Mohin, 23, had been working in Sun Steel Mills Ltd at Shyampur of Dhaka as a crane- operator for six months. Before joining the mill, he received training on crane driving at Postagola in the capital city. Mohin was a permanent worker of the mill and got monthly salary of Tk 5,000.
On August 18, 2007 at about 12:00noon, Mohin went to the mill to repair the crane. At one stage of working a boiler exploded with a big bank, leaving Mohin and some other workers injured. Selim, the labour-contractor, rushed Mohin along with others to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where Mohin died after 20 minutes of his arrival.
A report on the workplace accident published in The Daily Ittefaq on August 8, 2007. Based on the newspaper report, a team of investigator visited the spot December 12, 2007 on behalf of Safety and Rights [the then Bangladesh Worker Safety Programme] to investigate the incident.
As Mohin died as a result of accident while working, the deceased worker’s dependants get Tk 1 lakh from the owner of the mill as per the section 158 of Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006. As the owner did not pay the compensation money, two letters—one on May 15, 2008 and another on June 17, 2008–were sent to the mill authority but it did not comply with the legal procedure.
So, a case was filed with the Second Labour Court of Dhaka on September 16, 2008 seeking compensation on behalf of the victim’s family. Safety and Rights Society [the then Bangladesh Worker Safety Programme] arranged case filing and other legal support to the victim. On May 27, 2009, the court pronounced the verdict and asked the mill authority to deposit Tk 1 lakh to the court for the dependants of Mahin. Later, the deceased worker’s family received the money from the labour court.
Mohin, son of Ahammad Ullah, hailed from Lakshmanpur village in Comilla.
Source: ASK Inv 19, case documents, victim’s family members
