Industrial safety in the RMG sector needs to be maintained in the post-Accord-Alliance period. This was urged by the stakeholders who participated in a virtual dialogue on Sunday. Industrial safety in the sector has been passing a critical stage with lack of proper coordination, monitoring and enforcement likely to be the reasons behind rising industrial accidents. Accidents in the RMG sector are observed in inspected factories as well as non-registered factories. Reasons for accidents range from fire-related issues to electrical short circuit and structural issues.
A major focus of the post-Accord-Alliance period should be to complete the institutionalisation process of industrial safety in the RMG sector and give it a shape of sustainability. A two-pronged approach will be needed in order to address these challenges. First, strengthening the monitoring and enforcement capacity of existing organisations by maintaining transparency and accountability. Second, overall coordination of industrial safety should be set under ‘one umbrella’.
It is well known that industrial safety in export-oriented RMG enterprises has made significant improvement through various initiatives during 2013-2018. With the successful implementation of initiatives through accords and alliances it was expected that a process of institutionalisation of industrial safety in the RMG sector would be completed. After three years (2018-2021) it has been realised by the stakeholders that the process of institutionalisation of industrial safety needs further attention in order to make it fully operational. In this backdrop, the study examined the institutional capacity of Nirapon and other public entities to monitor fire safety, electrical lines and building structures of RMG enterprises by ensuring their effectiveness, transparency, and accountability.
Amid the rising trend of fire at factories, the government must strengthen the institutional capacity of the inspection and compliance-related agencies and make them responsible for their negligence. We cannot accept deaths for utter negligence of concerned institutions and factories.
