Boohoo plans to join new Accord for Bangladesh garment workers

Online fashion retailer Boohoo said on Monday it intended to sign a new agreement with its garment workers in Bangladesh that makes retailers liable for legal action unless their factories meet labour safety standards.

The company’s European rivals H&M and Inditex-owned Zara have already signed the updated agreement that was announced in August.

The new pact, called the International Accord for Health and Safety, replaces the Bangladesh Accord, which was struck in the aftermath of a building collapse in 2013 that killed more than 1,100 garment workers in the south Asian country.

The news comes a year after Boohoo accepted all recommendations of an independent review that found major failings in its supply chain in England after newspaper allegations about working conditions and low pay in factories in the Leicester area.