Bangladesh launches Remediation Coordination Cell to ensure garment industry safety

A Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC) has been launched which the UN labour agency says will take the safety of the Bangladesh garment industry “a further step forward”.

Launched in Dhaka on Sunday, the RCC is supported by the International Labour Organization (ILO) with funding from Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

It will focus on managing the remediation process for garment factories under the Bangladesh government’s National Initiative.

The new unit will be staffed and supported by seconded members of regulatory bodies, including the Department of Inspections for Factories and Establishments, Fire Service and Civil Defense, RAJUK, Chief Electrical Inspector and Public Works Department.

They will be supported by private sector engineers hired to provide technical expertise for remediation follow-up.

Speaking at the launch, Md Mujibul Haque, minister of state for labour and employment said, the remediation of all garment factories must be completed “as quickly as possible, and the Remediation Coordination Cell will make a major contribution to this goal.”

“The government is fully committed to ensuring the safety of the garment industry and all who work in it,” he said.

Initially, the RCC will work with 1,293 factories.

The ILO says this number will, however, change as new factories are established and enter the National Initiative or as factories exit the two other inspection initiatives overseeing remediation, namely the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety.

In addition to overseeing the remediation process, the RCC will contribute to building the capacity of regulators as well as further collaboration between them.

As the work of the RCC progresses, plans are on to put in place a long-term, coordinated approach to safety inspections and licensing.

This may see the RCC evolve into an industrial safety unit or agency that provides a ‘one-stop-shop’ service issuing factory building, fire, electrical and occupancy permits.

Srinivas Reddy, ILO Country Director for Bangladesh, said the operation of the Remediation Coordination Cell “marks a major step towards improving workplace safety in the Bangladesh garment sector”.

“It is a concrete manifestation of efforts to institutionalise safety reforms which will ultimately benefit all sectors,” he said.

The RCC has been established through the collaboration of the government of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA).

Trade unions and international buyers have been consulted on its development while technical support is provided by ILO.

Following the collapse of Rana Plaza in April 2013, the immediate priority was to inspect all export-oriented garment factories for structural, fire and electrical safety.

Two buyer-driven groups, the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, undertook inspections of approximately 2,230 factories that their members source from.

The remaining 1,549 factories were inspected by the National Initiative supported by the  ILO. Of those factories a number have subsequently closed, resulting in the 1,293 factories the RCC will work with.

The RCC will be based at Pragati Insurance Ltd Bhaban in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar area.

Secretary for Labour and Employment Mikail Shipar, Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Benoît-Pierre Laramée, and Netherlands Ambassador Leoni Margaretha Cuelenaere were also present, among others, at the launch.