Bangladeshi Shipyards Put Workers at Risk

Workers rest after their shift in a ship-breaking yard in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The country depends on dismantling scrapped vessels to provide steel, mostly for its domestic construction industry. But it is a highly dangerous business: Labor activists say that lax safety standards fail to protect workers, who must navigate among sharp shards of metal and are exposed to toxic chemicals as they cut up the hulls of vessels.  "These are the most vulnerable of workers, working in extremely dangerous conditions with little protection or recourse to proper care," Gopal Krishna of Toxics Watch said earlier this year.
Environmental organizations say that the Chittagong yard is responsible for more accidents and casualties than any other in the region.