Roughly 450 RMG factories of the country producing clothes for the American and EU retailers will need to install sprinklers for fire safety.
While Accord says 350-400 factories used by its signatory brands should install the system, Alliance cites an approximate number of 85 units used by its signatories to introduce the fire safety device.
“As per the findings of inspection, 350-400 factories will need to install sprinklers system,” said Brad Loewen, the Accord’s chief safety inspector.
The factories housed in the buildings taller than seven floors will need to install sprinklers, but the quantity of sprinklers depends on the size, structural design and ceiling of the factories, he clarified.
Alliance managing director M Rabin said: “Approximately 85 factories (used by Alliance signatories) will need to instal sprinklers.”
The EU retailers’ Accord completed initial inspections of 1,106 factories by the end of September, from where its signatory brands source products.
The north American buyers’ Alliance inspected 587 RMG units.
Besides, more than 500 factories have finalised corrective action plans as prescribed by the Accord, said Rob Wayss, executive director of the initiative.
“It’s a requirement for the factories, and if they do not meet the requirement, the signatory brands would not source products from the factories,” he warned.
“I think most of the remediation works will be completed in one and a half years,” Rob Wayss said.
A factory will have to install sprinkler system, if its height is over 75 feet or the space of each floor is over 22,000 square feet and the building is over three-floor high, said BGMEA vice president Shahidullah Azim quoting from National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).
He said the installation will require Tk150 for 1 square foot and in this calculation a medium-size factory will need at least Tk1 crore for this work.
The factory owners would install sprinklers if they are required by the NFPA rules, Azim added.
He said they held a meeting with the Accord on Saturday to decide the next course of action as the first-phase inspection is over. The meeting also discussed about funding.
BGMEA leader said it was decided that the Accord would give a format on fire safety equipment on the basis of the corrective action plans to the factories to get funding from buyers for remediation works.
Then the factory owners will place three supporting documents from three suppliers of fire equipment on the requirements and the prices. Then the brands will provide fund, Azim said.
After the inspection of Accord, the review panel recommended immediate evacuation and suspending production at 17 factories found structurally flawed.
According to an estimate of BGMEA, the country’s RMG sector needs to spend over Tk2,410 crore for importing fire equipment – sprinklers and fire-rated doors – to comply with fire safety conditions set by the two retailers’ platforms.