The two factory fires in Karachi and Lahore claimed over 250 lives in a single day and the counting is a part of a chain of events taking place every day as a result of state’s criminal negligence to pursue its constitutional responsibility to protect and safeguard citizens’ lives. At least 151 other workers also lost their lives at work during the course of ongoing year. This was observed by a group of civil society members that visited the factory fire site in Baldia in Karachi and held a press conference afterwards to share details with the media.
“The entire state, including the government, the bureaucracy, the policy-makers, the state departments, especially the authorities for enforcing the labour laws and building codes are responsible for these deaths as they silently and criminally allow violation of laws and regulations established to ensure health and safety provisions at work.”
The group noted that Karachi factory did not have emergency exits forcing the workers to jump out of the windows when the fire erupted. The building itself stood as a gross violation of building control laws that had clearly stated that the area will have single storied buildings as small scale production enterprises.
There were three separate production units at the site which further endangered the safety of workers as all the items being produced at the factory – candles, plastic and garments – were highly combustible. The question arises why the factory establishment was allowed to set three production units at the premises without any safety provisions in the form of fire exits and training of staff on rescue and emergency that was essentially the responsibility of the state through the labour department.
The statement observed that the Article 37 of the constitution guarantees right to secure and humane working conditions while in Pakistan the situation of occupational health and safety is fast deteriorating. There is no independent legislation on health and safety except the Hazardous Occupation Rule 1963 under the Factories Act 1934. The concerned laws too are obsolete and do not conform to international practices.
The civil society group also emphasized that Pakistan has ratified the ILO Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) in 1953. Under this convention, the government through the labour department is bound to ensure that employers and workers are educated and informed on their legal rights and obligations concerning all aspects of labour protection and labour laws; and advised on compliance with the requirements of the law; and necessary provisions are made to enable inspectors to report to superiors on problems and defects that are not covered by laws and regulations.
These and many other pro-workers laws are made redundant by the absence of an effective labour inspection system and a tripartite consultation on labour, a weak labour union structure and lack of interest of state institutions for capacity building of workers to protect their interests.
It was also observed that the ban on labour inspection is a key contributor to the loss of life and property as establishments and employers violate labour laws, health and safety provisions with impunity. Besides, the laws relating to health and safety at work requires the appropriate government (Federal or Provincial) to appoint qualified individuals as inspectors to enforce these laws. The provinces of Punjab and Sindh have no functional labour inspection system. In fact, the system was banned on the orders of the previous provincial governments. The Punjab government just restored the inspection system but its ineffectiveness is evident from the Lahore incident where the concerned shoe factory was located in a residential area offering limited provision for emergency exits.
“Employers have a legal compulsion to ensure that hazards in the workplace are eliminated, minimized, or controlled in such a way that work accidents are avoided. In the absence of labour inspection, employers have a free hand to pursue commercial interests at the cost of labour rights and safety.” According to the Pakistan Labour and Human Resource Statistics, the number of industrial accidents increased from 354 to 419 during 2000 to 2008. In year 2011 alone, the reported number of fatal accidents went up to 101. This year, the two factory fires in Karachi and Lahore alone have reportedly caused a loss of around 250 lives.
The government has also not ratified ILO Convention 155 on Occupational Safety and Health and Convention 187 of promotional framework for Occupational Safety and Health. The civil society demanded stringent action against the factory owners for operating the establishment in a non-protected fashion. However, they stressed that the elements responsible for the massive loss include more than merely the factory owners. The labour departments of Sindh and Punjab needs to be taken to task for turning a blind eye to the violation of health and safety provisions in the two factories, the provincial and the national assemblies for ignoring the ban on labour inspection, and the building control departments for allowing violation of building control codes in the two cities.
The group also urged the government to ratify ILO Convention 155 and 187 that provides for the formulation of a comprehensive labour protection and inspection policy in Pakistan. Conventions 155 and 187 will also provide a base line to address the issue of health and safety at national, industrial and enterprise level.
Factory had four doors, only one was open!
Investigations into fire incident in a garments factory in Baldia Town in which over 280 workers including women were burnt to death revealed that management of the factory had locked the three out four gates permanently to avoid theft of finished products.
Not only this ill-fated factory but also the management of all garments factories located in Karachi have adopted this trend to avoid theft of material and finished products. On Monday, a fire broke out in a garments factory named Ali & Sons resulting in a loss of over 280 precious lives due to closure of the three gates. Even the windowpanes were sealed off using iron grills to avoid theft.
Muhammad Salim, a worker of the ill-fated factory, told Pakistan Today that the management had locked all the entry and exit points of the factory to avoid incidents of theft. There are four gates in the factory but only one gate was used for entrance and exit. Few months back, the security department reported some complaints about theft of finished products due to which the management adopted different precautionary measures to avoid such incidents in future. Some workers of the factor stole expensive finished products and sold them in the market against few pennies to run kitchen of their houses amid increasing inflation and low salaries. The management hence tightened security of the factory and every worker was allowed after checking before arrival and departure from the factory,” he added.
He said on Monday evening suddenly three minor blasts took place and within few minutes there was smoke and heat every where in the factory. Due to smoke in the factory it was difficult to search the way to come out of the factory. I also searched for a way to come out of the factory but all in vain. I was sitting near the windowpane but it was also locked with iron grill and after hour long effort I successfully broke the grill and jumped from second floor to save my life, he said.
The scribe tried to reach the security officer of the factory but he could not be located till filing of this story. Nasir, a worker in the city’s largest garments’ factory in Korangi as a Security Officer and also worked in this factory too, told Pakistan Today that the garments’ manufacturers are facing problems of theft. Even at his workplace only one gate was open while the other gates were locked to avoid theft and were used in emergency only. “A common worker is not allowed to use the other three gates. We fine those workers who use these gates for entrance or exit and if the worker repeats this mistake again then he is rusticated. The only reason behind this is that the owners of the garments factory or any other factories are worried and have to stop theft of material and finished products to avoid financial losses. We check all the workers of the factory when they arrived in the factory and when they leave they are checked again. The goods are exported and a simple shirt or trouser piece cost $50. If any person successfully passes one trouser out of the factory it will cause the owner a financial loss of approximately Rs 4,500,” he concluded.