The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments is in talks with different agencies to launch inspections into non-garment factories to ensure workplace safety. “We have already spoken with Germany’s development agency GIZ to start inspections into non-apparel factories,” said Syed Ahmed, inspector general of DIFE. There are upwards of 4,000 non-garment factories in Bangladesh. “We must launch the inspection to save the lives of the workers there. ”The labour ministry has already agreed to launch inspections similar to the ones taking place in the garment sector after the Rana Plaza building collapse in April 2013, according to Ahmed. “We will need technical and financial support from both the government and the international communities for the inspection. ”The DIFE will also speak with the International Labour Organisation in this regard soon, Ahmed said. The non-garment factories have been running without inspection for years, leaving the structural, fire and electrical conditions of most factories unknown. “We should know the conditions of all three — structural, fire and electrical — in the non-apparel sector to avoid further worker deaths. ”For instance, the Tampaco Foils factory structure was probably strong but the housekeeping like placement of boilers, foils, chemicals, electrical wires and meters let it down. Had the Tampaco factory been inspected the accident might not have taken place, he said. “I will not sit idle. I will launch inspections into those factories because saving the lives of workers is our highest priority. We need money and technical support now,” Ahmed said. The DIFE that was created after the Rana Plaza collapse is responsible for ensuring workplace safety and compliance in factories. Since the Rana Plaza collapse in 2013, Accord and Alliance, the two foreign inspection agencies, have been inspecting 2,000 garment factories to fix the fire, electrical and structural flaws. Another 2,000 garment factories, which are not members of the Accord and the Alliance, are being inspected under a government initiative in collaboration with the ILO. The non-garment factories were not in focus as everyone was occupied with safety in garment factories after the Rana Plaza incident that claimed 1,138 lives, he said. The inspection of structures and boilers is mandatory as the majority of the non-garment factories are old and require immediate inspection. On compensation for those affected by the Tampaco fire, Ahmed said the labour ministry has already announced Tk 2 lakh for families of each of the dead worker. The compensation will be given from the recently formed Worker Welfare Fund. Ministry officials and doctors are preparing a list of the workers who died or were injured to give compensation, Ahmed said. Rescuers have so far recovered dead bodies of 35 workers killed in the blaze on September 22. Labour leaders and local and international rights groups have already expressed concern over the Tampaco Foils accident and demanded a fair compensation package for the victims based on ILO Convention 121, which deals with payment for industrial accidents.
