The State of Workers’ Rights and Labour Regulatory Compliance in the Construction Sector of Bangladesh

Research Study Proposal

The State of Workers’ Rights and Labour Regulatory Compliance in the Construction Sector of Bangladesh

08 August 2021

Submitted to
UNDP-Bangladesh

Submitted by
Safety and Rights Society
6/5A Sir Syed Road (1st floor),
Rangs Srabonti, Mohammadpur, Dhaka-1207,
Bangladesh.
Cell: 01711780017
Email: info@safetyandrights.org
safetyandrights@gmail.com
Website: https://www.safetyandrights.org

A. NAME AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION OF THE NGO/RECIPIENTS ORGANISATION
Safety and Rights Society (SRS)—a national not-for-profit organization registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and Foreign Donation (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Ordinance 1978 under the NGO Affairs Bureau of Bangladesh—is concerned with improving workplace conditions and promoting consumer and public safety in Bangladesh. The Governing Body of the organization is comprised of a team of seven members who are successful NGO initiators, human rights activists and law professionals. They are continuously contributing to the Safety and Rights with their expertise and guidance. The organization aims to ensure that members of the public are protected from unacceptable risks from the food they eat, the goods they purchase, the transport they use, or the work undertaken by themselves and others.
Safety and Rights Society (SRS) was established in 2009, taking over the activities of a UK based NGO that started its Bangladesh phase in 2006 and absorbed all the employees worked in Bangladesh. Safety and Rights work closely with basic trade unions of different sectors such as Construction, Tannery, and Garments. It has good contact with Local and National Trade Union Federations who plays an essential role in advocacy work on human and labour rights issues. One of the strategies of the organization is to work closely with workers as well as the mid-level management of the sectors. Furthermore, it has been endeavoring to make the Workers Participation Committee (WPC) and Safety Committee functioning and effective. Our key programmes are concerned with improving the health and safety conditions faced by workers in Bangladesh and consequently ensuring appropriate compensation according to the law for the dependent families and injured workers following workplace accident led death and injuries.
To improve the workplace and public safety, SRS undertakes the following activities:

– Investigate workplace deaths and injuries to understand the causes and circumstances of the deaths and injuries.
– Provide legal assistance to injured workers, and dependent families of deceased workers, so that they can obtain compensation following workplace injury and death;
– File public interest litigation writs in the High Court to force state bodies to undertake their responsibilities of enforcing workplace and public safety standards;
– Undertake research on labour rights, human rights, workplace and public safety issues in Bangladesh to understand what needs to be done to improve legislation and enforcement of the law;
– Provide training to both workers and employers on the laws and stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities;
– Provide technical and knowledge support to boost factory workers’ capacity to deal with labor rights and workplace behavior through Workers Café Approach.
– Undertake advocacy and campaigning on issues relating to workplace safety and human rights.

SRS has significant experience of carrying out research, study and survey of which the following are worth mentioning:
1. “Extent of Compliance of Bangladesh Law and practice with ILO conventions relating to Occupational Health and Safety”;
2. “Scope and Efficacy of Recently Formed Trade Unions in Ready-made Garments Industries”,
3. “Productivity, Performance & Sustainable business in relation to worker’s wage, entitlement & welfare in RMG sector”,
4. “The State of Retrenched Female Garment Workers in Bangladesh”,
5. “Corporate Social Responsibility in Bangladesh: Practice and Perpetuity”;
6. “Measuring Socio-Economic Impact of Workplace Serious Injuries in Bangladesh”,
7. “Occupational Safety and Health in the Construction Sector in Bangladesh”,
8. “Workplace Injury Compensation Practice in Bangladesh’s Leather Sector”,
9. “A Study on Occupational Health and Safety Situation of Garbage Collectors in Dhaka City”,
10. “Survey on Workplace Deaths in Bangladesh”,
11. “Public Expenditure Tracking on Relocation of Tannery Industry from Hazaribagh to Savar, Dhaka”
12. “Worker Rights Situation and Gaps in RMG and Tannery Sector of Bangladesh : Evidence from Law and Research”

The SRS has been engaged in in promoting integration of labour rights into its policy advocacy programmes. The organization has a considerable contribution to formulating the National Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Policy; the amendment of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 and the Bangladesh Labour Welfare Foundation Act, 2006; and updating of Bangladesh National Building Code, 2006.

