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print versionSouth Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE)
Calls for Upgrade and Implementation of Health and Safety Standards in Bangladesh Textile Sector
Karachi/Dhaka, March 03, 2010: The South Asia Alliance of Poverty Eradication, supported calls for immediate action by the Bangladesh Government and international textile retail chains to revisit health and safety regulations following a fatal factory fire in the country that killed 21 workers and injured 50 others.
Condemning the poor health and safety measures that led to the deaths of 21 workers after fire broke out at the Garib & Garib Sweater Factory in Gazipur , Bangladesh late last month, the SAAPE Labour Thematic Group
called for an end to operations standards that compromise the safety and wellbeing of workers at textile factories.
According to media reports, the fire, seemingly caused by an electrical short circuit in the seven storey building, started in the morning on February 25, trapping workers as it spread. Witnesses reported that the emergency exits were blocked and fire extinguishers were either missing or were out of order. Firemen had to cut the window grills to rescue the trapped workers. However, by then 21 lives were lost while several workers suffered from serious burn injuries.
“Bangladesh’s export-based textile sector not only delivers on the uplift of the country’s economy, it makes a valuable contribution to the global textile network in terms of quality production at competitive rates,†said
Zulfiqar Shah Joint Director at Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), Karachi and Dr. Wajid ul Islam, Director at Bangladesh Trade Union Centre in Dhaka, both representing the SAAPE Labour Group, in a press statement issued here on Wednesday. “In this regard, international buyers of Bangladesh textile products have as much of an obligation to emphasize on the adherence to international standards for health and safety, as the country’s government does. There is no reason why workers be made to sacrifice their wellbeing and even their lives for the profit-maximization objective of factory owners and international buyers.â€
For a country that has a global reputation for its textile production, Bangladesh has a poor health and safety record. Labour involved in the textile sector work in compromised set ups with little regard to emergency as well as other measures important to ensure their protection. Incidents of fire and building collapse are common. According to a report by the Clean Clothes Campaign, at the start of the millennium alone, nine similar incidents had killed 273 workers at various factory premises in Bangladesh. A culture of impunity and corruption further denies justice to the victims who are neither assisted with investigation nor are adequately compensated for their loss or injuries.
The Garib & Garib Sweater Factory case is another indication of the failure of state apparatus and international networks to ensure adherence to basic labour rights and corporate codes of conduct by the export-based textile sector in Bangladesh. Suppression of trade union activities and the indifference of international brands to monitor and ensure implementation of health and safety standards have undermined workers struggle to a secure and healthy work environment. “At the end of the day no economy, or international retail set up could be expected to thrive on the back of weak labour regulations and a corrupt and an inefficient system supporting violations of labour rights,†said the SAAPE Press Brief.
SAAPE labour group appealed to the international human rights organizations and consumers’ associations in the North to take note of the brands which, in a bid to buy cheaper goods from third world countries particularly in South Asia, compromise on labour standards and hire vendors without proper checks and balances.
The SAAPE Labour Group also supported demands for a credible judicial inquiry of the incident and arrest of the culprits guilty of neglect of health and safety, and emergency regulations. It called for payment of compensation to the relatives of dead workers and provision of medical treatment and necessary compensation for the injured workers.
Labour Group Secretariat: PILER, ST 001, sector X/V, Gulshan-e-Maymar, Karachi, Pakistan.
Tel: 00 92 21 36351145-7, Fax: 00 92 21 6350354, Email: -piler@cyber.net.pk
