Bida identifies 106 risky factories

The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida) has identified 106 factories as risky for lacking required fire safety measures and having vulnerable working conditions under a nationwide initiative aimed at preventing fire incidents and other disasters.

In 2021, the Prime Minister's Office formed a 24-member national committee, headed by Salman F Rahman, private industry and investment adviser to the prime minister, in a bid to avoid preventable incidents after a fire at the Hashem Foods factory in Narayanganj left more than 50 dead.

As part of the move, 5,206 factories were inspected by the officials of the Bida between November 2021 and March 2022 in the first phase of the initiative in Dhaka, Chattogram, Narayanganj and Gazipur, home to a third of the factories in Bangladesh.

In December, the state-run investment promotion agency submitted the final report on the findings of the inspection to the national committee.

Out of the 106 factories, 17 are very vulnerable and need to comply with fire safety and environmental standards immediately in order to protect the workers from any health hazards, said Abhijit Chowdhury, an executive member of the Bida.

The rest of the 89 factories can fulfil compliance standards in phases, he said.

The factories that have received a score of less than 25 on a scale of 100 have been classified as severely problematic and those having a score between 25 and 50 have been categorised as moderately problematic.

"Ultimatums would be issued to the problematic factories to correct themselves and ensure compliance within the next three months," Salman F Rahman told The Daily Star recently.

"Letters will be sent to the factories to improve their working environment. The factories that will fail to improve their conditions will be shut down."

The decisions were taken at a meeting organised by the home affairs ministry, a key part of the national committee, on February 1.

According to Chowdhury, the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) has been given the charge to issue the letters to the factories to take corrective measures within three months.

"The DIFE will send the letters after receiving the meeting minutes."

He said the factories are operating without an environmental clearance certificate from the Department of Environment, and a licence from the Department of Fire Service and Civil Defence.

According to the findings of the Bida's inspection, in some cases, building codes were not followed, adequate fire safety measures were not put in place and fire hydrants were entirely absent.

In the first phase of the government's move to guarantee adequate infrastructure and fire safety measures at all industrial units across the country, the inspectors of the Bida focused on the factories in the chemical, plastic, and food-processing sectors.

A number of factories in the three sectors have seen devastating fires in the past one decade, killing thousands.

The readymade garment industry was not part of the inspection since apparel manufacturers, who account for about 85 per cent of national export earnings, are already compliant.

In Bangladesh, factories need to follow national building codes and ensure fire safety measures and environmental standards. But Chowdhury said the 106 factories could not fulfil the requirement, which poses a threat.

The vulnerable factories are located in Keraniganj of Dhaka and Narayanganj and represent the chemical, plastic and knitwear sectors.

It was found that plastic and chemical industries in Keraniganj don't have minimum fire safety and environmental protection measures which is a health hazard, and accidents may occur any time, Chowdhury warned.

The central coordinator of the inspection teams said a number of knitwear factories, mainly small units, in Narayanganj don't maintain minimum safety standards.

Razekuzzaman Ratan, president of the Socialist Workers' Front, welcomed the Bida's initiative since it has started inspecting factories proactively and identified the risky ones.

"The factories should implement the corrective measures as soon as possible. Otherwise, the national initiative will go in vain."

He stressed strong monitoring to see whether the vulnerable factories are taking corrective measures within the stipulated time.

Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, also termed the initiative of the Bida praiseworthy.

He, however, does not think that shutting down factories with dangerous working conditions should be a solution.

"Rather, the authorities would have to extend cooperation to them so that they correct themselves and improve the working environment."

The economist urged the Bida to make the inspection report public on its website since it is related to public safety and stressed regular monitoring led by the Bida in association with other agencies such as the DIFE.