The tally of death of construction workers while working in building construction across the country in last five years is bewildering: 456 workers perished and 463 others sustained injuries, according to report of this newspaper yesterday. These figures were revealed at a journalists’ orientation workshop in the capital recently. The list of deaths and injuries is a formal one produced by the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), but undoubtedly, during the period of last five years, there might be many workers whose deaths were not reported. Therefore, the actual figures might be more than the ones presented.
However, during BILS workshop in the capital a paper entitled 'Professional Protection of Construction Workers and Social Security: Bangladesh Perspective' was presented. Bangladesh is perhaps the only country in the world where both the lives and labour of the workers are cheap. Otherwise we could see sights of construction workers working in safe environment everywhere in the country. But the fact of the matter is, we not only see workers working in very unsafe condition; in every congested area of the capital construction work is going on and everywhere pedestrians are also exposed to danger from the constructions sights. Accidents affecting the passers-by are always taking place. Not to mention the nuisance created from construction materials piled up occupying the places of roads and streets.
In the recent times, many unprofessional people are entering the construction business; and many of them are giving a damn care to the prime necessity of ensuring safe work environment for the workers. There is little doubt that in absence of monitoring of the construction sites by the relevant entities including the RAJUK, construction work without safety precautions is taking place. There are rules of compliance. And obviously in most cases these rules are not followed.  
Now it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that people in the construction business or doing construction work are taking adequate safety measures. A total of around 3.7 million workers across the country, including the capital city, are engaged in construction related works. Their safety is of prime importance. Just because these people are poor, the society cannot allow them to risk their lives by not using protection equipment. All citizens of the country are equal, rich or poor. It is expected that the government would force the people in the construction business or doing construction work to have their workers work with necessary safety equipment.