Death of 25 year old labourer, Yasin Sheikh who fell to his death on 7 December 2007 from the roof of a school at Mohakali

The Investigation took place in early January 2008, almost two months after the incident. The investigator went to Bangladesh International School in Mohakhali DOHS and spoke to the Administrative Officer of the school who told him that on the day of the incident, Yasin Sheikh had been working to install a tower for Grameen Phone on the roof-top of the 6-storied building. At about 5:00 p.m. on that day he suddenly fell from the roof along with the tower. He said that he was unable to give an information about the cause of the fall as he was not present.

He said that as soon as Yasin fell to the ground, he, along with two other labourers and 2 or 3 school security guards took him to Ayesha Memorial Clinic at Mohakahi. He was already seriously injured, and his condition deteriorated when taken to the clinic and he was declared dead.

When asked whether Yasin’s family have been paid any compensation, he replied the school had no responsibility. He said that after Yasin’s death, Grameen Phone, the company responsible for the installation of the tower along with a sub-inspector of the police had discussed paying the family one to two hundred thousand taka as compensation to Yasin’s family.

This investigator then went to Grameen Phone’s technical section to speak to a senior engineer. He informed the investigator that he was not on the spot at the time of the incident and claimed that Grameen Phone had no responsibility for it. He explained that the Civil Department of Grameen Phone engages independent contractors to install network-towers or containers.

A company called Power Trade had been contracted for the installation of the tower on the rooftop of the school. An agreement had been signed between Grameen Phone and that company prior to the commencement of the work in question. That agreement specifically provides that if any accident happens while installing the tower/container, all liabilities arising from it would be borne by the contractor. As a result, he said, the compensation has to be paid by the contractor company, Power Trade. He advised the investigator to speak to a particular engineer at Power Trade

The investigator then went to the office of Power Trade and spoke to the engineer and informed this investigator that Yasin was a labourer hired by the company. He said that the equipment for installing the container (steel-ladder and segments) were being winched up to the roof-top of the six-storied building by a crane. Yasin was operating it from the rooftop. He said that maybe Yasin could not manage the heavy ladder and fell over the coroner of the roof along with the ladder.