Half the apparel factories having agreements with Alliance for ensuring Bangladesh workers’ safety have completed remediation.
Mishah Rabin, Managing Director of Alliance came up with the disclosure at a press briefing in the capital yesterday.
He apprised the media of the progress of inspection launched last year to improve workers' safety in the RMG factories of Bangladesh.
“The Alliance has completed 100% inspection of its 587 RMG units from where its signatories brand source products while it has found that 50% RMG units completed remediation, said Rabin. Rabin, however, said that Alliance inspection found faults in 45 categories of the inspected factories.
The Alliance had submitted a list of 16 factories to the Expert Review Panel, of which 5 are fully closed, 9 are partially closed while the rest are not suggested for closure as yet, said Rabin.
In response to the workers' leaders request, the Alliance also increased its compensation package to fourth months instead of two months to be paid by the owner on a 50% basis, said Rabin.
The Alliance had paid nearly 1000 workers, who were displaced due to factory remediation
Replying to a question, Rabin said: “The Alliance will focus heavily on remediation efforts to bring all factories into compliance with strict safety standards in the coming years.''
“Apart from its funds worth US$100mn, the platform of the North American buyers has also created a $20mn low-cost fund to provide financial support to the factory owners, who are unable to pay for remediation work especially the small and medium,” said Ian Spaulding, senior advisor to Alliance.
The Alliance trained 1.1 million workers in basic fire safety of which 97.8% can correctly identify what to do in case of fire.
The Alliance conducted a comprehensive baseline survey and findings showed workers, who could correctly identify what to do in case of a fire, increased from 39% to 98%, and those who could correctly identify the five most common fire hazards increased from 2% to 51% following the basic fire safety training.
The Alliance, a plat form of 26 brands and retailers, had committed to improve safety standard, including fire, electrical and structural safety after the collapse of Rana Plaza, which killed 1,135 workers and injured over 2,500 last year.