The safety inspection by Accord, a platform of European buyers, and Alliance, another platform of North-American buyers, will end in June 2018. Accord and Alliance started the inspection in mid-2014 to improve electrical, fire and structural safety in Bangladesh RMG sector. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) will table the issue at its next board meeting on October 29, sources said. At the meeting, the board is expected to broadly discuss how it can maintain safety standard in the apparel industry through the adoption of an internally acceptable mechanism. Widespread public outcry over safety began after the Rana Plaza factory disaster that killed more than 1,135 workers and injured over 2,500 people on April 24, 2013. In 2014, the Accord on Fire and Building safety and Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety took a five-year initiative to improve fire, electrical and building safety standard in RMG factories from which their members source products. “After the expiry of Accord and Alliance inspections, it should be sustainable and there should be regular monitoring,” BGMEA Vice-President Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu told the Dhaka Tribune. “To this end, we have to have a nationally and internationally acceptable mechanism, which will look into the safety assessment after the inspection follow-up and make sure that the factory is being monitored as per the set parameter,” said Mahmud. He stressed the need for including all the parties like civil society members, rights groups and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) to ensure a holistic approach, he added. “Coordinated structure, long-term monitoring and technological development are the key features to making the inspection a sustainable one,” Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, told the Dhaka Tribune. Involvement of the private sector in the process can be a big tool, while human resource development is needed, he added. “After the completion of Accord and Alliance inspections, the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments will continue, while the social compliance would be done by the buyers,” Syed Ahmed, DIFE inspector general, told the Dhaka Tribune. On the structural assessment he said it is not needed as the new building would be built as per the Bangladesh National Building Code and Rajuk will look into the structural issues as it is under its jurisdiction, said Ahmed. “There must have a specific authority, which would see to the issues as the industrialisation had reached the union level where there is no capacity to approve structural design and other safety issues, a labour ministry high official told the Dhaka Tribune, seeking anonymity. “I think, this could be under the Housing Department,” he said. He also suggested that the government should have approved engineering firms, which would carry out inspection as a third party and it should be certified by a law ensuring that it has the eligibility and capacity to assess structural safety. The government should train engineers on remediation process to continue with follow-up inspection, said Ahmed. “We are in confusion if the manufacturers will continue with the inspection and safety assessment programme after the tenure of the Accord and Alliance,” Sammilito Garment Sramik Federation President Nazma Akter.
