The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a platform of the major European brands and retailers, has cut business relations with three more readymade garment factories as the supplier factories failed to make satisfactory progress in remediation for ensuring workplace safety. The factories are Crystal Apparels Ltd, M-Yew Fashion Ltd and All Weather Fashions Ltd, which are located at Mohakhali in the capital, Dhaka.The retailers’ platform said that despite repeated initiatives by the Accord staff, the factories failed to make adequate progress in implementing corrective action plans approved by the Accord. All the three factories were inspected for fire, electrical and structural safety by the platform in 2014, the Accord said. With the three, the total number of the supplier factories which faced business relations suspension by the European retailers’ group reached to 26. Earlier, the Accord terminated business relations with 23 factories in several phases due to their (factories) failure in implementing workplace safety measures and refusal to cooperate in the Accord inspections.The Accord said it was required to terminate the business relationship with the suppliers and all the factories they operate as the Accord signatory companies had been using these factories since April 26, 2016.It also said that the factories were no longer eligible for Accord company production until it meets the conditions for requalification. After the Rana Plaza building collapse in April 2013 that killed more than 1,100 people, mostly garment workers, EU retailers formed the Accord and launched inspection programme in the Bangladeshi RMG factories from where they procure products. The initiative has so far inspected more than 1,600 supplier factories.
