Only one factory shuts after inspection by Alliance
Only one garment factory was shut out of 600 units inspected by Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a platform of 26 US-based retailers and brands.
Alliance was tasked with inspecting 605 factories and the process will be complete this week, said Rabin Mesbah, managing director of Alliance's Bangladesh operations.
However, the platform, which started inspection in the first week of March, recommended closure of seven factories, but a review panel allowed five units to continue production, while a decision on one factory is due tomorrow.
Alliance engineers detected some flaws in the factory buildings such as electrical safety problems, overloading of goods on different floors, insufficient exit capacity, and absence of sprinklers.
“The primary inspection will come to an end by this week,” Mesbah said, adding that follow-up inspection and monitoring will continue for the next five years to see progress in the corrective action plan.
Alliance has a plan to set up hotlines in each of the factories it inspected to help workers seek help during crisis. Seven factories will get hotlines within this week, Mesbah said. The government's review panel has so far shut 17 factories at the behest of three inspection agencies -- Alliance, Accord, and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said Syed Ahmed, inspector general of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments.
The Accord, a platform of 180 retailers and brands mainly from Europe, is inspecting 1,600 factories, while Buet 2,000.
After the Rana Plaza building collapse in April last year, the inspection agencies started fire, electric and structural inspections in the garment factories.
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