The demonstrated abilities of the organization in carrying out research with applicable tools with workers, management, and owners of the Bangladesh’s construction sector is evidenced through numerous previous and current research work. The organization regularly publish survey reports, handbooks, safety guidance, poster, sticker, flyer, etc on various human and labor rights issues. Currently, SRS is implementing a project titled “Workplace Safety, Compensation and Accountability (WSCA)” with the support of Diakonia Bangladesh in Dhaka and Lalmonirhat Districts where construction workers are the main beneficiaries. The purpose of this project is to ensure workplace safety to improve awareness on compensation rights, occupational health and safety, labour law & SRHR and to build organizational capacity.

The SRS till inception has worked with numerous national and international development partners. The effective management of funds and activies with the partners have led the organization carrying out projects in different phases. A number of such development partners with whom th SRS continue to work are ActionAid Bangaldesh (AAB), Diakonia Sweden, Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), The Asia Foundation (TAF), The Alister Berkley Charitable Trust, etc.

SRS has proven expertise in addressing specific business and human rights problems in general and the construction sector in particular. SRS has clear understanding on UNGP as the organization has till date with support from the ActionAid Bangladesh implemented two projects titled “Mainstreaming the UN Guiding Principle on Business and Human Rights in Bangladesh” and “Advisory and Capacity Building Services on the UNGP on BHR to Improve the Business Environment in Bangladesh” where the finance grand total were 5,350,215 BDT.

B. PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

1. Title of the Project: The State of Workers’ Rights and Labour Regulatory Compliance in the Construction Sector of Bangladesh

2. Project Duration: 4 Months (September 2021 to December 2021)

3. Project Budget: 1,691,670 BDT (One million six hundred ninety one thousand six hundred seventy). Detail budget is attached with this proposal as Annex

4. Background and Situation Analysis of the Project Site :
The construction industry in Bangladesh plays an important role in the economy, and the activities of the industry are vital to the achievement of national socio-economic development goals of providing shelter, employment, and infrastructure for many productive activities such as services, commerce, utilities and other industries. The sector comprises a large portion of the informal economy, generating over 3.5 million employment opportunities with significant presence of female labour, and the contributory share of the GDP (BDT-2,241,668 mn in 2020) of this sector is over 8 percent.
In the public and private sector, construction activities are undertaken through a sub-contracting process where at one end are registered contractors or developers who acquire a contract through open, selected or negotiated tenders and at the other end a multitude of sub-contractors undertaking various components of the entire assignment. In the construction site, ordinary workers normally do their job according to the instruction of the contractor/sub contractor who has employed them.
Because of the nature of recruitment and inadequacy of coverage of the legal provisions, the industrial relations in the sector remains to be informal in nature—providing opportunities for exploitation and violations of the rights of the workers much of which the workers are unaware of. The construction sector of Bangladesh in legal perspective is formal sector but in labour relation and practice it is informal in nature. The sector has statutory minimum wage, separate insurance scheme, and the rights of forming trade union along with other protections arising out of the Bangladesh Labour Act including on employment contract, leave, rest and working hours, occupational health and safety, and social protection. But the informal practice like absence of formal appointment letter, lack of identity card, substandard wage, gender discrimination, workplace risks, hazards, and accidents, and lack of social security make workers’ vulnerable in their lives and livelihoods. Despite the continued growth in the sector, there is a large decent work deficit.
The condition of the workplace environment in construction sector is also poor. Most of the time construction workers work in an environment full of noise and dust, and in poor lighting, and the work sites lack basic facilities like supply of pure drinking water, gender segregated toilets. Besides, construction workers of the country work under various hazardous and risky situations where the safety issue of the workers are always neglected which results in high rate of accidents, injuries and even death of the workers than that of the other sectors. In 2020, 118 construction deaths were reported in national newspapers – making it the sector with the 2nd highest number of deaths revealed through SRS’s newspaper based survey report on workplace deaths in 2020.
Not only the workplace environment and safety situation of the construction workers is poor, but also wage is insufficient. Living places of the construction workers are poorly structured and managed, and they are hardly able to consume food with adequate quantity and quality. Wage discrimination between male and female construction worker is rampant in this sector. The current daily wage of a female worker is Tk. 300-500 where as the wage of a male worker is Tk. 400 to 700 for the same type of work. The female workers frequently face special problems such as sexual harassment by contractor/sub-contractor or male colleagues.
The OHS (Occupational Health and Safety) provisions contained within it have little relevance with construction sector and its workers. The Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC), which became law at the same time as the Labour Act does however have some provisions relating to the OHS protection of workers – but a separate enforcing body is yet to form.
Furthermore, as a member state, the Bangladesh government has endorsed the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights but it is yet to be enforced in the country following its three pillars—protect, respect and remedy. The construction employers also remain unaware of the UN Guiding tool. Many human rights abuses and breaching of safety guidelines by the employers are reported in the construction sector but it is yet to be assessed in line with the UNGP-BHR. What changes can be made to improve the situation, is yet to be explored.
In this context, the need to analyze the state of workers’ rights in the construction industry and to assess construction companies’ compliance to the regulatory instruments on labour rights under the human rights perspectives are long overdue. To that end, in line with the UNGPs and other international human rights standards and norms, reviewing the country’s existing regulatory instruments and produce a human rights based operational guideline for the construction industry would advance the tasks at hand identifying and addressing human rights risks in the construction sector of Bangladesh.

