Some 107 brands have signed the 2018 transition Accord in Bangladesh covering more than 1,200 garment factories, people familiar with the situation said. The brands included H&M, Inditex, Primark, PVH, C&A, Loblaw, Target, Aldi, Mango and Tesco. But the joint monitoring committee, supposed to be formed by December last year, is yet to formed to monitor the remediation progress and the capacity of the government’s regulatory body to take over from the Accord, they added. The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh having more than 200 global apparel brands, buyers and trade unions, was set up in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013, and is valid until May 2018. In late last year, commerce and labour ministries, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and international trade unions, and brands agreed a six-month extension of the Accord, they said, adding until the conditions for handover are met, the tenure would be extended for further six months. When asked, Mahmud Hasan Khan, the BGMEA’s vice president, said the formation of the monitoring committee had been delayed due to the BGMEA’s election. The government has allowed a one-year extension of the existing office bearers’ tenure for one year and the election has been cancelled. He, however, said the committee would be formed by the end of this month. Christy Hoffman, deputy general-secretary of UNI Global Union, in a statement, said, “We were confident that the vast majority of 2013 signatories would sign the 2018 Transition Accord and now that we have broken 100 signatories, we are almost there.” “We’ve made improvements to the industry and turning away now simply doesn’t make sense. It is also important to make these advancements in worker safety sustainable through functioning Health and Safety Committees and the Transition Accord will put a priority on this work,” Christy Hoffman added. Accord inspectors have so far carried out inspections on more than 1,600 factories supplying over 200 brands, identifying over 118,500 fire, electrical, and structural hazards. Some 82 per cent of workplace dangers identified in the Accord’s original round of inspections has been remediated, and 699 Accord factories have completed over 90 per cent of the remediation, according to Accord’s remediation progress report until January 01, 2018. Some 127 factories have so far completed all the required remediation work prescribed in the corrective action plan (CAP), according to the report. “In the last three months, the progress rate of Accord factories installing their fire detection and prevention systems increased from 31 per cent to 41 per cent,” it said, adding the rate of removal of lockable and collapsible gate is 96 per cent. Some 41 per cent factories has installed fire detection and prevention system and 87 per cent put adequate lighting in fire exits, it added.
