Govt in a dilemma over releasing inspection reports on RMG units

The government is in a dilemma over making its inspection reports on readymade garment (RMG) factories public as it wants to scrutinise the necessary legal and procedural aspects, sources said.
On the other hand, Accord, an European Union (EU)-based initiative by more than 150 global apparel companies, brands, retailers and trade unions and Alliance, another North American retailers' platform, have already made some of their assessment reports public on their respective websites.
They are also in the process of uploading more reports in the coming days while the government-International Labour Organisation (ILO) led factory assessment carried out by the BUET is yet to be made public amid growing demand from different rights groups, according to sources.
Recently, the Human Rights Watch has called upon the government to disclose the findings of ongoing apparel factory safety inspections carried out by the government and other groups both in Bengali and English to help the workers know actual conditions of their workplaces.
In July 2013, Bangladesh, the EU, and the ILO agreed to a compact on labour rights and factory safety  which were later joined by the US government, to create a publicly accessible database listing all RMG and knitwear factories, as a platform for reporting labour, fire and building safety inspections. The database would include information on factories and their locations, their owners, the results of inspections regarding complaints of anti-union discrimination and unfair labour practices, fines and sanctions administered, as well as remedial actions taken, if any, subject to relevant national legislation.
 "Before making the inspection reports by the BUET public, we want to scrutinise all its aspects especially the legal issues," Syed Ahmed, Inspector General of Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) told the FE recently.
 "We will sit with the Law Ministry in this regard shortly to discuss whether there are any legal barriers in making any factory's information public", he said explaining that the reports include business information.
But the government has planned to publish the garment factories' assessment reports in its database, he added.
Sources said, the government's plan to discuss the legal aspects has come following legal complexities raised by a closed garment factory authority.
The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) has already inspected about 250 garment units but till date no reports have been published.
Accord has inspected about 650 factories out of its estimated 1,500 units and has made public details of ten factory inspection reports. The reports stated that all ten factories inspected have safety problems that still need to be addressed.
When contacted, Accord's Executive Director Rob Wayss, said reports of more 25 factories with corrective action plans would be uploaded in its website within a few days while the rest would be made public phase by phase.
Until May, the Alliance has inspected more than 500 of the 630 factories and published assessment reports of 27 factories. In the case of every factory, dozens of deficiencies have been identified. The Alliance will now work with factories to address.
Common issues include inadequate fire suppression equipment, lack of fire doors and poor electrical wiring. While the majority of buildings are structurally sound, there are some instances in which buildings are overloaded and factories have been urged to take immediate action to reduce the load and reinforce columns, according to an Alliance statement.
Alliance Managing Director M Rabin said more reports would be posted in its website shortly.