WORKER death from factory fires continues as successive governments have failed to enforce fire safety regulations in the industrial sector. At least six workers were burnt to death and a few others were injured in a fire at a gas lighter manufacturing factory at Keraniganj in Dhaka on April 4. The injured have been admitted to the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery. The Fire Service and Civil Defence Department says that there were no fire safety mechanisms in place at the factory and it suspects that the fire was caused by unsafe use of flammable material in the factory. It also reports that the factory operation was unauthorised as it could not find any licence. No one from the factory management was present at the site. In its business-as-usual response, the government has formed an investigation body and announced compensation for the victims. The prime minister issued a condolence message and asked the authorities to provide necessary assistance for victims. The continued death of workers from factory fires makes it evident that the government needs to do much more than issuing condolence messages and forming investigation committees.
Despite years of promises and countless disasters, hundreds of unlicensed, unmonitored factories continue to run, exposing workers to conditions that can only be described as criminally negligent. In October 2025, a fire at Anwar Fashion at Mirpur left at least 16 dead and three more injured. After the fire, it was found that the factory had no fire exits, alarms or safety systems, nor was it registered with any trade bodies; the chemical warehouse that ignited the fire was on the fire service’s list of illegal establishments. In apparel factories, the fire service department recorded 234 fire incidents in 2024. The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments received reports of safety issues at 143 factories in 2023. The Centre for Policy Dialogue reported that at least 856 factories remain outside the purview of authority. The gas lighter factory at Keraniganj exposes serious fire safety concerns in factory operations. Most factories in the area are non-compliant and fire incidents are also commonplace. In 2019, a fire at the Prime Pet and Plastic Industry factory at Keraniganj, which was running without adequate fire safety measures, killed at least 22 workers, including children. In what follows, labour leaders are not wrong when they say worker death from recurring fires are not accidents but acts of negligent homicide.
To break this cycle, the government needs more than occasional factory inspections and investigation bodies after fires. It requires a national industrial safety policy that unifies all enforcement agencies under a single command structure with shared data and accountability. The government cannot claim progress while workers continue to die in preventable fires.
