Safety Inspection
2 more RMG units closed partially
Experts of a review committee on factory safety asked two more garment units in Dhaka to evacuate two floors within seven days as the condition of the building is critical to bear the load. The factories –– All Weather Fashion and Crystal Apparels –– are housed in Shahabuddin Complex, an eight-storey commercial building located at Mohakhali area in Dhaka.
With the latest suspension of production in two floors at two factories, the number of total closed factories reached to seven and partially closed to two.
Production at three units at Mirpur in Dhaka had been suspended in March and four units in Chittagong suspended on Sunday.
The inspection teams of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a platform of European retailers, last week recommended All Weather Fashion for immediate evacuation as they found structural flaws in the building.
After the recommendation of the Accord, the review committee comprising representatives from the government, the Accord, the North American retailers’ group Alliance, BUET, BGMEA and BKMEA on Thursday visited the factory building.
Scrutinising the recommendation of the Accord, the review committee members on Sunday gave its decision to evacuate the top two floors (seventh and eighth) of the building.
Syed Ahmed, inspector general of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment, earlier told New Age that the committee suggested All Weather Fashion to minimise load immediately and recommended for conducting detailed engineering Analysis of the building within six weeks.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association vice-president Shahidullah Azim said that after getting the detailed engineering report, experts will take decision whether production will resume in two floors of the factories.
A production unit of All Weather Fashion is running on the eighth floor while on the seventh floor another production unit of Crystal Apparels is operating.
There are about 650 workers in the two floors and all of them might be transferred to other floors, the factory source said.
Tariqul Islam, managing director of All Weather Fashion, said that they agreed with the decision of the review committee and started evacuation on Monday.
‘There are about 330 workers in our floor and no one will be jobless as we want to provide all by introducing double shift in other floors,’ he said.
The number of workers on the floor of Crystal Apparels will be almost same and they also might introduce double shift, he added.
-With New Age input
