of six people and the impairment of at least another seven since 2020.”
Moreover, since 2021, there have been ten accidents on offshore units beached in Bangladesh. One example is this year’s above mentioned injury of Shahjahan on board the FSO Ladinda. Another one is the fatal accident that took place at Hm Ship Breaking Industry on the FSO G Star.
Whilst weak regulations and poor law enforcement allow ship owners to choose the easiest and dirtiest way to dispose of their toxic waste on the beaches of South Asia, clean and safe solutions are already available at facilities that use slip ways, dry docks or floating docks
noted Nicola Mulinaris – Senior Communication and Policy Advisor – NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
