European retailers’ group – the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, and the North American buyers’ group – Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, have reportedly severed business relations with four more readymade garment factories in Bangladesh, owing to failure in making required progress in remediation work.
According to media reports, the RMG factories that Alliance has suspended from its supplier list are- Mika Fashion Ltd. (Gazipur), Hemple Rhee Mfg. Co. (BD) Ltd. (Chittagong) and Shamsher Apparels Ltd. (Dhaka), following their alleged failure to submit design documents to the platform as well as to provide evidence of remediation.
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On the other hand, the Accord has reportedly cut business relations with Fresh Apparels Ltd., Narayanganj, for alleged failure in making required progress in remediation work.
As per the statement issued by Accord, inspection conducted by the European retailers’ group of Fresh Apparels in March last year, reportedly found a number of problems that could cause serious harm to the workers. As such the platform asked Fresh Apparels to make some changes to eliminate those risks, but the factory authorities have so far failed to remove collapsible gates and locking features from the egress doors/gates and also failed to install fire doors and a good fire alarm system, it alleged.
The Accord also reportedly maintained that if the workers of the ‘unsafe’ Fresh Apparels choose not to work at the factory because of safety risks, the brands linked to the Accord will make an effort to help them find jobs at nearby factories that are safe.
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The total number of RMG factories with which the global buyers have cut business relations reached 113. Of them, the Alliance alone cut business ties with 83 factories so far.
