110 apparel makers fail to comply with DEA within set timeframe

Some 110 apparel makers have allegedly failed to comply with their required detailed engineering analysis (DEA) within the set timeframe, posing uncertainty over timely completion of factory remediation programme.
The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety has recently sent a list of 110 readymade garment (RMG) factories to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and sought its intervention to speed up the remediation process.
Taking their poor remediation progress into consideration, a tripartite meeting called upon the factories concerned Monday to complete their process as early as possible at the BGMEA headquarters in the city.
 BGMEA vice president Md Shahidullah Azim, Alliance Managing Director M Rabin and representatives from the factory authorities attended the meeting.
The meeting was informed that Alliance's engineers have made verification inspection in some 141 factories but the progress is not satisfactory.
"Those units got time ranging from two to nine months after finalising the corrective action plan (CAP)," a meeting source said. But they are yet to complete the DEA while some of them are yet to initiate the process.
"Progress in factories located in Chittagong is comparatively unsatisfactory and they got four months of time but progress is below 30 per cent," he added.
"The remediation process is moving slowly which is not very encouraging," Alliance Managing Director M Rabin said.
Non-conformity is much higher especially in electrical sides, he told the meeting requesting the authorities of factories concerned to fix the issues within the shortest possible time to prevent fire related casualties.
According to Alliance, 19 per cent out of the 640 factories that were initially inspected by its engineers have been asked to conduct the DEA to identify the specific structural flaws.
DEA was recommended when building owners or manufacturers failed to provide some necessary documents including building designs.
The meeting was also informed that many of the said factories are in the process of conducting DEA and will submit their report to the Alliance shortly while some of them have already submitted their reports.
The DEA in the factories were delaying due to various reasons including slower pace of engineering firms and lack of available fund, the meeting said.
BGMEA leader requested the Alliance to come up with the required fund saying small and medium categories of factories don't have the access to finance which also hinders the remediation process. He urged the Alliance to come up with its promised remediation fund to speed up the process.
Responding to the BGMEA leader's request, the Alliance MD said a new fund worth $35 million would be launched by April, next.
    munni_fe@yahoo.com