The limitations of government institutions to enforce building regulations, the limited availability of safety equipment, lack of engineers with the expertise required to support remediation are the key challenges to end the remediation works in the RMG sector within the stipulated time. The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety (Alliance) has come up with the observation in its second annual report, detailing progress on factory safety and unveiling findings and impact assessment of its worker safety training program. “There are few engineers in Bangladesh with the expertise required to support remediation. But, there are no manufacturers of fire doors, sprinklers or other fire protection equipment operate in Bangladesh. All the equipment must be imported,” the North American retailers’ platform said in its report released on Tuesday. The report said, “During our verification visits, the Alliance staffs have learned about the external factors affecting the ability of factories to remediate hazards.” These visits revealed not only the limitations of government institutions to enforce building regulations, but also the limited availability of the key goods and services. The lack of expertise and equipment has slowed down the progress on remediation for many factories, said Alliance, adding that counterfeit or substandard equipment has also created fresh challenges for many factories. Progress on remediation was also slowed by the lack of remediation capacity in Bangladesh. Political unrest made normal operations difficult and aftershocks of the Nepal earthquakes also affected many factories, said the report. The Alliance, however, threatened to declare factories as non-compliant if they failed to complete remediation within the time frame originally laid out in the Corrective Action Plans (CAP). In many cases, factories fail to make progress on remediation within the deadline originally laid out in the CAP and to address significant non-compliance, the Alliance is piloting an escalation process, which includes a roundtable meeting with the factory representatives, it added. In each stage, factories have several weeks to submit evidence of progress on remediation and to communicate to the Alliance the challenges they face, said the Alliance with a warning that if the escalated factories continue failing to make progress, they will be deemed non-compliant. The Alliance also wants to develop a transition plan to handover the responsibility of the readymade garment sector to the government and other stakeholders within upcoming 2018. “Although we are proud of the progress made in two years, we recognise that much work remains to complete substantial remediation and make these efforts sustainable,” said the Alliance. The Alliance is committed to cooperation with our local and international partners to develop a sustainable garment industry in Bangladesh and in doing so, we endeavor to ensure that the garment sector remains an enduring source of economic security and upward mobility for millions of Bangladeshi workers and their families, said the Alliance report. The Alliance has identified unauthorised subcontracting as an ongoing problem in Bangladesh’s garment sector and the platform is working with the member companies for eliminating unauthorised subcontracting, according to the report. Alliance in its report said, “Unauthorised subcontracting has been identified as an ongoing problem in Bangladesh’s garment sector, preventing the establishment of a truly safe and transparent industry.” The Alliance will continue to work with the member companies to compile and share best practices aimed at eliminating unauthorised subcontracting, said the report. In its second year, Alliance completed the first remediation verification visits in 528 factories and found that the remediation progress in 54 factories was less than 20% while 251 factories made progress in between 21% and 40% while 133 factories in between 41% and 60%.
