Body formed to oversee post-Accord, Alliance safety inspection work

The apex trade body of the apparel sector also decided to inform the Commerce Ministry about the Accord and Alliance initiatives taken to improve safety standard in the clothing industry that conflicts with the country’s laws. The BGMEA has taken the decision at its board meeting held yesterday. In the meeting, they broadly discussed  how it could maintain safety standard in the apparel industry through an internally acceptable mechanism after the expiry of Accord and Alliance inspection by the end of June 2018. “The board has formed a committee headed by Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, a former BGMEA president, to prepare guidelines for a new platform to oversee the safety assessment following the end of Accord and Alliance inspection,” BGMEA vice-president Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu told the Dhaka tribune. The committee includes BGMEA Vice-President Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu, its Director Miran Ali, Managing Director of Mohammadi Group Rubana Huq and Asif Ibrahim, chairman of Business Initiative Leading Development, will be in the committee. It will work on how the sector can work after the end of safety assessment by the global retailers platform and whom to include in the process, said Babu. On the meeting, the board also discussed the Accord and Alliance initiatives taken to improve safety standard in the clothing industry that conflicts with the country’s laws. However, the BGMEA is yet to identify conflicting issues and when they are going to write the Commerce Ministry about them. “We have decided to write the government in black and white about the Accord and Alliance initiatives that conflict with the country’s law,” BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune. “There is law in the country, which is enough to ensure safe workplace and safety standard in the RMG sector. None can go beyond the law and we want to be ruled by  our country’s law.” Siddiqur said the apex trade body is working on the conflicting issues. After identifying them, it would inform the ministry soon, asking the buyers platforms to do work as per the country’s laws. “We are not thinking about the expiry of the Accord and Alliance inspection, but about the post-Accord and Alliance inspection strategy for the sake of industry and manufacturers,” he said. There is the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence, Labour and Employment Ministry and RAJUK to oversee the safety standards and construction of new building, added the BGMEA leader. A widespread public outcry over safety began after the Rana Plaza factory disaster that killed more than 1,135 workers and injured over 2,500 people on April 24, 2013. In 2014, the Accord on Fire and Building safety and Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety took a five-year initiative to improve fire, electrical and building safety standard in RMG factories from which their members source products. The safety inspection by Accord, a platform of European buyers, and Alliance, another platform of North-American buyers, will end in June 2018.