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Thursday | October 29, 2026 | Dhaka

Major overhaul in RMG sector

 New Nation
 Published: 12:00 AM, 29 November 2015

Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Most of the export-oriented apparel units in Bangladesh have made a tremendous progress in improving structural, fire and electrical safety measures since the National Tripart Plan of Action (NTPA) on Fire Safety and Structural Integrity was launched in 2014.
The government of Bangladesh is implementing the plan undertaken after the Tazreen factory fire and the Rana Plaza tragedy in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
It will be implemented within three and half years.
“Ready-made garments units have taken a massive corrective measure to improve working conditions and workers’ safety since the plan was launched. They did so to promote compliance suggested by global buyers and retailers,” Syed Ahmed, Inspector General of Factories, told The New Nation on Saturday. He said, “Apparel units, by this time, have made fundamental changes relating to safety, inspection and compliance to safeguard lives of over four million workers and retain the confidence of global buyers”. “We have already inspected a total of 1,475 garment factories as part of a government initiative. The key areas of investigation for the inspectors were fire protection, electricity safety, and structural integrity,” he noted.
Syed Ahmed further said, the inspectors during their assessment found that some 81 per cent factories have already adhered to building codes as well as fire and electrical safety standards. “We have also discovered that some factory buildings were constructed violating original design and ignored Bangladesh National Building Code and fire safety,” he said, adding, “A total of 37 factories have been closed for failing to address safety issues and another 209 have been warned of closure failing to take remedial measures immediately”.
“We did a lot in improving workplace safety in line with the NTPA,” M Siddiqur Rahman, President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) told The New Nation.
He said, our factories are now undergoing structural, fire and electrical safety inspections following the collapse of the Rana Plaza and Tazrin Fashion Fire. Both the government and buyers have taken the initiative for the sustainable development of the sector. When asked, the BGMEA leader said, both the factories’ incidents created image crisis for the local apparel sector. But the latest development in workplace safety will help rebuild image of the industry.
M Siddiqur Rahman also claimed, most of the country’s apparel units have already executed compliance and rest of them our undergoing through corrective measures to make them compliant.