Bangladesh garment workers fall ill as temperatures soar

Some in industry taking steps to protect them, but activists say more effort needed

In the factory where Ms Aysha Talukder Tanisa stitches jeans and children’s clothes for Western brands, the cooling system has been no match for Bangladesh’s longest heatwave in 70 years.

“Some of us – mostly girls – fall sick, vomiting or swooning due to the boiling heat,” the 22-year-old told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Ashulia, a town near the capital, Dhaka.

Temperatures soared to more than 40 deg C in late April, taking a particularly heavy toll on factory workers, including most of Bangladesh’s four million garment industry employees, 60 per cent of whom are women.

Around the world, more than two-thirds of workers have been exposed to excessive heat while doing their jobs, a United Nations report said in April.

Bangladesh loses US$6 billion (S$8.1 billion) a year in labour productivity due to the effects of extreme heat, according to a study published by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Centre. As climate change fuels the frequency and intensity of heatwaves, leaders of the country’s crucial garment industry are scrambling to implement measures to protect workers.

“Heat poses a serious business risk for the apparel industry,” said Mr Manirul Islam, deputy director at Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies.

Mr Islam, who surveyed more than 400 garment workers, said one in five workers had to go on sick leave at least once during the hottest months due to the effects of heat, and 32 per cent said their working abilities sank due to the sweltering conditions.