The government is set to resume safety assessment on readymade garment (RMG) factories by the middle of next month after seven months of suspension, sources said.
The National Tripartite Committee (NTC), headed by labour secretary Mikail Shipar, in a meeting held Tuesday took the decision to renew contact with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) within a week to conduct the second phase of inspections.
The NTC was formed last year to ensure timely development of National Plan of Action on fire, electrical and structural safety in the RMG sector in Bangladesh.
"We have discussed the issue and the authorities concerned have assured us of concluding the new agreement within a week for resumption of the second phase of the garment factory assessment programme," Mr Shipar said.
The inspection to check fire, electrical and structural flaws in garment factories, that remain outside the purview of the assessment programmes carried out by the western retailers, would start immediately after the signing of the new agreement, he added.
Meeting sources said the government has pressed the ILO and BUET to resume the inspection by mid-September to complete the assessment by December next.
They have attributed the delay to completion of the first-phase inspection reports, ending disputes between the local and foreign experts over inspection standards and resolving some other procedural complexities.
However, the dispute over standards, especially about the required concrete strength, between the BUET and western retailers-appointed experts, was one of the main reasons that delayed the resumption of the government-ILO-led inspection programme, they said.
"Completion of reports and resolution of the disputes between the local and foreign experts over the standards took much time," a source said adding: "A consensus over the standards was needed for further smooth inspection of garment factories."
"Now there is no other complexity except the agreement to start the inspection again," meeting sources added.
Under a government-ILO joint project, teams of the BUET assessed fire, electrical and structural safety of more than 200 garment factories during the last November-January period.
The teams submitted reports on 80 units to the authorities concerned in February, sources added.
But the consultancy agency, appointed by the ILO, wanted reports with grading depending on risk factors.
Later in May, the BUET teams submitted their final reports on 200 manufacturing units with grading, they said.
The BUET inspection reports marked 25 per cent units as 'red' and 'amber' while two units were found risky and later closed by the factory authorities. The rest were marked as 'yellow' and 'green'.
On the other hand, the Accord has so far inspected about 1,000 factories and is expected to complete 1,500 garment units by September next.
The alliance completed its inspection of about 600 units by July last.
