The highest number of violations took place in the area of job-related terms and conditions in the country’s trade and industrial sectors in 2014, followed by safety and health and maternity protection, an official inspection has revealed. The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) conducted inspection of 24,197 factories, shops and establishments and reported some 44,347 violations of the labour law during the 2014 calendar year, it revealed. Violations of labour law highest in 2014 “The largest portion of violations was related to terms and conditions of employment which was 44 per cent, safety, health violations accounting for 27 per cent and maternity protection 1.31 per cent while the rest were other breaches,” the official report showed. State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque chunnu Thursday launched the report on ‘The Labour Inspection System in Bangladesh: Developments, Achievements and Challenges’ that highlighted the DIFE’s activities since May 2013 to October 2015, at his secretariat office in the city. The DIFE with support from the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) programme for improving working conditions in the RMG sector, funded by Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom prepared the report. Labour secretary Mikail Shipar, ILO Bangladesh country director Srinivas Reddy, DIFE inspector general Syed Ahmed, among others, were also present during the event. Of the total inspections, 9.4 per cent were readymade garment factories while other factories constituted over 50 per cent and 32.7 per cent and 6.0 per cent were shops and establishments respectively, the report said. During the inspections carried out in 2014 by the DIFE, a total of 4,795 law violations were recorded in about 2,281 garment factories, it revealed. The total number of garment factories as of March, 2014 registered by the DIFE was 5,002. The RMG sector witnessed some 1,250 violations related to job terms and conditions, 1,121 safety, 503 occupational health violations while maternity protection recorded the highest rate of 38 per cent, according to the report. “A total of 12,337 accidents were noted by the inspectors during the year, including the highest 151 in RMG sector, followed by 14 in construction, 11 in re-rolling mills, six in ship-breaking yards and ship building, three in engineering workshops and two in rice mills that killed 88 people,” it showed. All sectors should be monitored by the DIFE but RMG is given priority as the largest foreign currency earning sector while the Rana Plaza incident drew a great attention from both local and international arena, the minister said. “Some 3,660 garment factories were assessed by the three initiatives and there is no scope of further Rana Plaza,” he said explaining the safety measures taken in the RMG sector. Talking about the report and its activities, DIFE inspector general Syed Ahmed said, “Preparing database of all industrial sectors, digitalisation of information and remediation of all garment factories are the main challenges for us.” “The report is an important publication as it not only highlights the progress the DIFE has made but also helps reflect the new commitment to transparency and openness,” Mr Reddy said adding the DIFE is today playing its vital frontline role to help ensure worker safety and rights far more effectively.
