Primark scraps contract over ‘safety concerns’
Many high street brands, including Next, Primark, George, Gap, H&M and Morrisons, used Aswad Composite Mills in Gazipur where nine garment workers were killed in a fire on Wednesday, the deputy manager of the factory told ITV News.
AFP adds that a correspondent of the agency who picked through the still smouldering wreckage found work order books containing names of
clients in September, including Australia’s Target and French supermarket Carrefour besides those retailers mentioned above.
Meanwhile, Primark in a statement said it had cancelled its factory contract over ‘safety concerns’.
‘Primark is deeply saddened by the loss of life at Aswad Composite Mills, owned by Palmal Group,’ said the statement.
‘Primark placed its last order in March of this year, indicating that it would place no further orders following the identification of violations of its code of conduct and management’s unwillingness to resolve these to Primark’s satisfaction,’ it added.
‘A small amount of outstanding orders was stored in the warehouse at the Aswad Composite Mills site, awaiting shipment,’ it also said, adding, ‘Primark will work with other brands and stakeholders through the Accord to support the employees and their families.’
‘This latest fire to affect the ready-made garment sector in Bangladesh reflects the sad and shocking truth that not enough is being done to address the safety and health of garment factory workers,’ the International Labour Organisation’s director-general Guy Ryder said in a statement.
H&M, Gap, Next and Carrefour said their clothes were not made in the factory, but admitted they placed orders with the owner, Palmal Industries, one of the country’s largest garment groups.
None of them had audited the burnt-out mill, which was a fabric supplier to other separate garment manufacturing units of Palmal.
‘Once the cause is known, as routine Next will review its procedures, including the extent to which it needs to look further down the supply chain —particularly in high-risk areas such as Bangladesh,’ said a statement from the British retailer.
-With New Age input
