Four years after the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,100 factory workers, labour activists and groups have expressed unhappiness over the safety scenario in the garment industry, underlining that “a lot still needs to be done to this end”.

“In addressing fire safety, building safety, workers’ protection, not sufficient steps have been taken yet. Though 50 per cent of garment companies/manufacturers/exporters have taken the requisite steps in terms of remediation and workplace safety, the remaining half are reluctant to address this issue. So, on the whole the change is not enough,” claimed Md. Baharine Sultan Bahar, President of Jago Bangladesh Garments Shramik Federation (JBGSF) while speaking to Apparel Resources on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the tragic Rana Plaza disaster.

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General Secretary of Textile Garments Workers Federation, Tapan Saha mentioned that despite all the talks on safety measures and workers’ rights, still there are several thousand factories (basically involved in sub-contracts), where worker’s safety is a big concern as the factory owners (most of whom are neither members of BGMEA nor registered with the Government) have any liability towards ensuring workers’ safety, thereby risking the lives of several thousand workers engaged in these units.

“Factories that are members of Alliance or Accord have taken/fulfilled the safety requirements. But a substantial number of factories which are not members of these two buyers’ groups, are yet to take adequate steps in ensuring workplace safety,” Saha added.

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Proper implementation of labour laws is the key to ensure that factories abide by and carry out the safety measures, Ahsan Habib Bulbul, President of Garments Sramik Front told Apparel Resources, adding that in absence of such measures, it would not be possible to attain workers’/workplace completely.

“Only the big names of the industry have implemented the safety measures to protect the workers but small and medium players are yet to comply to the same,” Bulbul underlined, stopping short of naming the errant factories as their number would run to hundreds if not thousand.