BGMEA Seeks New Regulatory Body For Fire And Health Safety In Textile Sector

Economy

BGMEA Seeks New Regulatory Body For Fire And Health Safety In Textile Sector

Bangladesh garment manufacturers are now eying for a fresh regulatory body to oversee the industry’s health and safety compliances post 2018. For, the international initiatives to keep these parameters in check are expiring in 2018.

The apparel makers want an independent body that will perform factory inspection and fulfill the role of a re-mediator. The call comes in wake of the expiring term of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety.

The Alliance which had initiated a good clean-up work in the area of labor safety and health problems reiterated that it will not seek to extend its tenure beyond 2018 when its five-year term expires. In wake of this the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has taken a fresh initiative.

They have proposed that the Bangladesh government set up a ‘Shomman’ system which will monitor health and safety standards in the factories under the aegis of the textile industry. In addition, the Accord on Fire Building Safety in Bangladesh has indicated that it would help albeit with a diluted team of signatories by a three-year extended agreement that lasts till 2021.

The BGMEA’s proposal has however, met with objections in industry circles and trade observers who claim that instead of setting up a new body, Bangladesh should strengthen the existing bodies that have regulatory power over fire safety and health.