The government will begin inspecting non-garment factories to ensure compliance and strengthen workplace safety for workers. “The Tampaco fire is another big lesson for us,” Syed Ahmed, inspector general of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments or DIFE, told The Daily Star by phone yesterday. “We will start inspecting the non-RMG factories to ensure workplace safety for workers. ”The DIFE that was created after the Rana Plaza collapse is responsible for ensuring workplace safety and compliance in the factories.Both the labour and employment minister and the secretary agreed to open inspections into the non-RMG factories, mirroring the effortthat are ongoing to upgrade fire, electrical and structural safety in garment factories, Ahmed said. However, Ahmed could not immediately say when the inspections will start. “We will prepare a project proposal and submit it to the government and other donor agencies so that the inspections can begin as soon as possible. ”Since the Rana Plaza collapse in 2013, Accord and Alliance, 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 International Labour Organisation. The non-garment factories were not in focus as everybody was busy with safety in the garment factories after the Rana Plaza incident killed 1,138 workers, he said.He could not mention the number of the factories, which are labour intensive, after the garment sector. Primarily, it might be difficult to manage the fund as foreign agencies such as the Accord and the Alliance may not come into the non-garment sector, he added. The government will bankroll the inspections and it takes more than $7,000 to carry out a complete preliminary inspection on a garment factory, he said. Ahmed said the inspection of structures and boilers is mandatory as the majority of the non-RMG factories are old and require immediate inspection. On the compensation for the people affected by the Tampaco blaze, Ahmed said the labour ministry has already declared a compensation of Tk 200,000 for the families of each dead worker. We will provide the fund to the victims from the recently formed Worker Welfare Fund. The victims may get more money after the completion of the assessment.”Ministry officials and doctors are preparing a list of the workers who died or were injured to give compensation, Ahmed said.
