The government is as much responsible as the factory owners
The two incidents of over 336 factory workers (and counting) burnt to death in Karachi and Lahore are a reflection on the way factory owners continue to defy safety rules in pursuit of super profits. At the same time the incidents speak volumes about the quality of governance in Sindh and Punjab. While the government needs to encourage industry and should provide all sorts of facilities to the investors it has to simultaneously ensure that factory owners strictly follow industrial regulations and do not play with human lives.
Clear cut safety measures have been devised by industrialized countries to avoid or minimize the damage to life and property inside factories. What is more proper mechanisms of oversight have been created to ensure that the regulations are strictly followed. The workplaces are required to be constructed in accordance with recommended safety standards. Fire exits and extra gates that can be opened in emergencies have to be constructed. Factories with multiple floors have to be equipped with lifts. While regulations concerning safety standards have been adopted in Pakistan, the problem arises when the oversight mechanisms fail to work.
The Karachi factory manufacturing garments and plastic goods where at least 310 workers were burnt alive was a three storey structure without any fire exit or fire extinguishing equipment. In an attempt to save their lives, many trapped workers broke doors and windows, and jumped off the building. It was outright criminal on the part of the factory owner to put the lives of about 1,500 workers in jeopardy to save expenses. The shoe factory in Lahore where 26 workers perished also did not meet the safety standards as it was neither equipped with fire extinguishers nor had an exit point to escape in case of a disaster. When a pharmaceutical company in Kharak collapsed in a boiler blast, killing 26 workers early this year, the Shahbaz government announced shifting whatever industrial units operated inside residential areas to safer locations. An inspection of all such units was promised. There was no follow-up.
A whole lot of government departments are supposed to regularly visit the industrial units to look after the welfare of the workers and ensure that safety standards are in place. The officials of the City District Government too are supposed to make regular visits to small industrial units to ensure that there is nothing which could cause disasters of the sort that occurred on Tuesday. That the oversight mechanism is not working indicates the failure of the political administration. The ruling elite has little time to improve its governance. As the adage goes a fish rots from the head.
