By Ma Ma - Nov 18, 2024
The Ministry of Labour has stated that it is conducting workplace safety and health awareness programs to promote safe and healthy working environments in domestic factories.
These awareness programs involve field inspections to measure factors such as lighting levels, noise levels, ventilation, humidity, vibrations, oxygen levels in the air, and drinking water quality. Guidelines and recommendations are being issued to ensure workplaces comply with established standards. However, in reality, adherence to these standards is reportedly minimal.
“In the factory, there is no separate drinking water provided. The same water used for toilets and handwashing is also used for drinking,” said a worker from the Real Star factory.
While the Factory and Labour Law Inspection Department claims to monitor and enforce the provision of clean drinking water in factories and workplaces, most workers say they are forced to drink the same water allocated for general use, which lacks proper standards for drinking water.
Unclean drinking water is prevalent in most workplaces, yet workers often do not perceive this as a significant issue.
In some bottled water factories, there are also disparities between the amount of drinking water provided and the number of workers. As a result, water shortages frequently occur.
Although the Labour Inspection Department is responsible for addressing basic issues in workplaces, such as clean drinking water, ventilation, and sanitation, it is reported that many factories and workplaces fail to meet even these fundamental requirements due to the lack of effective enforcement measures.
“Providing clean and sufficient drinking water, proper ventilation, and sanitary toilets with no foul odors are all basic necessities. But now, there are many cases where even these basic necessities are not being met. When the Ministry comes to inspect, they only document the setups that are staged for their visit. They don’t take the actual on-ground situation seriously,” said a former trade union member.
According to the reports to Myanmar Labour News by workers who have contacted the outlet about labor rights violations, there are ongoing issues of unclean, insufficient, and unavailable drinking water in workplaces
