Swedish retailer H&M once again came under fire from rights groups for its failure to ensure workplace safety in Bangladesh’s outsourcing apparel factories, despite ongoing remedial work. The rights groups’ criticism against the country’s one of the largest buyers and first Accord-signatory intensified following the Tuesday’s fire at Matrix Sweater Factory, one of its silver-rated supplier units. “We are extremely relieved that this fire hasn’t resulted in another tragedy on the scale of the Tazreen factory fire of 2012,” Sam Maher of the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) said in a statement. Although work began 2014, 63 per cent of the mandatory safety renovation work are still incomplete at Matrix Sweaters, also listed with Alliance, with original deadlines long ago being breached, the statement said. “However, this is more down to luck than anything else – had the fire broken out just a few hours later, it is more than possible that workers would have found themselves trapped.” The rights groups urged all buyers from Bangladesh, including signatories of Accord or the Alliance to do more to get these vital repairs done without delay. “In response to our concerns, H&M tried to reassure its customers that their suppliers have adequate fire exits, but failed to provide assurances that this work would get done. H&M should be thankful that their complacency in this area has not resulted in another deadly disaster,” said Liana Foxvog, of the ILRF. “It is astonishing that the Alliance has Matrix Sweaters rated as ‘on track’ with safety renovations,” said Scott Nova, Executive Director of the WRC. “This factory has missed dozens of deadlines to eliminate fire hazards and make the structure safe, with 72 different hazards still uncorrected almost two years after inspection. Just how dangerous does a factory have to be to earn criticism from the Alliance?” he asked. The fire incident occurred just days after the four labor rights groups namely Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), International Labour Rights Forum (ILRF), Maquila Solidarity Network, and Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) issued a review report raising concerns about long delays in safety renovations at H&M’s supplier factories in Bangladesh. The latest evaluation came in line with their previous report launched in October 2015. The update shows that all 32 but one of H&M’s strategic suppliers remains behind schedule in making repairs and that over 50 per cent of them are still lacking adequate fire exits. Hennes & Mauritz, however, claimed that the number of issues in its supplier factories has increased by 80 per cent since October 2015. The review demonstrated some progress revealing that the overall number of outstanding fire, electrical and structural renovations previously reported as ‘behind schedule’ has decreased, though the number still remains high at 37 per cent. According to the review, in 13 per cent of the factories lockable doors have not yet been removed and 38 per cent of the factories still have not removed sliding doors and collapsible gates. In addition, 55 per cent factories have failed to install fire-rated doors, which could result in garment workers being trapped in a burning building, as has happened repeatedly in Bangladesh. Asked why it chose H&M for the survey, Sam Maher said H&M’s public list of suppliers made it easier for the campaign group to verify more easily. The retailer is the single-largest buyer of locally-made apparel products ranging between $1.5 billion to $2.0 billion, according to industry insiders. “We continue to take a very active role within the Accord and are following the remediation plan progress closely,” H &M spokesperson Ulrika Isaksson said in an e-mailed response. “We see good progress, but to further speed up the remediation, we are currently working closely together with IndustriALL with full transparency to use our combined leverage where needed,” the spokesperson added. Regarding Matrix fire, Ulrika said that its Dhaka team is closely monitoring the situation. Experts, however, opined that the remediation is slow for various reasons and accusing a single buyer would create controversy. The latest fire further highlighted the need for timely and proper completion of ongoing corrective measures in garment factories, said Khondaker Golam Moazzem, a research director of Center for Policy Dialogue.
