Safety reforms implemented in Bangladeshi garment industry

Following an incident that claimed more than 1100 lives in a Bangladesh garment factory, a new International Labour Organization (ILO) program has been implemented to improve industry safety.

The 2013 tragedy saw the Rana Plaza in the outskirts of Dhaka collapse, becoming one of the worst industrial disasters in recent history.

The main goal of the ILO program is to enhance safety in factories so that the country should never again experience a tragedy like the Rana Plaza collapse. Training in occupational safety and health (OSH) is one of the most important components.

Shahidul Islam, deputy compliance manager for the Masco Group, said he learned a lot about chemical safety during the training, something critical considering hundreds of different chemicals are used in the production process and stored in the factory warehouses.

“After the training I decided to bring in a number of changes. This was much more than simply rearranging a bunch of bottles on a shelf and required a lot of work. But we managed to pull it off,” he said.

As one of the master trainers trained by the ILO’s program in collaboration with the Bangladesh Employers Federation, Islam has in turn trained co-workers who have then gone on to train others.

“You can talk to any of the workers here. They know about safety and the rules they are supposed to follow,” he said.

In a review of the first phase of the program, the ILO listed some of the key achievements:

• Building and fire safety were improved. This included the inspection of 1549 factories for structural, fire and electrical safety, the harmonisation of safety standards and support for follow-up of remedial measures.
• The labour inspection system was strengthened. A labour inspection reform roadmap was created, a strategy identifying priority areas and industries was developed and 239 inspectors completed a 40-day training program.
• Progress was made in building a culture of safety in the workplace. This included improving the legislative and policy environment and improving the capacity of government, employers’ and workers’ organisations to manage occupational safety and health (OSH) issues. More than 800,000 workers were trained on essential OSH.
• Injured Rana Plaza victims were given support. Almost 300 survivors trained in livelihood skills, more than 3000 were given career counselling and 66 were provided psychosocial counselling.

In addition, the Better Work Bangladesh program — a collaboration between the ILO and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) — works with over 140 factories and more than 300,000 employees as it seeks to improve working conditions and promote competitiveness in the garment industry.

While the first phase of the initiative delivered many key achievements, the process of enhancing workplace safety in the Bangladesh garment sector continues. A second phase has been developed to run until 2023 through the ongoing support of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

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