The apparel apex body—BGMEA Saturday claimed that the country’s readymade garment (RMG) sector has become the role model of workplace safety due to the ongoing vigorous initiatives taken after the Rana Plaza collapse.
“Rana Plaza was a wake-up call for all of us and also a turning point for the industry,” Md Siddiqur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said.
He was addressing a press conference held at its headquarters in the city on the eve of fifth anniversary of Rana Plaza collapse that killed more than 1,100 people and injured more than 2,000.
Seven out of 10 USGBC LEED certified garment factories are located in Bangladesh and 67 factories have so far received the USGBC LEED certificate while 280 are in pipeline, he explained.
A total of 3,500 garment factories have been inspected under three initiatives -- Accord, Alliance and National Initiative.
Some 88 per cent identified safety flaws of Accord-listed factories and 90 per cent of Alliance-listed factories have been remediated, he said.
Explaining the steps taken during the last five years, the BGMEA president, however, said, “Despite all our efforts and activities, a group of vested quarter and some organisations criticize and underrate our work.”
Criticising the findings of a recent study that was conducted on 200 Rana Plaza survivors over telephone, he alleged that such findings don’t bring the real picture of the whole industry.
