Gadani Incident and role of Balochistan Environmental Protection Agency
The tragic Gadani Ship yard was converted into a graveyard when around eight explosions occurred in the oil tankers due to gas welding work in ship breaking yard at Gadani town .This blast ignited various questions regarding the the fatalities that occurred on Tuesday morning. At least 20 workers lost their lives with 60 suffering from serious injuries, authorities fear the death of more. Rescue workers struggled to put out the fire with only one fire engine present with not enough foam to douse it. Some of the bodies of workers were recovered from the water, when they jumped from the ship to save their lives and some quite far from the vessel near the village. The dead bodies of ship workers were said to be in poor conditions without any protective gear. The prevailing situation shows a picture worth condemnation.
Despite various accidents in the past no measures for provision of health and safety related arrangements had been made by the government of Balochistan. Many NGO’s had filed complaints with Balochistan Environmental Protection Agency (BEPA) against ship breaking industries but BEPA did not take any action against the owners of these ship breaking yards.
The situation and its aftermath raise a mere question of accountability of Director General- BEPA, Senior Officials of Labour Directorate. As evident, there is clearly no compliance with the Standards of the International Labour Organisation-ILO, EU directives on ship breaking industries, Domestic health, Safety and Labour laws and Balochistan Environment Protection Act 2012. Currently there is no water, electricity, bath rooms and no place to live for the laborers in Gadanil. These poor working conditions at Gadani shipyard are not only dangerous for the workers but have also placed Pakistan in the list of non-complying countries violating international conventions and treaties relating to safety of and health of workers. These scales are are the modern day standards that judge the standing and credibility of a country.
As per the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents Convention, 1993 (No. 174) measures should have been taken to prevent major accidents; minimize the risks of major accidents; and minimise the effects of major accidents. The employers at the ship breaking yard should have identified the hazards the workers claimed were present and should have notified a competent authority to deal with it.
Moreover, the conditions of the shipyard were not reported to the Balochistan Environmental Protection Agency so that it could have taken appropriate steps to improve the quality standards required by law. BEPA who is responsible to measure and monitor industrial areas and implement environmental laws, regulations and National Environmental Quality Standards also failed to notice the hazardous working environment by conducting surveys, inspection, and examinations prescribed by the Balochistan Environmental Protection Act 2012. Government of Balochistan has to immediately put a ban on this ship breaking industry at Gadani and specify safeguards for the prevention of similar accidents and disasters in the future. The horrid incident we just witnessed portrays a failure of collaboration with the shipyard owners to prepare contingency plans necessary control such catastrophes.
The government should constitute a commission for implementation and enforcement of BEPA and review the existing legislations of Province of Baluchistan in the light of ILO guide lines, Basel Convention, Hong Kong convention, EU Directives and allied related International Conventions for workers safety, health, Environment and dismantling of ships.