Denmark’s development strategy in Bangladesh has a special focus on labour markets and health and safety in the workplace.
Denmark’s focus in this area is supported by Danish Ministry of Employment and facilitated by the Embassy of Denmark in Bangladesh which is working with Bangladesh’s Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Department of Inspection of Factories and Enterprises through a project called ‘Improving the Health and Safety (OSH) of Workers in Bangladesh through the Strengthening of Labour Authorities’.
Phase 1 (2016-2018) of the project consisted of capacity development of the inspectors in Bangladesh’s Department for Inspection of Factories and Enterprises. Phase two (2018-2021) of the project will continue capacity building and further enable DIFE and the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MOLE) to implement the solutions and knowledge acquired during phase one. H.E. Ambassador Winnie Estrup Petersen announced the launch of Phase 2 at a hotel in Dhaka on November 15, 2018.
H.E. Ambassador Winnie said at the launch that, ‘With the graduation (to a middle income country), Bangladesh will lose benefits in terms of low interest financing and free access to the EU market. Denmark stands by Bangladesh in this quest to prepare itself for a smooth graduation taking into account the many challenges associated with the new status…We believe that the labour market will play an important role in the continued development of Bangladesh, both in terms of growth and investments and also in terms of ensuring stability, democracy, and poverty reduction.’
Ms. Afroza Khan, Secretary to the Ministry of Labour and Employment Bangladesh, who was a special guest at the launch ceremony, said ‘Bangladesh is committed to promote OSH culture in the workplace. In line with this various legal and administrative measures have taken place during the last few years. National OSH council is established for ensuring safety. Government started ‘OSH Good Practices Award’ from 2018 and is going to establish an OSH academy under a self-funded project costing tk 1650 million. In the first phase of the project supported by Denmark 143 labor inspectors were trained on construction safety, ergonomics safety, machinery safety, chemical safety and accident prevention. The second phase will strengthen the ongoing initiatives in order to deliver better inspection services.’
Mr. Mohammed Shamsuzzaman Bhuiyan, Inspector General in DIFE and Ms. Ida Hannibal, Director of International Affairs at the Danish Ministry of Employment also spoke at the event.