5. Objective of the Project:
Objective 1: Understanding on the state of work and workers’ rights in the construction sector of Bangladesh in the context of business and human rights

Objective 2: Construction companies’ compliance profiles to the regulatory instruments on labour rights under the human rights perspectives

Objective 3: Human rights based operational guideline for the construction industry
6. Project coverage:

The target groups for data collection are given below:

Questionnaire Survey
A set of sample survey questionnaire will be prepared and administered to collect data from 1000 construction workers across Bangladesh. Workers from all divisional cities i.e, Dhaka, Chottogram, Khulna, rajshahi, Rangpur, Sylhet, Mymensingh and Barisal will be part of the survey. 200 workers each will be covered from two large cities where more construction activities take place— Dhaka, Chottogram, while from all other cities a total of 100 workers each will be accessed. Appropriate gender balance and also representations of all trades within construction activity will too inform the sample to be selected. Initially a questionnaire will be developed in English incorporating appropriate questions and then it will be translated into Bengali for the field data collection. Also, a piloting with construction workers will be carried out to finalize the questionnaire.

Focus Group Discussions (FGDs)
FGDs are supposed to explore collective understanding, current status, and challenges. A theme list will be prepared for conducting the FGDs focusing on the core issues of the study. In this study, 8 FGDs will be conducted by the study team with construction workers and their representatives. The FGDs will be conducted in each of the divisional cities selected for the study.

Case Studies
Six case studies will be prepared for in-depth understanding into the state of the situations of construction workers’ rights realities. The issues of case studies are (a) recruitment and employment contract; (b) leave, rest and working hours; (c) wage and benefits; (d) occupational health and safety, (e) social protection, and (f) representation and social dialogue.

Key-Informant Interviews (KIIs)
The study will undertake and conduct KIIs with relevant stakeholders. The points of these interviews will revolve around the central aims of the study. A checklist will be prepared to interview the key informants. A total of 12 KIIs will be conducted (in-person or telephonic). KII respondents will be from representatives of the government (3) (including Department of Inspection Factory and Establishment, and Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha), civil society (1), national level trade union leaders (3), and worker rights organizations (2), and employers and business associations (3).

7. Description of proposed interventions (activities/deliverables):
This study will have following implementation process, in which there are three distinguished phases—i) conceptualization and issue identification, ii) implementation, i.e. research and analysis, and iii) presentation and validation (Figure 1). In first phase, the study starts with inception through conceptualization and issue identification brainstorming workshop. The workshop would finalize the strategy including methodologies and make an initial list of issues to be covered. The second phase is the implementation phase. At this phase information will be collected through active utilization of various research tools e.g., secondary literature review, questionnaire survey, focus group discussions, case studies, and key informant interviews . After information collection data will be analyzed and a draft report will be prepared. In the third phase findings of the draft report will be shared with different stakeholders through a workshop. Upon receiving the feedback on draft report, the study would be finalized and submitted at the end of study period.

Study Phases and Core activities

The following are three expected results and specific activities informing the research project.

Result 1: Understanding on the state of work and workers’ rights in the construction sector of Bangladesh in the context of business and human rights.

Activities: The analysis of the construction work and rights situations of the workers is the main activity. Drawing on questionnaire survey of construction workers across the country, case studies on human and labour rights violations, focus group discussions with construction workers and their representatives, key-informant interviews with construction companies, association, and government representatives along with secondary literature review, the analysis will align with the business and human rights frameworks, and explore the state of decent work in the sector. the analysis will Identify the risk factors for workers at the construction sites and identify the required regulatory instruments and practical supports for addressing those risks. This requires review of the provisions under the existing national regulations, and as such the framework of assessment will include issues of human and labour rights indicators, amongst others explored will look in-depth into the state of the situations in terms of (a) Stability and security of Work; (b) Adequate earnings and productive work; (c) Decent Hours; (d) Work that should be abolished, (e) Combining Work Family and Personal life, (f) Equal Opportunity and Treatment in Employment; (g) Social Security; and (h) Social dialogue, workers’ and employers’ representation.

