CSR in Bangladesh: The Case of the Shipbreaking Industry

Shipbreaking is an important industry for many developing countries such as Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Shipbreaking is the process of dismantling an obsolete vessel’s structure for scrapping or disposal. It involves a wide range of activities: from removing all the gear and equipment that are on the ships to cutting down and recycling the ship’s structure. Even though the shipbreaking industry contributes significantly to local employment and supplies materials to local industries, management practices at the yards are very poor—dominated by labour intensive practices, high rates of death and injuries, and subject to violations of international guidelines that were created by the industry. The practices of the shipbreaking industry are slowly reaching the global media coverage that is appropriate for such violations. Yet the publicity related to shipbreaking is poor in comparison to other cases (such as the textile industry in Bangladesh). Despite all these negative social impacts, ship owners are largely disinterested. In this chapter, we aim to provide a conceptual analysis of CSR in Bangladesh whilst focusing on the shipbreaking industry; specifically, we use Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) methodology. The chapter scrutinizes the industry at a global level and provides more detail by focusing on the case of Bangladesh. The overall aim is to map the social impact of the industry using S-LCA in terms of working conditions, occupational health and safety standards, accidents, child labour, and treatment and compensation of workers. The study uses a qualitative approach and analyses the social impact based on secondary data, such as media coverage, NGO reports and statistics from the shipbreaking industry. In doing so, it provides a conceptual background for future field work in the industry.