THE 2025 annual report of the Citizens’ Commission for Equality and Human Rights states that over 100 sanitation workers die while cleaning human excreta in the raw sewage gutters of Pakistan every year. Regrettably, multiple lives must be lost in a single incident for the tragedy to draw the media’s attention. The three sanitation workers who died in Usmanabad, Karachi, in September 2025, and the three family members who died in Surjani Town, Karachi, on April 17, 2026, are a case in point. The fact that the last name of those who die is invariably ‘Masih’ has no significance and rings no bells in the dull minds of our callous bureaucrats. We collectively stand guilty of murder by neglect and discrimination.

The most significant change in the international safety management standard ISO 45001 (compared to older safety standards like OHSAS 18001) is that the top management is now directly accountable for safety. They simply cannot delegate safety to a ‘safety officer’ and walk away. Clause 5.1 of the standard explicitly states that the senior leadership is responsible for preventing work-related injuries and providing a safe workplace. Many countries, in response to this requirement, have passed laws that hold the........

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