23% export-oriented garment factories lack safety monitoring: CPD

Around 23% of export-oriented garment factories in the country still remain out of any form of safety monitoring system, according to the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

On Wednesday, in a media briefing titled "Challenges to Maintain Workplace Safety in the Garment Industry", CPD highlighted that these factories pose a significant safety risk as they operate outside monitoring frameworks.

Presenting the summary of a paper titled "Monitoring Workplace Safety in the RMG Sector: Is Bangladesh a Pioneer or Still a Learner?", Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director at CPD, said 2,896 factories are currently being monitored.

"Among these, 659 fall under the purview of the National Initiative's Remediation Coordination Council (RCC), 1,887 are overseen by the RMG Sustainability Council (RSC), and 350 are under the oversight of Nirapon, a non-governmental initiative supported by the international buyers' community," he said.

However, with 3,752 factories in operation according to Mapped in Bangladesh, a non-governmental initiative for digital mapping of export-oriented RMG enterprises, it is noteworthy that 856 factories remain without any form of monitoring, he added.

Khondokar Moazzem further said these factories are exporting more to non-traditional markets, including countries like Brazil, Russia, and Dubai.

He highlighted that inspections related to Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) within the RMG industry have witnessed a decline in recent years. Although the occurrence of accidents in the RMG sector had initially decreased after the tragic Rana Plaza incident, CPD reports indicate that over the past two years, accidents have been resurging.

As revealed by CPD's findings, the number of fire incidents stood at 177 and 180 in 2020 and 2021 respectively. However, this number escalated to 241 in 2022. Alongside this, the count of fatalities in factories due to accidents has also surpassed the figures of the preceding two years.

The research conducted by CPD indicates that 659 factories under the National Initiative have undergone remediation focusing on improving fire, electrical, and building structural safety.

Among these, only a single factory has achieved full completion of the remediation process.

In contrast, the count of factories that have achieved full remediation under the RSC is more than 1,300.

"Factories that do not have 100% remediation are more or less prone to accidents," Dr Moazzem said, adding, "Analysing the trend of accidents, it can be seen that it has started to increase again."

Dr Fahmida Khatun, executive director of CPD, said, "In the aftermath of the Rana Plaza disaster, numerous measures were implemented to enhance worker and building safety. Significant progress has been made through both domestic and international efforts. Yet, even a decade later, can we confidently claim that the safety of this sector is guaranteed?"