The North American buyers’ group, Alliance, says despite minor injuries, the Matrix Sweater factory fire in Gazipur underscores the “importance” of its ongoing work to remediate in factories. The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety was formed after the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh to work on enforcing global safety standards in factories. The Matrix sources garments for members of this group. Five workers were injured in the Matrix factory fire as they attempted to extinguish it just before the day’s morning shift began on Tuesday. No one died. The Alliance in a statement on Wednesday said this incident also stressed the need “to push factories that are moving slowly to accelerate their remediation efforts”. The Alliance conducted the first inspection of the Matrix factory in 2014 and recommended “several essential” safety improvements. In June 2015, a remediation verification visit indicated that Matrix had completed 25 percent of its required repairs, with an additional 62 percent of repairs in progress. “Yet to be completed was the installation of fire doors, automatic sprinklers and fire detection systems, which allowed the fire to spread,” it said. The Alliance is currently conducting a follow-up inspection to gauge additional progress. While much progress is being made in Bangladesh ready-made garment factories, this fire highlights the need for “continued, collaborative efforts to ensure that all factories are thoroughly remediated”. This remediation must be done with the “greatest possible emphasis on empowering workers with the safety training they need to respond in an emergency”. It, however, said a lack of access to water supply and overcrowding of buildings in Bangladesh complicate efforts to extinguish fires when they occur. The Alliance and its 27 member companies have formally severed ties with 26 factories that failed to comply with the safety standards. Meanwhile, another report adds: for more than 18 months, the Matrix Sweater factory at Gazipur was operating without a licence, says the website of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments about this factory of the Labib Group. It says that during an inspection of the factory on June 4, 2014, it was found the factory’s licence had expired. Matrix’s Director (finance) Animesh Majumder was quoted as saying that a fresh licence had already been applied for. But neither the inspectorate nor the Labib Group could explain why the factory was operating without a licence. The company suffered a TK 1 billion damage when fire erupted on the eighth floor of the factory building. The inspectors suspect a short-circuit to be the cause of the fire. Four days before this fire, another had erupted but could not spread due to prompt intervention by workers. On Tuesday, however, 24 fire fighting engines had to struggle for six hours to control the fire. Inspectors from garment buyers visiting the factory 18 months ago had asked the Matrix management to replace its electrical cables and equipment. Foreign buying cartels ‘Accord’ and ‘Alliance’ also suggested cleaning up the generator room. Alliance said in a statement on Wednesday that the Matrix fire, despite not causing human fatalities, has drawn the spotlight on Bangladesh’s readymade garment industry all over again. But Matrix official Animesh Majumder refused to accept the notion that the factory had been operating without a licence for 18 months. “The charge is not correct,” he told the news agency. Majumder said every licence has an expiry date, after which it has to be renewed. “We were in the process of getting a fresh licence.” Licences for readymade garment factories are valid for a year after which they have to be renewed. A long list of clearances—from environment to fire service to layout plan to insurance details—are needed before the licence can be renewed. Inspectors passed the buck when asked whether the Matrix factory had implemented the short, medium and long term measures recommended by Accord and Alliance to improve its infrastructure, electrical systems and fire prevention arrangement. DIFE Additional Inspector General Shamuzzaman Bhuiyan asked bdnews24.com to contact its Gazipur office. “Follow up action is their jurisdiction.” But Gazipur office’s Deputy Inspector General Farid Ahmed was not able to say anything, claiming he had ‘just joined’ this office. Matrix official Animesh Majumder said Accord and Alliance had raised ‘technical issues’, but he did not give any details. “But I can tell you we have implemented many of their recommendations. Some more are being implemented. We have opened an LC for importing fire doors.” Majumder said the floor where the fire broke out was not under their supervision. “It had been rented out for long and Matrix had got it back only in October last year.”
