The Accord of European buyers on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh yesterday made public a list of nearly 1,600 factories covered by the pact, employing more than two million workers.
It also hinted at announcing in the coming days the hiring of the Chief Safety Inspector, who will oversee the initiative’s factory inspection and renovation program, said a statement of IndustriAll, a global federation. The list includes information, pertinent to assessing building safety, some of which has never previously been disclosed in the apparel industry, said a statement.
Factory name and address, the number of floors of each structure, whether a building includes multiple apparel factories and whether it houses other types of businesses, the number of workers at each factory, and the number of Accord signatories using each factory has been included in the list to be published on Monday next.
“This is not merely a list of factory names; it includes crucial information on the physical structure of factories,” said Sean Ansett, the Accord’s Interim Executive Director.
These data points provide an unprecedented map of the Bangladesh apparel industry covered by the Accord and are playing a key role in prioritising factories for safety inspections, he added.
Additional data points will be disclosed later as more information is gathered from the signatories, companies that joined recently still to disclose their lists, the total number of factories will grow, stated the Accord leaders.
The Accord will launch a new website on Monday next, on which the factory data, additional information on the ongoing progress and operational work of the Accord, including a detailed question and answer section would be posted for easy public access.
The Accord has been signed by over 90 apparel corporations from 19 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia; two global labor federations, IndustriALL and UNI; and numerous Bangladeshi unions. Clean Clothes Campaign, Workers’ Rights Consortium, and International Labor Rights Forum are NGO witnesses to the Accord. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) acts as the independent chair.
Accord was formed in the wake of the April 24 collapse of Rana Plaza, which killed over 1,100 workers and injured more than 2,500.
