319 Bangladesh RMG factories to face legal action

Desk Report : Bangladeshi Labour Ministry has ordered the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments to issue notices to 319 readymade garment factories that are structurally vulnerable.

Preliminary safety assessments in 1,549 readymade garment factories were conducted under the national initiative with the support of International Labour Organisation. Out of these 1,549 factories, 319 were identified as having vulnerable structures and the factory authorities were asked to conduct detailed engineering assessment of their factory buildings to find out the worker’s safety factors due to lack of structural design and drawing.

Syed Ahmed, Inspector General of DIFE reportedly said, “After receiving the letter from the DIFE the factory authorities will have to inform their remediation progress to the department within seven days; otherwise, they have to face legal action as per the labour act.”

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According to DIFE’s statistics, out of 319 factories, 22 completed DEA, 38 started the process and four factories were closed under the recommendations of the Government-set review panel. However, as many as 255 factories are yet to start the process for conducting DEA and some of them disagreed to go through the process. Moreover, corrective action plan implement progress in 73 factories is zero, 286 factories achieved zero progress in structural remediation, 160 factories made no progress in electrical remediation and 129 factories made zero progress in implementing fire safety-related corrective action plan.

Source :News Apparel Resources