Stakeholders' meet next month to set RMG inspection standards

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Monira Munni Stakeholders will sit again next month to fix a set of unified standards for safety inspection programme for the country's ready-made garment (RMG) industry, amid doubts over reaching a fruitful consensus by them, sources said. The three-day meeting is scheduled to begin on November 6 at a city hotel. Representatives of the government, the EU Accord, the North American Alliance, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) are expected to attend the meetings. Launch of the inspection programme is taking time due to the absence of a common checklist, though the government inspection is scheduled to start from November 01 next with its own checklist. The Accord and the Alliance are yet to give their consent in this regard. After the Tazreen fire incident and Rana Plaza collapse, three safety initiatives -- the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety and National Tripartite Committee (NTC) -- were formed for the garment industry. Earlier, all the representatives of the three initiatives sat together on September 7. Then they agreed in principle on setting some common standards regarding building, fire safety and other factors for inspection of apparel factories. The Accord was scheduled to inspect about 1,600 factories, while the Alliance will do the same in 620 units. Besides, the government, in co-operation with the ILO, will assess the rest of the RMG units. The three groups agreed to follow some common safety assessment standards to avoid duplication in inspection and reduce misuse of resources, said people involved with the process. Thirty teams, led by the BUET experts, will inspect about 2,000 garment factories under the NTC to check structural flaws of the units, if any, and ensure their workers' safety. In the meantime, the sub-committee has prepared a standard on fire, electrical and building integrity, which awaits the NTC nod. The Alliance has also approved its respective standard. However, the Accord is yet to come up with any such standard, they added. "The meetings to formulate the common safety standards will be held on November 6, 7 and 8. These are important to harmonise all the three initiatives," ILO country director Srinivas Reddy told the FE Friday. The BUET and the Alliance are working to examine the standards, while a technical working group of the Accord is scheduled to join the meetings. They are working to coordinate all the initiatives, so that there is no duplication in inspection of the factories, he added. When asked, Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar said all the parties will scrutinize the safety standards to see whether these need further inclusion or any exclusion. The Accord and the Alliance have assured the ministry that they will follow the national checklist, and there will be no new issues. However, if any new issue arises, it will be solved through discussion, he added. An official involved with the process said there were 16 points in the Alliance's first draft on safety standards, but it later incorporated 46 points. Sources said there are some disagreements over the fire and electrical standards, while there is no major discord over the building integrity issue. Roy Ramesh Chandra, general secretary of IndustriAll Bangladesh Council, said there are laws regarding fire and electrical safety, but problems lie in their implementation. "I think there will be no major problem regarding the safety standards. We are hopeful of reaching a consensus on the common standards, as all of us are willing to work jointly," he added. Regarding the delay in fixing the set of standards, policy director of IndustriAll Jenny Holdcroft said the process is taking some time, as they want a long-term and sustainable one.