The Bangladesh readymade garment industry is undoubtedly safer, and lives have been saved. After the 2013 Rana Plaza tragedy, global apparel brands no longer ignore dangerous working conditions at their supplier factories.

The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building was an unprecedented, independent, legally binding agreement between trade unions and brands. Expert fire and building safety engineers working for Bangladesh Accord have inspected more than 1,600 factories making garments for over 200 brands and retailers. Initial inspections identified 1,18,500 fire, electrical and structural hazards of which 84 per cent have been corrected. The Accord training team has conducted 2,838 safety committee training sessions with workers at over 1,000 factories.

Five years on, Bangladesh Accord stands as a model for industrial relations, and shows that brands and unions can work together to solve systemic problems. However, the work of the accord, which expired at the end of May 2018, is not complete. Too many life-threatening hazards at supplier factories remain, which is why more than 180 brands have signed the new Transition Accord.

This accord has greater scope to cover home textiles and footwear and, crucially, gives more power to workers. The new agreement recognises workers are not peripheral to the due diligence process, but core to it. It upholds the importance of freedom of association in ensuring workers have a genuine say in protecting their own safety. It will also establish a training and complaints protocol to ensure that this right is respected.