How safe is your workplace?

Bangladesh garment factory fire that killed more than 100 people recently has put the workplace safety issue right on the table once again. The factory that was reportedly a supplier to big retail giants had minimal fire safety mechanisms. Locked exit door, fire extinguishers for namesake, no emergency exits – all this meant that the factory was a death-trap waiting to take its toll on the hapless workers.


Such accidents are not uncommon in Asian countries. Not so long ago on April 2012, the roof collapse of a blanket factory in Jalandhar killed several workers. The factory reportedly flouted most of the industrial safety norms. Almost every year before Diwali, one of the firecracker manufacturing units reports an accident. This year was no different. A major fire in a fireworks manufacturing unit in Sivakasi in Virudhunagar district in south Tamil Nadu killed more than 50 people.

Even a year after the infamous AMRI hospital tragedy in which nearly 93 people were smothered to death by smoke from a fire in the basement, smoke management is reportedly still in poor state among developers and enforcement agencies. There have been some patchy attempts to retrofit existing buildings-offices, malls and hospitals-with a fire fighting system that controls and evacuates smoke. And in many cases although there are gadgets in place but there is no system to ensure that they function in an exigency.

These incidents are followed by few arrests, some noise and after some days of finger-pointing, the issue dies down, waiting for the next accident to happen.

Workplace safety norms are freely flouted in many third world countries. Several reasons are cited for the same. The reasons that commonly come to the fore are technical and legal compliance issues. However managerial & behavioral reasons seem to be at the core of such apathy towards workplace safety. Such managerial & leadership behaviour is best described by the enquiry report on the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Fukushima nuclear accident, the worst nuclear disaster after the Chernobyl accident was termed as ‘man-made’! The findings of the commission probing the accident elicited shock and fear amongst people all over the world. The enquiry report reportedly points to typical ‘reflexive obedience’ behavior amongst Japanese behind the accident. Reflexive obedience simply means a lack of questioning emerging out of strong bureaucracy and collusion of selfish interest. The result - People at Tokyo Electric Power put the interest of the organization before that of the consumers and let the safety slip. A culture of ‘reflexive obedience’ meant questioning was blasphemous & conveniently kept people so disengaged that no one cared while the plant condition deteriorated progressively. The leaders and the HR function of the organization were unable and unwilling to change the culture and the rot set-in deeper & deeper. In the end, the cultural tsunami was stronger than the natural tsunami.

But such culture of ‘reflexive obedience’ is not only limited to Japan or Tokyo Electric Power. Six years back, one of my students was doing his internship in a paper mill in the northern part of the country, owned by a prominent industrial group. His project was on workplace safety. The report based on interview of workers, supervisors of the factory revealed gaping safety flouting issues. Despite the fact that he did a remarkable job, before submission, he was asked to water-down his findings by his industry supervisor who was a manager in the same mill.

Workplace safety is more a cultural & behavioral issue. Legal machinery definitely needs to strengthened & tightened and cases fast-tracked to punish the offenders. However such incidents would be prevented only when a cultural transformation happens.