Space shortages at rented houses make RMG units non-compliant

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Shah Alam Nur Most ready-made garment (RMG) factories in the country will be put in a tight corner to comply fully with production-related requirements because of their operation in the rented premises, having severe space constraints, industry insiders said. The shortages of space in the garment industry have made if quite a tough job for most of the owners of the apparel-making units to abide by 'compliance-related norms and standards, that are increasingly been pressed by the major foreign buyers, for enforcement in the whole supply-chain. Workers' safety, arrangements for proper fire-fighting equipment, evacuation mechanism, appropriate installation of machines and healthy work environment are among the major compliance issues. "A large number of RMG factories in and outside Dhaka and Chittagong are operating within the narrow space of the rented premises for which the entrepreneurs concerned are failing to adhere to all the compliance-related requirements," former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Anwar ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez told the FE. He said after the Tazreen fire, most of the factory owners tried to emphasise the need for compliance-related matters, consequent upon continued pressure from home and abroad. "When buyers come here for outsourcing, their first demand is fulfilling compliance issues at the factories," he added. BGMEA president Atiqul Islam said the RMG owners have been bearing extra pressure coming from buyers on the 'compliance issues' after the Tazreen blaze. Now the Savar disaster has dealt another blow to the apparel factory owners which are not in a position to meet all the requirements for compliance at their work places, he added. According to the BGMEA research cell, nearly 730 garment workers have died so far in different incidents of building collapse, fire, and other kinds of accidents during the period between 1990 and 2012. Major incidents were the fire accidents at That's It Sportswear Limited, owned by Ha-Meem Group and Tazreen Fashions Ltd. that is owned by Tuba Group, Spectrum Sweater Industries, Phoenix Garments, Smart Export Garments, Garib and Garib, Matrix Sweater, KTS Composite Textile Mills and Sun Knitting. Some of these factories do, however, use the modern state-of-the-art technology for the purpose of production, the sources added. The apparel sector that includes both woven and knitted items, contributed $19 billion to the country's export basket in the last fiscal year (FY), 2011-12 and has been looking forward to raising the export earnings to $23 billion in the current fiscal.