News Report Within a span of 3-day time two fire incidents took place in two garment factories, which worry the North American retailers and brands and the European Union retailers and brands about garment workers’ security in Bangladesh. Both the North American retailers and the European Union (EU) retailers formed two platforms namely: Alliance and Accord respectively to oversee the security aspects and labour conditions in Bangladesh RMG factories after the collapse of Rana Plaza in 2013. In a statement released to the press on Monday both the Alliance and the Accord again expressed concern about the workers security and said that the non-implementation of renovation work agreed by the RMG owners was the cause for fire incidents and they urged for quick completion of renovation work. On February 6 last fire incident took place at Gazipur based Matrix Sweater Ltd. On Monday another incident took place at Mirpur based Style Garment. It took more than two hours to control the fire at Martrix and half an hour was needed to control the fire of Style garment. Both the incident took place from the electric short circuit, according to sources. There were no major casualties in the fire incidents. But both the incidents underscore the importance of ongoing work to renovate factories to meet international safety standards and to push factories that are moving slowly to accelerate their renovation process, the Alliance said in its statement. “While much progress is being made in Bangladesh readymade garment factories, this fire highlights the need for continued, collaborative efforts to ensure that all factories are thoroughly renovated with greatest possible emphasis on empowering workers with safety training they need to respond in an emergency,” the Alliance said. The Alliance conducted the inspection of Matrix Sweater factory in 2014 and recommended several essential safety improvements. In June 2015, a renovation verification visit indicated that Matrix had completed 25 per cent of its required repairs, with an additional 62 per cent of repair work in progress. Installation of fire doors, automatic sprinklers and fire detection systems, which allowed the fire to spread are yet to be completed.
