The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a consortium of EU retailers and labour rights groups, will start inspecting the factories by the end of this November after completing the common standard of inspection. An Accord team led by its executive director Sean Ansett said this in a meeting with Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association on Wednesday.
The team also includes H&M representative Fagerlin Jenny and C&A representative Philip Chamberlin.
‘We discussed the action plan regarding inspection, formulation of common standards and the Liberty Fashion issue,’ BGMEA vice-president Shahidullah Azim told New Age after the meeting.
The common check-list for the inspection would be done by November 15 while the EU group might start their inspection by the end of November, he said.
Regarding Liberty Fashion,
he said that Tesco, a member of the Accord, had threatened to cancel sourcing from the factory saying that it was unsafe.
However, the Accord members have assured that the retailer would not cancel sourcing and the final decision to this end would be taken after further meeting between the BGMEA and the Accord team, Shahidullah said.
After the Rana Plaza collapse on April 24 that killed 1,133 people, mostly garment workers, the EU Accord announced that they would inspect fire and structural safety of the garment units that produced clothes for them.
On the other hand, North American retailers, including Walmart and Gap, on July 10 formed the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety Initiative undertaking a five-year plan, which sets aggressive timelines and accountability for inspections, training and worker empowerment.
According to their work plan, the EU Accord will inspect 1,566 RMG factories and Alliance will inspect 620 units to improve fire and building safety.
Earlier in July and September, the Accord delegation had sat with the stakeholders in Bangladesh to chalk out the safety action plan.
-With New Age input
