The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh will launch first phase inspection involving fire and structural integrity this week and it will inspect 200 apparel factories, from which its signatories source products, Accord said.
“We will begin apparel factory inspection this week to perform fire, electrical, and building structural safety inspections at Accord brand producing factories,” Rob Wayss, Executive Director (Bangladesh Operations) of Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, told the Dhaka Tribune via email. “In the first phase,200 RMG factories would be inspected,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) plans on having a meeting with Accord officials to share perspective on Bangladesh today.
The issue of fire and building safety came under the spotlight last year, following the catastrophic incident at the Rana Plaza building collapse that killed over 1,100 workers.
The factory disaster, the retailers’ platform made a commitment to provide financial and technical support to improve fire and building safety standard of RMG factories, from which they source products.
The Accord, a platform of 150 European Union retailers will inspect 1,500 factories under common standards to be completed by September 2014.The inspection will be conducted under the supervision of experts.
According to Rob, the Accord has hired four international engineering firms to conduct initial inspections and is working to recruit another 25 Bangladeshi engineers, who will be appointed as Accord staff.
“The international firms the Accord has selected have committed an adequate number of engineers and have provided viable plans to complete 1,500 inspections by September 2014,” Rob added.
The Accord was scheduled to begin factory inspection from November 2013, but facing certain obstacles, it failed to launch inspection in due time.
Replying to a query on completing the inspection within stipulated deadline, Rob said “We are hopeful that the engineering teams will be able to safely conduct the 1500 scheduled and planned inspections and that this recent hartal-free and blockade-free period continues.
Last year, the Accord had investigated 10 factories for fire, electrical, and building safety in a pilot inspection. With the sustained unrest at the end of calendar year 2013, we were not able to complete all of the pilot inspections we had planned,” said Rob.
“We will meet with Accord today to have a discussion on the procedure of inspection and to share with them a view of the country’s RMG sector as factory owners are apprehensive about the inspection,” said Shahidullah Azim, BGMEA Vice President.
“It would not be wise if factory inspection is conducted with the American perspective in mind as the sector has matured without adequate plans in three decades,” said Azim, adding that it should take the perspective of Bangladesh under consideration.
On the other hand, he said,“The inspection should be conducted in line with Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) and we are committed to make the sector compliant but it needs time.”