The government's official factory inspections are largely concentrated in readymade garment (RMG) factories, with less importance attached to other industries' safety and compliance, a labour ministry report reveals.
As a result, experts and industry insiders opined, the rate of industrial accidents in factories other than those in the RMG sector had been on the rise.
The matter came into spotlight after the recent devastating fire incidents. The fire incident at Chawkbazar in the city on February 20 killed at least 70 people and the fire at a Mirpur plastic factory took place on January 31, killing 13 people.
The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) under the Labour and Employment Ministry during the period of 2014 to February 2019 conducted a total of 23,598 inspections at various factories and establishments including RMG units in Dhaka district, the report showed.
Out of the inspections, about 8,234 inspections were conducted in RMG factories, according to the report.
In 2018, the highest 3,073 RMG factories were inspected by the DIFE inspectors.
Factories of other sectors excluding the RMG units received a total of 9,416 inspections from the DIFE inspectors while 4,181 assessments were made of shops and 1766 other establishments, it revealed.
During the inspection, the DIFE filed a total of 1,719 cases against the factories and establishments for violating labour laws and rules.
The report of the labour ministry also revealed that some 377 cases were filed against RMG factories, higher than in other sectors and opined that the DIFE inspectors should have given more attention to other sectors in implementing laws.
DIFE is responsible to oversee and ensure workplace safety in industrial units and authorised to take punitive measures including filing cases against the wrongdoers failing to comply with the law of the land.
DIFE's 50 per cent inspections were planned for RMG factories, according to the annual inspection plan of the DIFE's Dhaka Office, the report said.
"Besides, inspections get comparatively low importance in other sectors as 34 DIFE's Dhaka District inspectors are conducting inspections in 340 RMG factories on a priority basis," it read.
The fire, electrical and structural integrity has been assessed in those factories by the national initiative.
Labour ministry officials and industry people said due to the Rana Plaza building collapse that killed more than 1100 workers and drew wide local and international attention, there was no other alternative to improving the workplace safety in the RMG sector.
When asked, DIFE inspector Shib Nath Roy said attention was paid more to the RMG sector due to the industrial incidents there like the Rana Plaza building collapse with its limited manpower.
He, however, said that the department had taken an initiative to extend its regular inspection to all other sectors.
The DIFE sent a proposal to the concerned authority of the government for increasing its manpower to 3000 from the existing 993, he said adding currently DIFE had only 320 inspectors against 525 posts.
"About 80 per cent of the work to make a database of factories and establishments located in Dhaka North City Corporation has been done," he said adding regular monitoring would be conducted in the factories listed in the database once completed.
Mr Roy said they also had a plan to prepare such database of factories and establishments in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur and Chattogram to ensure regular inspection and monitoring.
munni_fe@yahoo.com