856 risky garments factories identified

Bring under monitoring: CPD

Staff Correspondent: The Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) has called for initiatives to bring 856 hazardous garments under monitoring.
Khandkar Golam Moazzem, research director of the organization, made the comments at a briefing on ‘Workplace safety in the garment industry: Challenges to sustain achievement’ at the CPD office in Dhanmondi on Wednesday (August 30). The executive director of the organization Fahmida Khatun moderated the event.
Khandkar Golam Moazzem said, there are still many dangerous garment factories in the country. 1887 factories are under monitoring under RMG Sustainability Council (RSC). And 350 factories have been identified as safe. On the other hand, 659 factories are under monitoring under Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC). A total of 2,896 factories are under the monitoring of RACC and RCC. But 856 factories are currently not under any monitoring.
An eye should be kept on how these factories can be brought under security.
He said, 856 factories are working and exports are also going on. All of them are working, so who will monitor those factories? This number is likely to increase day by day. Which is 22-23 percent of the total factory. Which may be 30 percent in future. Factories should be brought under supervision. No factory can remain outside the association. Because if there is an accident in these factories, who will take responsibility? BGMEA and BKMEA will not take responsibility for that factory. We want all factories to be accountable to some organization.
The work done by the RMG Sustainability Council (RSC) is important. However, CPD also demanded to bring more transparency and accountability in their activities.
According to the organization, 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse. In the decade following this disaster, significant initiatives have been taken to improve workplace safety in the garment industry in Bangladesh. In particular, the formation of Accords and Alliances and the activities they operate have provided strong guidance for workplace safety oversight.
Meanwhile, Accord has taken the initiative to run the program in other garment supplying countries including Pakistan, using the experience of the program in Bangladesh. However, despite these notable advances in workplace safety oversight, uncertainty remains over the sustainability of the new initiatives after Accord and Alliance move out of Bangladesh. Whether the guidelines received from those two institutions are being followed consistently by the domestic government and private institutions in charge of supervision, it is especially important to review the current process of safety supervision after the recent increase in accidents in the workplace of the garment industry in the country.