Expert teams from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) on Friday visited 10 readymade garment factories in Dhaka to assess fire safety issues and the structural integrity of the buildings.
“We have visited factories to gather information on the physical strength of the structures and have collected their designs to scan,” said Mehedi Ahmed Ansary, coordinator of the teams and a professor at BUET’s Department of Civil Engineering.
“We will place their findings in a report, every three day after a visit,” he further told the Dhaka Tribune, adding that although there are a total of 30 teams, only six were working in Dhaka.
During on Friday’s visit, the teams inspected 10 factories in the city’s Shantinagor, Demra, Matuail, Gandaria and Mirpur area. The decision on this inspection was made at a meeting of the National Tripartite Committee (NTC) held on Thursday at the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The inspections are being carried out under common standards following existing rules and acts, which is aimed at preventing tragic events like Tazreen and Rana Plaza from happening again.
The team will complete the first phase of the inspections within the next eight weeks, and inspect 200 factories as part of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) efforts to improve factory safety in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, the Accord on Fire and Building Safety will start factory inspection by the end of November, and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety will start in the first week of December, said a BGMEA source.
