SITE Inferno

Majyd Aziz

The Pakistani industrialists, mostly in small and medium sector, usually do not give intense consideration to issues of Occupational Safety of workers as well as the working place. This reflects a myopic approach that substantially puts the working environment in a damaging position. Moreover, the lack of proper layout of machinery, work stations, and movement logistics has generally created a difficult situation in the operations of an industrial unit. The SITE Inferno is a disturbing manifestation of what has been stated above.

Although the responsibility lies with the management, it is pertinent to mention that this particular unit was victim of goods pilferage by workers, of threats by extortionists, and the reliance on overtime due to time constraints (primarily due to power and gas shortages and off-days).

However, this does not absolve the management from the tragedy. A professional security expert would have planned a workable security system that would have been exclusive for that unit. Unfortunately, industrialists tend to ignore such investments and also tend to cut corners in achieving their production targets.

Karachi has seven industrial estates where about 10,000 industries are based. Moreover there are atleast 50,000 cottage and small industries in the informal sector that are based in residential areas too. Many factories are like a cauldron waiting for its contents to overflow.

It is also important to state that corruption, lax conformation of safety rules and regulations, ill-planning of units, usage of shoddy material such as electric wires, switches, gas cylinders etc are prime as well as disturbing reasons for such incidents.

The various government agencies whose role is to inspect the units, advise on the conditionalities of the rules, regulations, and statutory laws, and ensure strict compliance have used these to browbeat and pressurize the industrialists. The Civil Defence officials were least concerned with the fire safety measures and equipment installed in the industries and, instead, more keen to promote the sales of such equipment peddled by their own companies or supplied by companies that offer commissions to these officers. The labor inspectors would usually sit in the Director's room, insert casual "warnings" over innocuous violations, have tea and biscuits, collect their pound of flesh and vanish to prey on the next victim. In SITE, the name of the game is money. For the officials of SITE Ltd, a quasi-governmental organization, it’s the "money makes the world go round" syndrome. In SITE Ltd, every task has a prescribed "price". One has to pay for every legal, illegal, and not-so-legal activity.

The calamity may impact negatively on Pakistan's image in the global export market. There would be clarion calls from Western buyers for an immediate revisit of safety systems in units that supply goods to them. A lot of damage control would be required immediately by TDAP, FPCCI, and more importantly from Prime Minister so that one incident does not block the existing exports.

Meantime, business associations as well as community based organizations must create a fund and a plan to address the present and future requirements of the families of the over 300 victims. Overall, citizens and workers have to play a decisive role in ensuring that sanity prevails in work places. Everyone is equally responsible.