"Expendable": the migrant worker casualties that go unreported in unsafe workplaces

A scroll through the page reads like an unofficial casualty log. Workers missing, injured, even found dead. Most of these cases barely register beyond the Facebook group. The admin regularly posts updates of accidents and deaths that are unreported by police or local media. 

Interspersed with the harrowing stories were warnings about shady brokers, pleas for help finding work from Bangladeshis abandoned by agents or employers, and the occasional message forwarded from the Bangladeshi High Commission. 

The post about Saeed came two days after police found the body of 24-year-old Amin Mia buried under garbage at Thilafushi, where he worked for the state-owned Waste Management Corporation.

CCTV footage of the worksite revealed the cause of death. On January 26, Amin was struck by an excavator, carried up and buried beneath trash. The excavator continued operating after striking him.

WAMCO did not report him missing for two days. 

Amin hails from the Baherchar village of Bangladesh’s Brahmanbaria district. Like thousands of Bangladesh labourers leaving home to earn a decent living, he came to the Maldives in July last year.

Two days after he went missing, police informed the media at 4pm on January 28 that a search was underway for a missing person at a Thilafushi site. At 11pm, police said a dead body had been found.

“Amin Mia’s death was caused around midday on January 26, when he was struck and knocked down by the teeth of an excavator that was engaged in moving waste. He was subsequently carried along with the debris to another area, where he was buried beneath the trash,” reads the message on the police media group. 

A 32-year-old Sri Lankan man who had been operating the excavator was arrested over the incident. Hishan Maduranga Dishanayaka Menika remains in custody and faces charges of manslaughter.

WAMCO came under fire over its failure to report that Amin had been missing for two days, as he was suffocated under piles of trash. Questions were also raised about workplace safety. Security guards are stationed at the cordoned off worksite, but the excavator operator reportedly did not see Amin Mia climbing on top of the trash. 

It took another incident involving a Maldivian man at a WAMCO worksite in Malé to prompt action from authorities. 

On Wednesday, the Human Rights Commission announced an urgent investigation into occupational safety and health protocols at WAMCO due to “recurring workplace injuries”. The watchdog’s inquiry followed a Maldivian employee being hospitalised with critical injuries. He remains on ventilator support at IGMH. 

According to a post circulating on social media, the garbage truck driver fell roughly 12 feet into a container from a ramp in the early hours of Sunday. Allegations emerged that colleagues present at the scene were initially told to keep the incident quiet. It was reported on Tuesday evening, police said.

Most migrant workers fall into irregular status when employers report them "missing" after salary disputes or simply fail to process paperwork. Their vulnerability was underscored last year when the head of immigration was arrested over an alleged extortion scheme targeting a detained migrant worker. The scandal came as a US State Department report flagged corruption, official complicity in human trafficking and collusion between businesses and immigration officers.

“The way Bangladeshi workers in the Maldives are treated as expendable is surely a national shame!” observed Dr Farahanaz Faisal, the former Maldives ambassador to the UK, after the nature of Amin Mia’s death was reported in the media. 

The Facebook group feed suggests her assessment was not an exaggeration. According to a post on February 17, a Bangladeshi expatriate’s body was found in an Indian restaurant in Malé. A subsequent article on a Bangladesh news site said police had found the hanging body of a 32-year-old Bangladesh man in the restaurant's store room. 

Despite a 2024 law that mandates employers to have a designated occupational safety and health officer and committee, most companies fail to meet this legal obligation, Mauroof Zakir, opposition Maldivian Democratic Party MP for the Baa Kendhoo constituency, told the Maldives Independent. 

“Employees then have to report that the law is not followed, but employees are in fear of losing their jobs. And when it comes to migrant workers, they are in a much more vulnerable position. So for this fear, they do not complain about this,” said Mauroof, who is also the president of Maldives Trade Union Congress (MTUC).

“And if there are no complaints, no one knows about their conditions…And the next thing you see is a tragic accident. When an accident occurs, what happens in Maldives is that we will talk about it for a while and then it will die down again.”

The law tasked the government with inspecting workplaces and ensuring safety through the Workplace Health and Safety Council. The formation of the council along with guidelines and protocols was mandated within six months of the enactment of the law.

The 2024 law also requires employers with more than 75 staff to appoint dedicated health and safety officers, document and implement safety decisions by regular meetings of safety committees, and to report accidents to the director general of the government's council.

While guidelines under the law are slowly being formulated, implementation is lacking, Mauroof said. In the absence of proper inspections, the lawmaker said it is the role of trade unions to advocate for the occupational safety of its members.

“MTUC and its affiliate unions do raise issues of workplace safety as it concerns their industries. There is no specific union for migrant workers, but some of our affiliate organisations such as the Tourism Employees Association of Maldives have expatriate members and we would advocate on their behalf,” he said.