Representatives of Nirapon, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters association (BKMEA) met recently in Dhaka. All parties committed to continue the conversation on their shared goal to protect the safety of readymade garment (RMG) factory workers in Bangladesh.To ensure continued partnership, all parties committed to engage in an ongoing, constructive dialogue. The target is to support a unified and sustainable approach to safety at the national level in order to sustain the significant progress made so far, a BGMEA-Nirapon joint communique said.In the meantime, Nirapon will continue operations while it simultaneously explores how best to support collaboration with the national safety initiative.Nirapon is a self-regulating model providing factory building and fire safety monitoring, oversight and reporting services in Bangladesh for its member brands.Nirapon focuses on building capacity amongst Bangladesh’s assessment and training service providers. It tries to accomplish this by identifying service providers capable of supporting assessments, remediation, capacity building and training. Factories manufacturing for Nirapon member brands engage assessment and training service providers from the qualified pool, while Nirapon validates the quality of services provided and alert members to any potential risk and issues.
