Shipbreaking workers in Bangladesh to benefit from new injury insurance scheme

Shipbreaking is often called the most dangerous work in the world. Workers face daily risks from toxic materials, heavy machinery and falls. Most of the time workers have little or no recourse when injured or falling ill on the job.

The new EIS pilot has been developed in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO). It establishes a fund providing pensions and financial support to workers and their families unable to work due to job-related injury or illness.

The scheme complements the Hong Kong Convention on safe and environmentally sound ship recycling, which sets international standards for the industry.

BIMCO, the world’s largest international shipping association, is calling on its members to sign a letter of intent to contribute to the EIS fund. 

IndustriALL Global Union is calling on shipowners to contribute fifty cents per ton to the EIS fund.

Social protection for the world’s most dangerous job

Walton Pantland, IndustriALL’s director of organising and campaigns and shipbuilding and shipbreaking, said:

“Shipbreaking is difficult and dangerous work. It has left a terrible toll of death, injury and occupational illnesses for the workers involved. Those workers who were often abandoned if injured or too ill to work. Just as the Hong Kong Convention makes shipbreaking safer, the EIS scheme provides social protection. This means that workers and their families will receive a pension if they are unable to work. This is the right thing for the industry at the right time. We urge shipowners to contribute fifty cents per ton to the EIS fund to transform the lives of shipbreaking workers and their families.”

The shipbreaking EIS builds on the success of a similar scheme in Bangladesh’s ready-made garment sector. It is the first national employment injury insurance programme for the country’s four million RMG workers, providing lifelong payouts to injured workers and the families of those killed on the job.