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Alliance claims improved factory safety in Bangladesh
15 Nov '17
2 min read
Courtesy: Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety
About 85 per cent of all required factory repairs have been completed and 162 non-compliant factories have been suspended, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a platform of North American retailers that sets time frames and accountability for safety inspections, training and workers’ empowerment, said in its fourth annual report released today.
Announcing substantial factory safety improvements and the expansion of its worker training and empowerment initiatives in the last year, the Alliance said in a press release that 234 factories have completed all material components in their corrective actions plans.
The platform is on track to transition safety monitoring operations to trusted local partners in 2018, it said.
Democratically-elected worker safety committees have been established in 171 factories and more than 1.3 million workers across 941 factories have access to Amader Kotha, the Alliance’s confidential worker helpline.
More than 1.4 million workers have received basic fire safety training, and 1.3 million have participated in refresher courses. Nearly 27,000 security guards have been trained in fire safety leadership.
The Alliance has designed a safety training workshop for senior factory managers and collaborated with the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) on a graduate-level short course for engineers.
“Since factories involved in the Alliance initiative will be significantly safer than they were in 2013, keeping them safe into the future requires a different arrangement and resource allocation than the current focus,” says the annual report.
“We firmly believe that if civil society, factory owners, brands, and the government continue to work together to advance a shared commitment to factory safety, high standards of worker safety will be the rule, and not the exception, in Bangladesh,” the report adds. (DS)
Announcing substantial factory safety improvements and the expansion of its worker training and empowerment initiatives in the last year, the Alliance said in a press release that 234 factories have completed all material components in their corrective actions plans.
The platform is on track to transition safety monitoring operations to trusted local partners in 2018, it said.
Democratically-elected worker safety committees have been established in 171 factories and more than 1.3 million workers across 941 factories have access to Amader Kotha, the Alliance’s confidential worker helpline.
More than 1.4 million workers have received basic fire safety training, and 1.3 million have participated in refresher courses. Nearly 27,000 security guards have been trained in fire safety leadership.
The Alliance has designed a safety training workshop for senior factory managers and collaborated with the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) on a graduate-level short course for engineers.
“Since factories involved in the Alliance initiative will be significantly safer than they were in 2013, keeping them safe into the future requires a different arrangement and resource allocation than the current focus,” says the annual report.
“We firmly believe that if civil society, factory owners, brands, and the government continue to work together to advance a shared commitment to factory safety, high standards of worker safety will be the rule, and not the exception, in Bangladesh,” the report adds. (DS)
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