The government and International Labour Organisation-led safety inspection of the readymade garment factories under National Tripartite Plan of Action is being hindered due to non-cooperation of factory owners and inconsistency in information including factory location and contact numbers. Recently, the ILO informed the government that they found incorrect contact information of 666 factories in the list provided by Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association. They also alleged that the authorities of at least 62 factories in the list were not cooperating to conduct safety inspections in the units while authorities of 508 factories claimed that their units remained close. After the Rana Plaza building collapse that killed more than 1,100 people, mostly garments workers, in April 2013, the EU retailers formed Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh while the North American retailers formed Alliance for Bangladesh Workers Safety. Both the initiatives launched inspection programmes in the Bangladeshi RMG factories from where their members procure products and the initiatives completed their primary safety assessments in their listed over 1,900 factories. The government in association with the ILO announced a separate inspection programme for rest of the garment factories which were not on the lists of Alliance and Accord and which were mainly engaged in subcontracting. According to the ILO officials, the Accord and Alliance have so far inspected at least 1,952 factories out of a total 4,271 BGMEA and BKMEA member factories. The sources said that rest of the BGMEA and BKMEA member factories were supposed to be inspected under the ILO initiative and their number is over 2,300. Out of 2,300, about 100 factories remained closed for long and already 756 units have been inspected up to date, he said. According to the ILO officials, the initiative has set deadline of April 30 to complete initial safety assessments in its 100 per cent listed factories. A BGMEA source said that they have received lists from the ILO of those factories where inconsistency in contact information were found and who were not willing to go for safety inspections. ‘We informed all our members once again to co-operate with the inspection teams and it is mandatory for all member factories to go for safety inspection,’ he said. Based on the ILO list, they have conducted investigation on some factories and found that some of the factories have been closed, but not all the 508 units. A few factory owners said that they have insignificant volume of orders and often their business remained closed due to lack of orders and some of the factories remained closed and changed contacts but did not inform the associations. Syed Ahmed, inspector general of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, said that they will take a move to identify how many factories in the list were closed and to know the latest location and contract information of the factories. ‘We will serve notice to the factories which are unwilling to co-operate with inspection teams and our factory inspectors will try to bring them under inspection,’ he said. Despite repeated attempts, if the factories do not allow inspection teams the government would take legal action against them, Syed said. ‘Though the ILO-set target to complete its inspection by April 30, it may not be possible as some problems like unwillingness of owners to carry out the inspection and inconsistency in information will have to be addressed,’ he said. The ILO officials, however, said earlier that the BGMEA and BKMEA collected details of those factories that provided incorrect contract information and sent those to the ILO, but the success rate was very slow.
