A/HRC/12/26 page 11 employers usually pay for first treatment and immediate medical expenses, but not for long-term medical treatment or for expenses linked to chronic work-related diseases. If a worker is affected by an occupational disease, he is often unable to retain or find further employment opportunities in any of the yards. Trade union rights 26. There is no written contract of employment for semi-skilled and unskilled workers. They can be fired at any time with no prior notice, and without the need to indicate any reasonable ground. The absence of job security, due to the lack of formal work contracts, and the climate of intimidation prevailing in the yards de facto prevent workers in shipbreaking yards from exercising their right to form trade unions for the promotion and protection of their economic and social interests and their right to collective bargaining. Right to an adequate standard of living 27. Semi-skilled and unskilled workers usually live in makeshift facilities built by yard owners on, or just outside, the yards. The shacks are often congested, and lack basic sanitation facilities, electricity and even drinking water. Workers are too often not provided with proper cooking or eating facilities in the yards, and are compelled to go to nearby shops and tea stalls for their food. Due to their proximity to the yard, workers continue to be exposed to toxic and dangerous substances like asbestos and hazardous fumes at their sleeping quarters. Lack of official statistical data on work-related accidents and occupational diseases 28. There are no comprehensive statistical data on persons who died or became disabled as a result of occupational accidents in the shipbreaking industry. The authorities rarely keep records on accidents occurring at shipbreaking facilities. In Bangladesh, for example, neither the yard owners nor public authorities appear to collect statistical data about deaths and disabilities caused by accidents at shipbreaking yards. According to media reports, more than 400 workers were killed and 6,000 seriously injured between 1985 and 2005 in Bangladesh,7 but NGOs estimate that at least 1,000 people have died in Chittagong due to accidents over the last decades.8 When official figures exist, they appear to be largely underestimated. According to official figures, for example, there were 434 incidents at the Alang yards between 1996 and 2003, killing 209 workers;9 however, NGOs fear that that the number of workers who died or became disabled as a result of work accidents may be much higher.10 7 European Commission, op. cit. 8 Greenpeace/ FIDH, op. cit. 9 European Commission, op. cit. 10 Greenpeace/FIDH, op. cit.