BLAST, OSHE to provide legal aid to victims
Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust (BLAST) and Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE) yesterday announced that they would provide legal assistance to the victims of workplace accidents to help them realise compensation.
The two organisations also launched a leaflet and a booklet on Bangladesh Labour Law 2006 at a press conference in the city with a view to raising awareness about the rights of workers.
According to the labour law, if any worker is injured in workplace accidents and loses ability to work, he or she is supposed to receive a compensation of Tk 1,25,000. In the event of death due to workplace accident, the employer should submit the compensation money to the labour court, which will hand over the money to the relatives of the dead.
The workers, however, are not much aware of this simple rules and therefore BLAST and OSHE took the initiative to provide legal assistance to the workers. On the basis of newspaper reports, they will investigate the workplace accidents and provide assistance to the workers, officials of the NGOs said at the press conference.
According to an OSHE survey, at least 1768 workers were killed and 1782 injured in workplace accidents last year.
OSHE Assistant General Secretary China Rahman said, "The first responsibility of the employers is to protect workers from any accidents. And if any worker is injured or killed in accidents, they should be compensated."
BLAST Deputy Director Farida Yasmin also spoke.
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