A good number of readymade garment (RMG) factories are still reluctant to go through fire, electrical and structural assessment being carried out by the ILO-nominated engineers under the National Plan of Action, people involved in the process said. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) recently sent a list of some 88 factories to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) that these factories were not interested in undergoing assessment. It again sought the apparel apex body’s cooperation. They said these factories are members of the BGMEA and running their manufacturing activities, they added. Some of these factories are willing to be assessed by the Western retailer groups while others are reluctant as they are planning to relocate, industry insiders said. Many RMG units unwilling to go thru ILO assessment A few units do not want inspection at all as their compliance situation is poor while others operate as and when they have orders. Earlier the ILO extended the free-of-cost inspection opportunity until October 31 next. Till date, about 1,400 factories have been inspected under the national initiative that started in November 2013, supported by the ILO with backing from Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. “I don’t want inspection at the present location as I am planning to relocate the unit to Gazipur,” a factory owner at Shantinagar said. “Moreover, I have no work order right now,” he claimed.
Another factory at Uttara confirmed that though they were supposed to communicate with the ILO regarding the inspection schedule after Eid, they are yet to do the same. BGMEA senior vice president Faruque Hassan confirmed receipt of a list of factories that are not interested in being inspected from the ILO. “All factories, if they want to do business, must undergo inspection under any of the three initiatives,” he said adding they will again ask its members to take the free-of- cost inspection facility. “Factories have to take the liability if not inspected within the deadline as the BGMEA will not take any responsibility,” he warned adding the Association will stop providing service to those listed factories that would fail to be assessed. The BGMEA will also ask its members not to provide any work order to the non-compliant factories. Among other reasons, non-cooperation from a large number of the apparel-makers and inconsistency in information related to factory addresses and contact persons have allegedly delayed the ongoing government-ILO joint factory inspection programme, sources said. But the joint programme is going to end half-heartedly as hundreds of factories that are neither members of the BGMEA nor the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) still remain outside the assessment purview, keeping the safety concern as it is, sources said.
