More than 30 major fashion brands have committed to factory safety in Pakistan by signing the Pakistan Accord.Signatories include H&M, Inditex (Zara), Primark, Asos, C&A, Next, and PVH (Calvin Klein).
The aim is to ensure factory safety in Pakistan. Often workers in garment factories that produce for global brands and retailers have no access to proper exit stairwells in the case of a fire. Workplaces lack fire drills and workers are unaware of emergency escape routes and exits, assuming these exist.
Just a year ago, four people died in a supplier factory in Pakistan. Unions in Pakistan have worked for many years to get a safety agreement for the garment and textile sector in which workers’ grievances are heard and acted upon.
The Pakistan Accord will finally install a complaint mechanism so that workers can be assured the factories they work in are subjected to effective safety inspections. This means that garment and textile workers in Pakistan will no longer have to fear for their lives at work.
Pakistan Accord has been launched on the lines of the Bangladesh Accord. This model has proven successful in making garment and textile factories safe thanks to its enforceable character, its equal representation for unions, its transparency and the obligation upon brands to ensure that their supplier factories are able to carry out mandated renovations.
