Fire safety expo starts tomorrow

The third International Trade Expo for Building and Fire Safety will begin in Dhaka tomorrow to showcase equipment needed for garment factories to ensure workplace safety.

Hong Kong-based Elevate will organise the expo, where 36 companies and organisations will display products and services. Thirteen participants will come from overseas.

Elevate is a third party consulting firm for the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a platform of 26 North American retailers and brands for factory inspections in Bangladesh.

The three-day expo will take place at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, Mesbah Rabin, managing director for the Alliance, said during a press meet at his office in Dhaka yesterday.

The Alliance engineers have inspected 837 factories so far, and the majority of the inspected factories are now carrying out the corrective action plans to strengthen workplace safety, he said.

“We are holding regular fire safety equipment expo in the country so that garment (factory) owners can purchase those from renowned brands easily,” Rabin said. Most garment factory owners did not have any idea about the need for fire and building safety before the Rana Plaza building collapse, he said.

So far some 28 factory-owners have applied for financial assistance from the inspection agencies, Accord and Alliance, to carry out remedial safety measures, for which five private commercial banks have stepped up, according to Rabin.

“Remediation work on the garment factories in Bangladesh is going on and such an expo is very important to carry out post-inspection activities,” Alliance Chief Safety Officer Mark Chubb said.

“Most of the safety equipment needs to be imported and considering the demand for such equipment, the expo will bring internationally certified makers of those under one umbrella,” Rabin said.

The expo will be the platform for vendors and factory owners, especially for the SMEs to discuss latest advancements in fire detection and fighting equipment, organisers said.

The products such as fire doors, hydrants, pumps, sprinklers, fire alarms, detection systems and protection machinery and services will be on display.

The expo will also include 11 lectures and two panel discussions on loan management, remediation and installation of fire doors, risk management and affordable finance.