CPD RMG Study Stitching a better future for Bangladesh
Published in Dhaka Tribune on March 15, 2018
A total of 322 RMG factories affiliated with the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety have completed all material components in their corrective action plans.
Some 88% of factory remediation is complete across all active factories, including 84% of items most critical to life safety.
The Alliance, a platform of North American apparel buyers to improve safety standards in the Bangladesh RMG industry, made the announcement at a press briefing on the latest update on remediation at a hotel in the city on Thursday.
“I am pleased to note that the Alliance continues to achieve unprecedented progress in our efforts to improve safety within the readymade garment industry in Bangladesh. Our factory remediation work is progressing at a rapid pace, and we remain on track to meet our stated commitments by the end of the year,” Jim Moriarty, executive director of the Alliance, said.
“As of today, 322 Alliance-affiliated factories have completed all material components in their corrective action plans and are considered substantially remediated. 88% of factory remediation is complete across all active factories, including 84% of items most critical to life safety, said Moriarty, also former US ambassador to Bangladesh.
As many as 290 Alliance factories have required structural retrofitting. Of those, 264 factories or 91% have fully completed retrofitting, meaning that their foundations, columns and beams are now able to meet the imposed load demands required of an industrial building.
Nearly 90% of remediation is complete, and worker empowerment initiatives have been implemented and fully embraced throughout the entire factory workforce, said Moriarty.
“Our job now is to transfer our knowledge, best practices and worker safety innovations to credible partners who can own and continue this work locally, which is the only way it can truly be sustained over the long term,” he added.
“Make no mistake about it: Alliance member brands are committed to safety. The new safety monitoring organization, funded largely by member brands, will continue to require that factories meet the high safety standards implemented by the Alliance,” he further said.
Moriarty said they were holding talks with the government of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the International Labour Organization, and other stakeholders on the exact details of this transition, about which he added, “We expect to announce details in the coming weeks.”
