The panel resumed Sunday reviewing the findings on Accord-assessed apparel factories after a consensus on safety measures emerged between local and foreign experts, industry insiders said.
The review panel has put its assessment on hold for more than a month when engineers of western retailers' platform Accord and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) were locked in a row over required standards of concrete strength of apparel-factory buildings.
But experts of both sides have finally reached a 'conditional' consensus over the issue, people close to the factory assessment initiative said.
"On condition, the Accord engineers have agreed with the BUET to set parameters of 2,050 pound per square inch (PSI) for brick made buildings and 2,370 PSI for stone made ones," a source close to the process told the FE Monday.
Terming the conditions 'not realistic', the source explained that one of their conditions included that they would consider their previous parameter of 1,760 PSI for brick made buildings in case of mismatch in building the drawing.
He, however, did not go through the other conditions, saying the BUET and Accord engineers would sit shortly further with more documentations to come to an end.
The parties held several meetings on the concrete strength issue with the International Labour Organisation brokering the process.
Accord has agreed to consider the concrete strength (brick chip) at 2,050 pound per square inch instead of 1,500, sources said.
From the beginning of the safety assessment, the BUET experts were considering concrete strength at 2,500 PSI, but Accord and Alliance were considering it at 1,500 PSI for brick-made structure and at 2,000 PSI for stone-made structure.
Following repeated requests from the factory owners and BUET, the North American retailers' group Alliance had agreed to consider the concrete strength at 2,100 PSI but Accord stuck to its gun, they added.
When contacted, Inspector General of Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments said "The engineers have assured him that they will resolve the disputed issue shortly while both the groups have agreed a similar parameter for brick and stone made buildings."
The committee visited a garment unit namely MIM Dresses Ltd at Mirpur Sunday but found the unit closed following the Accord's recommendation.
"The authority of the MIM Dresses itself closed the unit and started the process of relocation," Mr. Ahmed said adding the committee Monday reviewed Ali Apparels located in Narayanganj.
It asked the authority to reduce the load of the building to run its production and also asked for detailed engineering analysis for retrofitting, the committee head said.
The panel is expected to review two more units in Chittagong today (Tuesday) that were also found risky by the Accord.
