Published at: The Financial Express, March 08, 2019
Citing a latest garment factory fire, some global rights groups have called on Bangladesh government for supporting the Accord’s activities unconditionally, until fully completed.
The local inspection authorities are not yet ready to take over the platform’s responsibilities, they opined.
They also suggested the Accord to seriously investigate complaints from factory owners about unfair pricing that restricts remediation efforts, according to a statement issued by Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) on March 06.
The witness signatories to the Bangladesh Accord – CCC, International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) and Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) – made the call in the statement.
They urged the government to respond to this fire incident by publicly and unconditionally supporting the Accord’s work in Bangladesh until it is fully completed.
A fire broke out at Anzir Apparels Ltd, a factory listed with the Alliance and located in Ashulia, on March 04 that reportedly injured eight people, it said.
The Alliance suspended the factory from its list, as it failed to make adequate remediation progress. Inspections in the unit in 2014 revealed its massive safety problems, including lack of adequate fire alarm system, fire-fighting equipment, and safe emergency exits, it said quoting the Alliance’s website information.
The factory was shut down in March 2016, but it did not stay closed. The unit was re-opened two months later, according to the factory workers.
An Accord brand placed an order with it in 2017, but within three months the factory was again closed instead of remediating as required.
The inspection body concerned – the Bangladesh Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) – seems to have registered the factory’s resuming activities, but failed to take any action, the statement noted.
On its website and on the website of the Remediation and Coordination Cell (RCC), an umbrella organisation for local inspection authorities, Anzir Apparels Unit-1 is listed as ‘in operation’, showing a summary of the initial damning inspection report by the Alliance, but without further signs of action.
“The factory not only disregarded safety measures, but also workers’ rightist opined.
The national inspection bodies thus knowingly allowed a factory to operate that had repeatedly failed to address alarming safety hazards when requested, and has been active for all these years, except for two brief spells in 2016 and 2017.
“Such a lapse in responsibility once again demonstrates that Bangladesh’s national inspection authorities are dangerously behind on inspecting, monitoring, and enforcing remediation in the garment factories under their purview,” it added.
The CCC statement quoted Liana Foxvog of ILRF as saying, “This fire should be an incentive for the government of Bangladesh to put its own shop in order: speeding up and improving follow-up inspections, enforcement, and transparency.”
The Accord in turn should make haste in implementing its plan to broaden its scopes to include boilers and related industries, and continue to offer its support to build up national inspection capacity, the statement said.
It also recommended the Accord to investigate the factory owners’ allegations over unfair pricing.
CCC’s Ineke Zeldenrust said in light of the national inspection bodies’ lack of capacity, any handover of the Accord-covered factories to these bodies at this time will be extremely irresponsible. The inspection bodies also carry the responsibilities for all other industrial buildings in the country.
“There can be no further transfer of responsibilities until both the government and the Accord have fully remediated all factories under their purview,” Ineke Zeldenrust added.
