Again fire, again deaths

It seems that we are either unable or unwilling to learn from our mistakes and rectify. If that has been so, another seven unfortunate garment workers would not have fallen victim to the stupidity of a garment factory owner and management. Seven women workers of a garment factory in the capital city were killed, and it is learnt that the main gate was locked when the fire started. Again repetition of insensible acts costing human lives.
It is absolutely unacceptable that only two months after the greatest tragedy to strike the garment sector for many years in Bangladesh, another tragedy very soon after that should take more human lives. It is no excuse that the said factory is not a member of the BGMEA. The fact is that it has license to operate and such is under the supervision of one or the other agencies. Reportedly, the factory had no fire fighting equipment. One wonders for how long the factory had been working under lax safety conditions. We might have never known at all of such a factory had it not been for the fire and the deaths resulting from it.
When the eyes of the world are on Bangladesh after the Tazreen incident, and when our major buyers are threatening to cut off preferential treatment to Bangladesh RMG products if the safety standards and working conditions did not measure up to the norms, the garment factory owners seem to be totally unfazed by the ominous prospects facing the RMG sector.
Given the furore created after Tazreen fire, the follow up actions we can see have been next to nothing. Can we ask the BGMEA and other relevant agencies to tell us what actions have been taken so far to ensure that the safety standard in the garment factories was raised to the required level and that such incidents were nor repeated, that incidents of deaths were brought down to zero?
Side by side with improving the working conditions and safety standards, it is necessary to bring the errant owners to book. Unfortunately, there is a regime of impunity, where regrettably, some in the garment owners' association are seen to be colluding to protect the guilty.