Bangladesh plans to extend its Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety and the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety agreements internationally. Both agreements were set up in the aftermath of Rana Plaza with a five-year remit to significantly improve the safety conditions in around 2,300 garment factories. The Accord, which was extended, ends its tenure in May 2021. Its technical responsibilities have transitioned to the national RMG Sustainability Council (RSC), which was set up last year, but brands and retailers have no legally binding obligation to it.

Michelle Russell, Apparel Correspondent, GlobalData says, it is important to continue progress made by Alliance and Accord agreements and use them as a blueprint for other garment producing countries where worker safety is threatened.

One such country is Pakistan where 295 garment workers died when the Ali Enterprise textile factory in Karachi was gutted by a fire in September 2012. This year alone, 28 workers died in a garment factory in Morocco following flooding. The factory did not meet the necessary health and safety conditions. While in Egypt, at least 20 workers lost their lives in a fire at an unlicensed leather factory.

According to the Bangladesh Garment and Manufacturers Export Association (BGMEA), since the RSC took over in September last year, it has completed 1,821 inspections in 904 factories, and conducted ‘ICU Deep Dives’ in 202 factories. Without the full resources of the Accord during the pandemic, the RSC also reportedly performed 75 factory certifications independently.