Engineers of the government-sponsored platform for inspections shut only three garment factories on safety grounds out of 1,354 they inspected.Some 13 other factories were marked for immediate remediation work.Led by the International Labour Organisation, the platform inspected the garment factories that do not manufacture products for the members of Accord and Alliance, the associations of European and North American retailers respectively, who conducted separate inspections on their sourcing partners’ manufacturing units.As of now, the engineers under the government initiative carried out preliminary inspection of 1,475 factories, but they are yet to prepare the assessment reports of 121 of them.A total of 846 workers were affected for the closure of three factories, said Syed Ahmed, inspector general of the Department of Inspection of Factories and Establishment, at a press conference at his office in Dhaka yesterday.Some 471 of the factories were found to be not vulnerable at all, 640 not-too-vulnerable, 209 risky but not dangerous, and five were near danger, Ahmed said. The engineers recommended detailed engineering assessment to 319 factories, and they were not allowed to inspect 13 factories.Carrying out these inspections is a significant milestone, yet it is only the beginning, said Srinivas Reddy, country director of the ILO, at the press conference.“Our full attention must now turn to remediation,” he said, adding that the ILO will help build the capacity of the Bangladesh authorities to put in place an effective system for all remediation and regulatory oversight.Regarding the non-acceptance of the platform’s assessment certification by the retailers, Ahmed said they did not receive any such complaints from any quarter so far.The inspections are continuing under a uniform standard of inspection that was adopted by all three platforms in November 2013.However, during the recent visit of a delegation from the ILO, the leaders of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association urged them to lobby with the Accord and Alliance so that they also accept the certification.So far, Accord assessed 1,356 factories and Alliance 829. All three inspection agencies have targeted to assess 3,508 factories and completed the assessment of 3,496.A total of 16,938 workers were affected due to closure of 37 factories, housed in 18 buildings, by the agencies.“We appeal to employers’ organisations to actively work with factory management to produce corrective action plans for remediation,” Reddy said.This is in the best interest of worker safety and will also give confidence to the buyer community, he added.