Indicative issues to be covered under the study (to be finalized after discussion with UNDP team during inception brainstorming session).

Decent Work Agenda Indicators
Stability and security of Work Recruitment process, Appointment letter, Service book, valid documents in line with labor law; lay-off, dismissal, retrenchment
Adequate earnings and productive work Wage loss due to COVID-19; minimum and average wage; Payment system and regularity, Overdue and Wage deduction, Training provision
Decent Hours Daily hours, Weekly hours, Excessive hours, Night work , Daily break or rest
Work that should be abolished Child labor, Minimum age of workers, Hazardous child labor Forced labour, Bonded labor, Conditions for work
Combining Work Family and Personal life Different types of Leave [earn leave, festival leave, length of maternity leave (paid and unpaid)]; Impact of COVID-19 on leave practices
Equal Opportunity
and Treatment in Employment Discrimination by sex, age, race, religion; Gender wage gap; Areas of inequality: Access to work, wage, workplace amenities; Impact of COVID-19 on workplace (in)equality.
Social Security Provident fund, gratuity, accident compensation, pension; access to safety nets and cash income support;
Social dialogue, workers’ and employers’ representation Freedom of Association and Collective bargaining; Trade union representation, Freedom of association, Strike/lock out, Dispute resolution

Result 2: Construction companies’ compliance profiles to the regulatory instruments on labour rights under the human rights perspectives.

Activities: The main activity for the part is the assessment of Bangladesh’s construction companies’ compliance to to the regulatory instruments on labour rights under the human rights perspectives. Juxtaposing the national legal frameworks with UNGPs and other international human rights standards and norms, this part not only finds the level of applicability and compliance in the construction sector but also finds obstacles for aligned enforcement. Key-informant interviews with construction companies and construction employers’ associations will be key activities for developing company profiles for exploring pointers of change in the direction of labour regulatory alignment and effective enforcement.

Result 3: Human rights based operational guideline for the construction industry.

Activities: An operation guideline for the construction companies for ensuring the implementation of national regulations by juxtaposing UNGPs and other international human rights standards and norms for the protecting rights and safety of their workers will be prepared. Drawing on the secondary literature, and key informal interviews with workers’ representatives, business association leaders, business and human rights expert,, and government ministry representatives, the draft operation guideline for construction companies will include the assessment tools for assessing rights and safety of workers. This guideline is intended to assist government policymakers, employers, workers and their representatives in safeguarding the safety, health and welfare of workers in line with UNGPs-BHR on construction sites – and reducing the human and labour rights violations.

8. Work Plan:
Expected Results Result Indicators Planned Activities Target Responsible persons Timeline
Result 1: Understanding on the state of work and workers’ rights in the construction sector of Bangladesh in the context of business and human rights

Result 2: Construction companies’ compliance profiles to the regulatory instruments on labor rights under the human rights perspectives

Result 3: Human rights based operational guideline for the construction industry Brainstorming session held and survey questionnaire and FGD and KII checklists prepared and finalized 1 Brainstorming session and preparation of survey questionnaire and FGD and KII checklists Research team and UNDP Lead Researcher , Qualitative and quantitative research specialist
01 Sep 2021 -21 Sep 2021 (21 Days)
Focus group Discussion (FGD) 8 (64 persons) Construction workers and representatives Qualitative expert/
Case Studies 6 workers
Key Informant Interview (KII) 12 Key informants – Govt, employers, CSOs Business and human rights expert
Data enumerators training
16 Data enumerators Quantitative expert
Qualitative expert 22 Sep 2021 -30 Sep 2021 (7 Days
Data collection ( questionnaire survey)

1000 Construction worker Quantitative expert
Project Coordinator
1 Octo 2021-14 November 2021 (45 Days)

Preparation of draft report and operational guideline Lead Researcher, Qualitative expert, quantitative expert, and Business and human rights expert 15 Novembr – 15 Dec 2021
Presenattion and finalization of the report and operational guideline 15 Decemr- 30 Dec 21

9. Proposed Management Arrangements:

SRS will be the only implementing organization of the short term project. The project will be comprised of a core team of five (5) members and a research support team comprising of 10 data enumerators, 2 data coders and 1 finance officer. Financial issue will be managed as SRS’s financial policy. Every expenditure will preserve for audit purpose.

