The collapse of the Rana Plaza building in April 2013 is the latest addition to the list of tragedies in Bangladesh. This incident took lives of around 1132 factory workers. Looking at the past history of accidents that have taken place in the textile factories of Bangladesh, and the bad condition of the Rana Plaza building, this tragedy was predictable.
The factories in Bangladesh have poor working conditions with negligible safety measures for workers. According to the reports in June 2012, the inspection department had a total of 18 inspectors and assistant inspectors to keep an eye over 100,000 factories in Dhaka district. The garment sector alone has strength of 3.5 million workers.
These poor workers are paid lowest wages compared to the other places in the world.
The ready-made garment (RMG) sector is the backbone of Bangladesh's economy. Currently, it exports $20 billion worth of clothing and is the second largest exporter in the world. The workers of the RMG industry earn $38 a month which is a meager amount in America, but it gives livelihood to 3.5 million Bangladeshi workers and saves them from poverty stricken life.
Sadly, there is no one to ensure safe working conditions for the workers who clothe people all over the world. However, the latest tragedy has awakened the government of Bangladesh to implement stringent labor laws, to improve the working conditions of the workers and avoid any such untoward incidents in the future.
In the wake of this incident, the U.S. suspended the special trade benefits enjoyed by Bangladesh in June 2013, as the workers were not given their fundamental rights and safe working environment. Furthermore, it has laid down an action plan for Bangladesh to make specific improvements to regain its trade benefits. The action plan aims at increasing the number of labor, fire and building inspectors and also imposing stricter penalties for those who break the safety laws.
The Rana Plaza building used to supply apparels to many clothing retailers all over the world. Some of the biggest companies of the world earned high profits by paying cheap labor, but hardly cared about the workers who work for them. Therefore, Human Rights Watch has asked all the companies, who import garments from Bangladesh, to ensure that the garments are manufactured in accordance with the labor laws of Bangladesh and international standards.
In view of number of tragedies that have weighed down the textile industry of Bangladesh, representatives of the government, workers and the industry together have laid down an action plan to improve worker's safety. Under this plan, they have submitted a reformed labor law to the Parliament in June 2013, which intends to protect the basic rights of the laborers, their health, safety, and freedom.
The apparel factories whose garments are exported will be inspected, and repairs of the building will be carried out by the end of this year. The delegates from International Labor Organization (ILO) will assist them with their technical inputs and financial help to implement this action plan. Further, the government intends to hire 200 inspectors within six months. Also, they will ensure that the inspection department is given required resources to appoint new inspectors and manage around 800 inspectors.
A strong fire safety plan is to be implemented. This action plan was created due to the three back-to-back tragedies that hit the garment factories. Over 112 people died in a factory at the outskirts of the capital. Two months later in January 2013, seven people died in a factory fire in Dhaka. Later in April, the Rana Plaza building collapsed. The progress of the action plan will be measured in six months.
The government has assured that all the people responsible for these tragic incidents will be punished. As long as strict legal actions are not taken, more lives will be harmed in such industrial accidents. Moreover, the government and labor representatives have urged the international buyers to support and take responsibility to improve the working conditions and safety of the workers.
They have also asked ILO to start programs to train the workers. Furthermore, they have proposed that Bangladesh garment manufacturers & exporters association and the Bangladesh knitwear manufacturers & exporters association to give an alternative job to the workers who got injured and became disabled.
The initial results of the government inquiry found that low quality materials along with heavy machinery and high voltage generators were used in the construction of the Rana Plaza building, which resulted into the collapse. Most of the incidents of the past could have been avoided if safety laws and inspection systems were followed properly.
Buildings built for other purposes were converted into factories even without legal sanction. Some factory owners have built extra floors or added extra machinery and workforce, which was beyond the capacity of the building. As the factories and buildings were established quickly and cheaply, it resulted into faulty electrical lines, insufficient escape routes, unsafe buildings and equipments. Till now, lot has been talked but not much has been done for the welfare and safety of the workers.
It is evident that the garment industry of Bangladesh is facing serious problem with regards to safety of the workers. The lack of employment opportunities force the people of Bangladesh to take poorly paid jobs that dont offer basic health and safety conditions. With immediate and organized action plan, lives of poor laborers can be saved and such tragedies can be avoided.
References:
1. Edition.cnn.com
2. Thehindubusinessline.com
3. Hrw.org
4. Cleanclothes.org
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