150 global brands, retailers join Accord\\\'s initiative

FE Report
A total of 150 global apparel brands and retailers have joined the Accord's Building and Fire Safety initiative for making the ready-made garment (RMG) industry of Bangladesh safe and sustainable.
The businesses that have already signed the Accord's legally-binding agreement include many household names in twenty countries from Europe, North America, Australia and Asia, the platform of global buyers Accord said in a statement.
The companies, brands and retailers that have become signatories to the Accord initiative are: 44 from Germany including Tchibo, Adidas, Esprit and Puma; 19 from the UK including Texco, Primark, Newlook, Marks and Spencer, Bonmarche, Matalan, N Brown Group; 14 from Netherlands; 10 from USA including PVH; 9 from Australia including Kmart, Target; 8 from Sweden including H&M; 6 each from Denmark and Belgium; 5 from France including Carrefour; and 4 from Spain including Inditex and Mango.
From Canada only Loblaw, and Fast Retailing from Japan have signed the agreement, while one each from Austria, Sri Lanka, Poland and Finland joined the initiative. Three each from Hong Kong, Norway and Italy, and two each from Switzerland and Turkey became the signatories to the programme, said the Accord statement, which was made available on its website.
Following Bangladesh's deadly Rana Plaza collapse that killed more than 1,100 workers, the retailers' platform made the commitment to provide financial and technical support for improving fire and building safety standards in the country's RMG factories, from where they source products.  
As per their commitment, the Accord will inspect over 1700 factories through September 2014 for fire, electrical, and building safety. The Accord has already appointed inspection companies to roll out an inspection programme scheduled to be started in the coming months.
Following a period of pilot-phase factory inspections in Dhaka and the surrounding areas, the Accord published its fire, electrical and building inspection standards on January 14.  
"We are delighted to have reached this milestone so soon. It shows the strength of commitment to the Accord's aims from a truly international spread of companies. We look forward to more companies joining the Accord," the statement quoted Bangladesh Accord Executive Director, International Operations, Alan Roberts, as saying.
The Accord's extensive inspection programme will help eradicate hazardous workplaces for some of the world's most vulnerable workers.
The platform also expressed its dissatisfaction over the reluctance of the Canadian brands, except Loblaw, to join the initiative.
During the last fiscal year of 2012-13, Bangladesh exported apparel products worth $21.51 billion. Out of the total apparel exports, 58.40 per cent were destined for the EU, 23.22 per cent for the US, 4.56 per cent for Canada, 13.82 per cent for the non-traditional markets like China, Australia, India, Russia, South Africa and Japan.