Norwegian telecom operator Telenor, owned 54 percent by the Norwegian state, said Thursday it was tightening its ethics procedures after a scandal over working conditions for its suppliers in Bangladesh.
A documentary broadcast last week by Norwegian television NRK revealed deplorable conditions for workers who supply antenna towers  to GrameenPhone, a subsidiary of Telenor in Bangladesh.
Labourers, some as young as 13, were filmed handling toxic substances without any protection and the products were then tossed into the waters of nearby rice paddies.
The documentary also revealed the death of a worker after he fell into a pool of acid.
“I have decided to set up a unit at group level that will secure the implementation and follow-up of health, safety and environmental work at suppliers to Telenor’s operational companies,” Telenor chief executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas said in a statement.
“In addition, a project has been set up that will review and record health, safety and environmental matters at the group’s companies and suppliers. This includes formal procedures and follow-up, as well as identification and implementation of the necessary changes,” he said.
Baksaas announced the measures after receiving a report commissioned by the certification group Det Norske Veritas that identified several violations of Bangladesh’s labour code and Telenor’s ethics code.
GrameenPhone is the leader in mobile telephony in Bangladesh, and is owned 62 percent by Telenor and 38 percent by Grameen Telecom, a division of Grameen Bank, the microcredit bank created by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus.