Monday, May 06, 2024
When Rana Plaza collapsed on April 24, 2013, more than 1,134 people died, and hundreds were injured, it made headlines around the world, with reports describing the poor working conditions in Bangladesh’s ready-made garment factories.
Most of the RMG factories were non-compliant during this time.
Currently, Bangladesh is home to 215 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green factories certified by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), and over 500 are waiting for certification. Besides, nine of the top 10 LEED-certified RMG factories are located in Bangladesh, including the top two.
BGMEA said the country has 81 platinum, 120 gold, 10 silver, and four certified factories.
Currently, the country has over 2,500 readymade garments in operation and all are following compliance guidelines, fire and structural security issues. Thanks to the transition, Bangladesh’s RMG sector became the world’s safest industry.
Even, after the Rana Plaza collapse, the country’s RMG sector did not witness such a big accident yet, though many small incidents have occurred but causality was not on a large scale.
Speaking to The Business Post, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President SM Mannan Kochi said, “Tajrin fashion fire [November 24, 2012] and Rana Plaza collapse was a lesson for us.
“We invested crores of taka to make a compliance factory resulting we could stop the industrial accident.”
Fatullah Apparels, a knitwear manufacturing factory in Narayanganj was unsafe even after the accident. But currently, it’s the world’s top knitwear factory certified by the USGBC.
The factory’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Fazlee Shamim Ehsan said, “After the Rana Plaza collapse, the global community criticised us. But now they want to know how we made this great improvement.
“After the incident, we planned to ensure factory safety and earn a reputation. Finally, we achieved it.”
In 2013, Razia Begum was working in an apparel factory in Ashulia. She said fire incidents were common in RMG factories six to seven years ago and workers had to work amid fear.
She also said workers had no rights at the time while factories did not follow the labour law and the wage board. “Now the situation has changed, especially in terms of workplace safety. We feel safe at work now.”
Rights activists, brands, and foreign partners, however, claim workers are still deprived of their rights though Bangladesh has improved workplace safety.
They said standard wages have not yet been established, there are barriers to joining trade unions, the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) labour law does not allow the formation of trade unions and worker harassment still exists.
It is considered the deadliest accidental structural failure in modern human history, the deadliest garment factory disaster in history, and the deadliest industrial accident in the history of Bangladesh.
Joly Talukder, general secretary of Bangladesh Garment Workers Trade Union Centre, told The Business Post that 11 years have already passed and the Rana Plaza case trial is still going on.
Even Sohel Rana, the owner of Rana Plaza, got bail recently, though the apex court later stayed it, she said.
“The rest of the culprits have already got bail. Where is justice? It is alarming for us all.”
How much Bangladesh improved
Before the Rana Plaza collapse, a deadly fire broke out at Tazreen Fashion, an apparel factory in Ashulia, on November 24, 2012. It killed at least 117 RMG workers, and around 200 were injured.
For such deadly accidents in a short period, Bangladesh faced criticism across the world. Many brands left the country while the US suspended Bangladesh from their Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme citing unsafe workplace.
“That was a horrible situation. Brands started asking me not to use the ‘Made in Bangladesh’ tag on apparel labels. Many consumers even started boycotting clothes made in Bangladesh,” Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) Executive President Mohammad Hatem said.
Amid this situation, global brands, retailers, and trade unions formed a global agreement named Accord on May 15, 2013 to improve fire and building safety in Bangladesh’s RMG sector. On July 10, 2018, 28 major global retailers formed the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety.
Both groups initially planned to work for five years but later extended their tenures. They inspected over 2,000 factories and detected various flaws.
According to the BGMEA, Accord provided compliance certificates to only 200 factories out of 1,600 in the country. It later imposed some new conditions for providing certificates, though the companies that earlier applied for certification finished 80-97 per cent of the remedial work by then.
When the tenures of the Accord and Alliance expired, the RMG Sustainability Council (RSC) was formed on May 20, 2020, for inspection in the apparel sector.
BGMEA immediate past President Faruque Hassan said, “Now I can say every RMG factory is following the safety guidelines, and workers are working without fear. In the last couple of years, there has not been any fire or building collapse in the RMG sector, except for a few isolated incidents.”
Faruque further said, “We not only ensured fire and building safety but also transformed the industry through green initiatives. Now we have at least 800 factories that are following the USGBC guideline.”
Most of the new entrepreneurs are setting up factories in line with the green initiative, he added.
Gazi Imon has been working in the apparel sector since 2008. He is also an activist for RMG workers’ rights. He said Bangladesh has improved a lot in terms of workplace safety.
Buyers are inspecting factories regularly, which has forced manufacturers to follow the safety guidelines, he added.
