RMG Factory Inspection
BUET teams for partial evacuation of 2 buildings
The inspection teams of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology have found safety risks in two buildings, where five garment factories are housed, and suggested that the government-set review committee should evacuate the buildings partially.
The BUET teams under a joint initiative of the government and the International Labour Organisation are assessing the fire and electrical safety and structural integrity in the readymade garment factories that are not exporting directly but doing subcontracting.
The BUET has already inspected a total of 420 garment factories since November last year but this was the first time it referred any case to the review
committee with the suggestion of appropriate measure, said sources involved with the process.
Earlier the BUET teams had found severe structural faults in two factory buildings but the teams did not require sending the report to the review committee as the factory owners shut down their units before any such step, according to the sources.
A BUET expert on Saturday said that they refered two buildings to the review committee suggesting immediate evacuation of two floors of each building as the inspection teams found safety risks.
‘We received a list of two buildings from the BUET on Sunday. The inspection teams identified over stress in both of the seven-story buildings — one is located at Malibagh in the capital and another in Gazipur,’ Syed Ahmed, inspector general of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment, told New Age on Sunday.
He hoped that the review work would be completed by this week.
After visiting the factory buildings the review committee comprised of representatives from the government, Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, BUET, BGMEA and BKMEA will announce the final decision over the safety risks found during the primary assessment, Syed said.
A DIFE official said that four garment factories –– DK Appeals, J Alam Denim Limited, Fashion Linkers Limited and RNZ Fashions Ltd –– are housed in the building located at Malibagh and a garment factory Shampa and Capri is housed in the building located in Gazipur.
The sources said that the BUET suggested immediate evacuation of top to floors of the buildings and to remove materials from the rooftop of the building located at Malibagh.
The BUET also recommended detailed engineering analysis for the two buildings to dig out the real safety risks.
After the Rana Plaza building collapse that killed more than 1,100 people, mostly garments workers, in April last year, the government in association with the ILO announced a inspection programme for about 1,500 garment factories which are not on the inspection lists of the global retailers’ groups Alliance and Accord.
-With New Age input
