Around 42.2 per cent of participants of an exposition expressed their opinion that the safety standards for the apparel sector are good but tough to implement while 35.5 per cent said that the standards are good and they should be implemented now and 11 per cent opined that these are too stringent.
The organisers of the international trade expo for building and fire safety conducted a survey on the 467 participants of the fair while 64 per cent are from factory representatives, 18.1 per cent from brands, 4.7 per cent are consultancies and 2.8 per cent from NGOs and unions.
The survey also suggested three remedies including intensifying external monitoring and providing adequate training both for workers and the management.
The participants have also identified untrained management and supervisors, indifferent attitude of the management and untrained workers to be three top challenges for the country's readymade garment (RMG) sector.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety in cooperation with the Accord, IFC, C &A Foundation and Elevate jointly organised the expo, first ever of its kind, that ended Monday.
"To train the managers, workers and increase external monitoring are the top three remediation strategies identified by the survey," M Rabin, managing director of the Alliance said at a post-expo press briefing held at a city hotel Monday.
"Protecting the safety of Bangladesh factory workers means we all have a role to play," he said adding: "that is why we are pleased to be working so closely with our partners on the ground to ensure that factory safety improvements are swift, integrated and sustainable over the long term."
The expo provided information about safety equipment, about different initiatives and contribution of the different speakers.
The participants expected that the expo would find solutions to the fire and building safety challenges to contribute to improving safety in RMG factories, the survey found.
Replying to a question, the Accord Executive Director Rob Wayss said they have got some complaints over the withdrawal of orders by some big buyers from the factories located at shared or rented buildings but not enough.
He assured that the Accord will look into the issue.
Relating to the standards, the Accord ED said the standards are set in a harmonised way following consultation with the Alliance and law of the land but there are some additional requirements like sprinkler.
42.2pc say standards good but tough to implement
FE Report | Published: February 25, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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