Bangladesh could take over workplace safety despite 'shocking unreadiness'

Bangladesh’s government could assume responsibility for safety in workplaces producing clothing for major western brands this week despite demonstrating a “shocking level of unreadiness” to do so, according to an analysis of the state’s own data.

The country’s supreme court is scheduled to decide on Sunday whether to kick out the Bangladesh accord on building and fire safety, an international initiative to remove life-threatening hazards from factories that was put in place after the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza complex in which more 1,100 people died.

The accord has overseen improvements including the installation of fire doors, sprinkler systems and the upgrading of electric wiring in 1,688 factories that produce clothing for brands such as H&M, Esprit and Primark. The Bangladesh government has been responsible for improving safety in about 745 other factories.
 
Bangladesh’s labour ministry and garment factory owners argue the $29bn industry has become much safer in the six years since the disaster and that its inspectors are ready to take over the accord’s work.

But the government’s performance in the 745 factories under its control illustrate otherwise, according to an analysis by a consortium of labour rights organisations seen by the Guardian, which will be published on Tuesday.

Not a single garment factory under the government’s control has completely eliminated all the “high-risk” safety hazards in their buildings, according to the report. Outstanding issues include buildings with lockable emergency exits, a danger that is required to be fixed within two weeks of being identified.

Bangladesh’s urgent need to improve building safety has been reinforced in past months by a series of deadly fires, including a six-hour inferno in an upmarket office block in Dhaka last week that killed at least 25 people – some of whom were hampered from escaping because of locked emergency exits.
 
The analysis, using safety progress data last updated by the Bangladesh government in January, found the vast majority of the 400 factories for which data is available had completed less than 20% of their required renovations. In contrast, factories covered by the accord had completed 89% of their upgrades.

In addition, more than 50 factories identified by the accord as too dangerous to continue making clothing were found to still be operating under the government’s inspection programme, the report said, with no evidence they had carried out any safety improvements.

The report’s authors, who include the Clean Clothes campaign and the Workers Rights Consortium, said that ejecting the accord from Bangladesh “would put workers’ lives in danger”.
 
“Many lives have been senselessly lost to factory disasters in the past decade,” they said. “It is unconscionable for the government to rush the transfer of responsibilities of the one safety programme that has brought substantial progress.”

The Bangladesh government has been contacted for a response to the findings.

Factory owners and the government are eager to see the accord leave, arguing that their industry is being more heavily scrutinised than those of their low-cost competitors in China, Vietnam and Ethiopia. Many of the safety upgrades are expensive, and the government offers little financial assistance.

More broadly, industry leaders argue they have been investing in safety while facing unrelenting pressure from western buyers to make clothes more cheaply. The import price paid by EU buyers for clothing has fallen from about $1,589 (£1,212) per 100kg in 2012 to $1,520 (£1,160) last year, according to data provided by a factory owner.

Rubana Huq, whose Mohammadi Group is one of the country’s largest manufacturers, said the time had come for the country to retake control of its industry. “The process has begun,” she said.

“So far prescriptions have prevailed. But now, it’s time for self-monitoring, which is the ultimate and collective goal of the buyers, vendors, labour reps and all the other stakeholders.”

The accord’s original five-year term expired last year and its attempt to continue operating an office in Bangladesh until 2021 was challenged by the country’s supreme court last year. After six adjournments, it is scheduled to rule on the challenge on Sunday.

Several major western brands have expressed their concern to the government that the premature closure of the accord’s office could risk the safety improvements that have been made so far as well as spark activism that would muddy their image at home.

If the accord loses the case, it would have to continue monitoring factories by pairing with international engineering firms to send inspectors in and out of the country, significantly slowing and limiting the scope of their work. It could also be prevented from identifying any new safety problems.

Deaths in Bangladesh’s garment sector have fallen in the past five years since the accord was introduced from about 71 a year to 17, according to research from New York University’s Stern Centre.

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