Post-Alliance monitoring must be credible, says Moriarty

The local authority that would monitor and continue the post-2018 safety activities in the country's readymade garment (RMG) industry must be independent and credible, Alliance executive director Jim Moriarty said Wednesday.
'Independent' means there would be no outside force or interference in decision-making while it has to have technical capacity to be credible in making good decisions related to structural, fire and electrical safety issues, he explained.
"The Alliance will end its assignment in Bangladesh next year and its member-brands will continue to do business with factories in Bangladesh that remain safe in future," he said stressing importance of trusted local partners to transition safety monitoring operations in 2018.
He was addressing a press conference held in a city hotel.
The conference was organised by the North America- based apparel brands, buyers and companies platform-Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety-on the occasion of launching its fourth annual report on remediation progress.
It also included case stories from Alliance Helpline and a forecast on 2018 transition plans.
Some 85 per cent of the required safety flaws have been fixed till date. This included 80 per cent high priority safety issues and a total of 234 factories have completed all required remediation prescribed in the corrective action plan (CAP).
The Alliance so far inspected more than 700 garment factories in the country while it suspended business relation with 162 factories over their failure to comply with the safety requirements.
"Our factories are demonstrably safer today than when the Alliance began and the hard work those factory owners have undertaken since 2013 is now paying off as hundreds of factories are reaching CAP closure," Moriarty said.

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