Garment Safety
ILO-backed inspection on
The government has ramped up inspection of building and fire safety at garment factories in efforts to ensure safer workplaces for apparel workers and avoid preventable disasters.
Five teams of experts from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) yesterday inspected about 10 garment factories in the capital, said Mehedi Ahmed Ansari, who led the team.
The top engineering university will do the work on behalf of the government, which has agreed to inspect 2,000 garment factories under an arrangement with the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Although the inspection officially began yesterday, the pilot inspection started on November 15. So far, experts have inspected 30 factories for building safety and 15 for fire safety.
The full-fledged inspection comes seven months after the Rana Plaza building collapse claimed at least 1,132 lives, mostly garment workers, in the worst-ever industrial disaster in the country.
Initially, 13 Buet teams will assess structural integrity and fire and electrical safety in Dhaka factories.
In total, 30 teams will work under Buet’s supervision, said Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) yesterday.
It also urged its members to cooperate with the Buet teams during the inspection.
The university has signed an agreement with the ILO to assess about 200 factories within two months. The number will gradually increase.
Experts will assess factories that are not covered under the Accord on Fire and Building Safety, dominated by more than 100 buyers, mostly European, and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a coalition of 26 brands, mostly American.
The Accord published a list of about 1,600 garment factories to be inspected by it while the Alliance will look into about 600 factories, though none has started the work. They will mostly inspect the factories that make their products.
A top official of BGMEA, the association for factory owners, said the Accord might start its inspection at the end of this month and the Alliance by the first week of next month.
-With The Daily Star input
