The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh has recommended the review panel to evacuate six more garment units as those are detected as flaws on structural integrity ground during its recent fire-safety inspection.
The factories identified as flawed are Four Wing Ltd, Terry Pvt Ltd, All Weather Fashion, Elegant and Libas Textile in Dhaka and Mens Apparel in Chittagong, according to a member of the inspection team.
After the Accord recommendation, the review committee, comprising representatives from the government, the Accord, the Alliance, BUET, BGMEA and BKMEA, has started scrutinising the structural flaws of the six factories.
“I came to know that six factories has been identified as flawed on structural integrity and also recommended to review by the panel,” Moshiur Rahman, additional Inspector general of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment (DIFE), told the Dhaka Tribune.
“The review panel has already reviewed three factories, of which two factories needs further inspection and scrutiny, while rest of the factory has already been asked to vacate its two floors.”
The review committee will go to Chittagong today to visit the factory and they would sit again to review it before making any final recommendation, said another source.
Earlier, the review panel of factory inspections asked Softex and Fame Sweater to suspend production and asked to retrofit before going for production.
The panel also asked Jeans Care, a Tejgaon-based garment maker, to take immediate steps to upgrade its safety standards to continue its production.
On February 20, the Accord, the platform of 151 European retailers, launched the first phase of inspection involving fire and structural integrity to inspect 200 factories and inspected over 130 factories as of yesterday.
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.
Following the factory disaster, the retailers’ platform made a commitment to provide financial and technical support to improve fire and building safety standards of RMG factories, from which they source products.