National inspection policy being drafted

The government is working to formulate a national inspection policy aiming at bringing all the industrial sectors under a regulatory system and establish a comprehensive database including outcomes of assessments, sources said.
The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE), in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), is preparing a draft in this regard, they added.
There is only an inspection manual for the readymade garment (RMG) industry while there are more than 45 other industrial sectors including jute, pharmaceuticals, ship breaking, ship-building, brick fields, chemicals, re-rolling, tannery and plastic sectors in the country, they pointed out.
The move has been taken following the country's worst-ever industrial accidents like Tazreen Fashions fire and Rana Plaza building collapse that killed at least 1,249 workers, mostly garment workers.
Following one-after-another industrial tragedies, many initiatives including assessment of garment factories by brands and retailers have been taken to assess and improve safety and other compliance related issues, they added.
"We, in collaboration with the ILO, are working to prepare a draft of a national inspection policy to bring all the industrial sectors under the inspection programmes," Syed Ahmed, Inspection General of the DIFE told the FE Sunday.
The purpose of the policy is also to carry out fruitful inspections, he said adding the policy will reflect our expectations as to what we exactly want from assessment.
As there is no such inspection policy, he said such is required to safeguard interests of industries and its workers.
Following lack of inspection capacity to assess a large number of garment factories, different foreign firms are being allowed to inspect local factories, another official said. Happily, the Chief Inspector for Factories and Establishments has been upgraded to a full-fledged Department with an increase in manpower, he added.
"But there should be a comprehensive inspection policy so that all industries are well-monitored," he said. The policy will also help establish a comprehensive database of industrial and other establishments with preservation of inspection results and other related information, he said.
Recently, the DIFE launched a database for apparel sector that contains information on 3,498 garment units across the country including their location, names of owners and number of workers.
According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) 2001, the number of manufacturing units in Bangladesh stood at 2,42,818 and that of shops, hotels, construction companies and commercial health service centres was 20,15,117. The number of workplaces has increased manifold over these years.