Human resources are below:

SL Core research team
Assigned staff Number Actions and responsibilities
Core Team
1 Team Leader Dr. Jakir Hossain (CV Attached) 1 Overall plan of study, finalizing the methodology and tools for study, report writing, presentation and report finalization
2 Qualitative Research Specialist Mostafiz Ahmed (CV Attached) 1 Desk review, tools development, conducting FGDs and Case studies, enumerators training, draft report preparation
3 Quantitative Research Specialist Dr. Afroza Akter
(CV Attached) 1 quantitative tools development, developing data analysis plan, enumerators training, supervising and quality control of questionnaire survey, quantitative data analysis
4 Business and Human Rights Expert Mahamudul Haque
(CV Attached) 1 Desk review
Tools development-based UNGPs
Lead KIIs and FGDs
Prepare Draft Report
Present draft operational plan
5 Coordinator (Executive Director of SRS)
Md. Sekender Ali Mina (CV Attached) 1 Planning and coordinating daily activities for assigned research team.
Arrange interview, FGD, KIIs
Maintain documentations for research procedures and findings for management review
Maintain regular contact with UNDP
Present the report
Support Team
4 Finance Officer Afsana Sharmin 1 Monitor budgets, income and expenditure on research projects
Manage a portfolio of research
Checking contracts received are accurate and complete for financial information
Check and approve staff requisitions
5 Data Enumerator To be recruited from social science graduates with experience of data collection 10 Gather record and encode information from a survey.
Submit completed tasks to a supervisor and discuss developments daily.
Review data gathered from an interview to check if they are complete and accurate
6 Data Coders To be recruited from social science graduates with experience of data coding and input 1 Data coding and input into SPSS programme.

10. Stakeholder engagement:
The main stakeholders of this project are the trade unions, the owners and the government. Trade unions will be engaged through workers’ data collection, FGD and KII. The Government and the owners will be engaged through KII.
11. Cross cutting issues (gender, environment, capacity building etc.):
Gender and environment is cross cutting issues as per SRS’s strategic plan. SRS have Gender and environment policy. Every single staff will be oriented on gender and environment issues specially data enumerator. During data collection, FGD and KII staffs will be concern on gender friendly environment also they will not be done such work which is harmful for environment. Staff s will use day light, environment friendly product and avoid printing is possible.
12. Monitoring and Reporting
SRS monitor the project in three steps: Quick Monitoring, Mid Term Monitoring and Long Term Monitoring. SRS uses some tools for monitoring and evaluation. Such as question, answer, the log frame and result base management are used as tools. We prepare work plan and action plan and review it time to time. SRS do the monitoring and evaluation over phone, person to person meeting, focus group discussion, story collection etc.

Report should be prepared as UNDP’s direction.

13. Sustainability of the Project Intervention:
The project will be sustainable in 4 aspects.

-Trade Union: Once a guideline has been prepared, trade union representatives will use it later as a tool of decent work.
-Government: The government uses the guideline as an inspection tool to assess construction site.
-Employer: Employers set their future plan to ensure health and safety at their site by using the guideline
-NGO/CSOs: NGO/CSOs set their future plan by using the guideline to create awareness on workplace safety and health issues. Also the guideline helps to set programme like campaign and advocacy.

14. Risk Assessment & Mitigation:
The risk of this project is to go to the field and collect data in the current COVID situation. To mitigate this situation we will use the online form as an alternative for data collection and meeting by zoom or google meet.

15. Log-frame:
Expected results
Indicators Sources of verification Activities
Result 1: Understanding on the state of work and workers’ rights in the construction sector of Bangladesh in the context of business and human rights

Result 2: Construction companies’ compliance profiles to the regulatory instruments on labor rights under the human rights perspectives

Result 3: Human rights based operational guideline for the construction industry Brainstorming session held and survey questionnaire and FGD and KII checklists prepared and finalized
Questionnaire
FGD and KII checklists 1 Brainstorming session and preparation of survey questionnaire and FGD and KII checklists
Focus group Discussion (FGD)
FGD report
Picture Conducted 8 FGD with total 64 persons
Case Studies
Case report
Prepared 6 case studies of 6 workers
Key Informant Interview (KII)
KII report Conducted 12 KII
Data enumerators training
Training report
Picture Organized 16 training
Data collection ( questionnaire survey)
Database
Sample of data Collected 1000 data of construction worker
Preparation of draft report and operational guideline
Draft report
Draft guideline Prepared draft report and operational guideline

Presentation and finalization of the report and operational guideline Presentation paper
Picture Finalize the report and operational guideline

Annex I: Last 02 years Audit Report attached as separate document
Annex II: Safety and rights previous project details attached as separate document
Annex III: Budget attached as separate document

Signature:
Date: 08 August 2021