Making public its third annual report, the retailers’ platform of North American buyers – Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, has underlined that that 55 per cent of high-priority repairs and 63 per cent of all required repairs in its affiliated RMG factories have been completed.
The buyers’ platform maintained in the fourth year, the Alliance will focus on Critical Safety Repairs, which are most important for life safety and establishment of Worker Safety Committees. It further stated that those issues including the import and installation of fire doors, the reinforcement of structural beams and columns, and the installation of sprinkler systems are often costly and time-consuming for factories to achieve.
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“Ongoing assessments continue in our factories in the form of multiple on-site remediation verification visits (RVVs), during which Alliance engineers assess progress against factory Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) and confirm adherence to our remediation requirements,” the report underlined, further adding that 41 per cent repair-work is in progress while 4 per cent is yet to start. While the remediation of 43 per cent factories is on track, 30 per cent need intervention, 6 per cent have completed Corrective Action Plans (CAPs), 1 per cent in critical situation and 20 per cent shared factories are being remediated by the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, the report stated.
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“Achieving safety in factories is about more than completing repairs. It must be accompanied by comprehensive efforts to inform, engage and empower the women and men who earn their living in garment factories,” said Alliance Country Director James F Moriarty while independent chair of the Alliance, Ellen Tauscher maintained, “By July 2018, all Alliance factories will have either completed their high-priority repairs or have been suspended from the Alliance’s list of suppliers.”
