The government has started to make public the inspection reports of the readymade garment factories assessed by the government and global retailers’ platforms by publishing the reports of 185 RMG units on the web site of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments.
Making the inspection reports public is one of the key conditions the government requires to fulfil to revive generalised system of preferences in the US market and to retain the duty-free access to the EU market.
Last week the government started to publish the inspection reports on the DIFE web site and in the first phase about 200 inspection reports will be made public through the web site created for the purpose, a DIFE official said.
He said that a total of 185 inspection reports had so far been published on the web site with the technical support of the International Labour Organisation.
‘At the preliminary stage, ILO experts are uploading the reports on the web site and within a shortage possible time the department experts will upload the report as we are going to establish a well equipped computer cell,’ DIFE joint inspector general Md Obaidul Islam told New Age.
He said that the National Tripartite Committee comprising representatives from the government, Accord on Fire and Building Safety, Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, BUET and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association on August 26 approved a common template for publishing the inspection reports on the web site and the DIFE started to upload the reports on the web site on September 8.
In July 2013, Bangladesh, the EU and the ILO signed Sustainability Compact on labour rights and factory safety to create a publicly accessible database listing all garment factories, as a platform for reporting labour, fire and building safety inspections.
Later, the US government joined the compact.
According to the DIFE web site, the government has published the summary of preliminary assessment on structural, fire and electrical safety and recommendations for corrective action.
Of the 185 published inspection reports, 97 units were assessed by the experts of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, 56 by Alliance, a platform of North American retailers group, and 32 by Accord, a platform of EU retailers.
Earlier, labour secretary Mikail Shipar said that the summary of the assessment reports of the garment factories would be published on the web site but details of the inspection findings would not be available on the site.
Syed Ahmed, inspector general of the DIFE, said that the stakeholders concerned would get the details of the inspection reports but they would have to maintain special channel.
He assured of a strong follow-up of the inspection reports and said the development of corrective action would be updated on the site regularly.
According to the DIFE web site, BUET has so far inspected 282 garment factories, Accord 834 and Alliance 604 factories.
-With New Age input
