Norway's Telenor vows better Bangladesh work safety

OSLO, May 22 (Reuters) - Norwegian telecoms group Telenor (TEL.OL) pledged on Thursday measures to improve work safety at its suppliers of antenna towers in Bangladesh, following a report of abuses including use of child labour.

A Danish television documentary last week revealed that children as young as 13 worked at the suppliers' factories in dangerous conditions, provoking stern rebukes of Telenor in Norway from humanitarian organisations and politicians.

Telenor owns 62 percent of Bangladesh operator Grameenphone, which employs the subcontractors to make mobile antenna towers.

Telenor said in a statement that an independent review by Norwegian risk management expert Det Norske Veritas (DNV) found several breaches of contractual terms, the Working Environment Act in Bangladesh and Telenor's own code of conduct.

Telenor Chief Executive Fredrik Baksaas, who has been chided for being unaware of the poor work conditions in Bangladesh, said the group would "immediately speed up the process of (dealing with) the defects underlined in the report".

Baksaas also said in a statement he would set up a group-level unit to secure health, safety and environment measures at suppliers to Telenor.

"This includes formal procedures and follow-up, as well as identification and implementation of the necessary changes."

Telenor's board gave its backing to Baksaas on Tuesday, saying it had confidence in him despite the report on conditions in Bangladesh, but its chairman Harald Norvik called it a serious situation that never should have happened.

DNV said in its report, distributed by Telenor, that it had not found any child labourers during visits to five suppliers' plants in Bangladesh, but noted "there is no formal procedure for verification of the age of the employees."

"In the absence of a formal system for detecting and eliminating use of child labour, it cannot be stated with confidence that the possibility of use of child labour does not exist, either knowingly or unknowingly," DNV said.

DNV said that none of the organisations it visited maintained the minimum allowed level of documentation as required under the Bangladesh Labour Act and that in general no written agreements existed between management and employees.

It said there was no formal system for freedom of association and collective bargaining for workers and that it observed continuous working of overtime beyond legal limits.

"Awareness on occupational health and safety amongst the management of all the companies has been found to be very poor," DNV said, adding that while workers had been provided with safety equipment its "appropriateness...is questionable."

The review also found fault with other safety and environmental conditions. For instance workers in galvanisation processes were regularly exposed to acid water, fumes, dust and heat which could cause occupational diseases.

(Reporting by John Acher, editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)