Denmark’s employment ministry yesterday rolled out a programme to train labour inspectors in Bangladesh to ensure better and safe working conditions in garment factories. The training programme was inaugurated by Jørn Neergaard Larsen, Danish minister for employment, and Mujibul Haque, state minister for labour and employment of Bangladesh, at the capital’s Westin Hotel. Over the next three years, experts from Denmark will train 283 labour inspectors, Haque said at the launch ceremony. The Danish experts will impart training on five areas: machinery safety, structural safety, chemical safety, accident prevention and ergonomics. The Danish government will not give any money directly to the project; it will help by providing training and logistics, according to Syed Ahmed, inspector general of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments. The training will start next month. The Danish government will also donate more than 200 tablet computers to the labour inspectors for their convenience during factory inspections. Haque also said the working condition in garment factories has improved a lot since the Rana Plaza collapse as the government has taken a host of initiatives. “I am hopeful that there will be no repeat of the Rana Plaza tragedy.” The minister went on to urge the international retailers to increase their unit prices for garment items from Bangladesh so that the factory owners can spend more on improving the working conditions and workers’ welfare. “It is a fact that the unit price of garment items fell 1.8 percent in 2015 from the previous year.” Regarding better prices, Larsen said better working condition is the foundation for better prices. Productivity will also increase as a result of better working conditions and more value can be added to the products. “Bangladesh should improve the working conditions in the factories so that no more collapse takes place,” he added. Haque said the government will soon open two hospitals, each having 300 seats in Dhaka and Narayanganj, for garment workers. It will also construct six dormitories for the workers in those two areas. A workers’ welfare fund has already been formed, towards which every exporter will contribute 0.03 percent of his/her export receipts. Within the next two to three years, the fund should have at least Tk 100 crore, he said. The government has also allowed 380 new trade unions over the last one and a half years, Haque added.
