Business Desk :
Factory inspection teams have identified fire safety infractions at around 979 units in the past two months.
In some cases, building codes were not up to the mark while fire safety measures, such as the availability of fire hydrants, were entirely absent.
Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) started inspecting factories to gauge their compliance with the country’s workplace safety regulations on November 11.
“We found that a good number of factories have no fire safety measures,” said Mohammad Nazmul Ahsan, Additional Deputy Commissioner (revenue) of Chattogram district to a English Daily. Some factories even do not comply with building regulations, which is risky considering the potential hazards. “So, we are sending these findings and our recommendations on the inspected factories to the higher authority,” he added. However, Ahsan went on to say that a good number of factories were found to be compliant. Monin Bhuiyan, a factory inspection team member, said they found poor fire safety measures at around 50 per cent of the factories in Gazipur, particularly in textile and spinning mills. They also found that many dyeing units do not even have proper effluent treatment facilities, meaning their untreated discharge was polluting the environment.
