HRM430.

1
Tazreen Fashion Fire Accident
Group-D

Case writing-06
Hrm430.1
GROUP-d
Submitted to:

Tajuddin Ahmed
Lecturer
North South University

Submitted by:
Hamid Mujtaba Siddiqi 1220524030
Nushrat Jahan Chowdhury 1330088030
Nishat Tamanna Mou 1311214630
Maher Niger Ruhi 1320188030
DATE OF SUBMISSION: MARCH 15, 2017

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All the good things about the Industry:

The RMG sector has been a major contributor to the BD economy. The
workers' lives seem to be dreadfully cheap in Bangladesh. In, Bangladesh has
more than 4,500 garment factories, which employ over four million workers,
many of them young women. The industry is crucial to the national economy
as a source of employment and foreign currency. Garments constitute about
four-fifths of the country’s manufacturing exports, and the industry is expected
to grow rapidly.

At a time agriculture was the main sector of the country's economy and tea
and jute were the main export items. Things have changed in the last 20-25
years and Bangladesh has switched to second gear from agricultural sector to
manufacturing sector. Tea or jute is no more the main export- readymade
garments (RMG) have replaced them. About 3.0 million people are directly
related while another 20 million people are indirectly involved in the RMG
sector. According to a World Trade Organization (WTO) report, Bangladesh
ranked fourth in global apparel exports in 2007. In that same year the country
exported more than $10 billion of apparel.

Undoubtedly, the
garments industry
has had a
significant impact
in the economy
and image of
Bangladesh. The
garments industry
is one of the two
major foreign exchange generating sources, the other being remittance from
expatriates. The garments industry is providing employment to a huge number

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of people especially women who account for 90 per cent of the work force in
this industry. Due to conservative norms and values that exist in the country,
women are not able to work in all kinds of industries. The RMG has provided
an excellent opportunity for them to get employment, bringing a significant
change in the demographics of the work force of the country. In that way a
major social change has been brought by this industry. The employment
opportunities in this sector are encouraging farmers in rural areas to
discontinue farming and join the garments industry. Women are leaving their
employment in the informal sector where they mostly worked as housemaids.
Many will argue that the living standards of the laborers are still below par, but
one has to agree that they are at least living a better life than they used to live
before.

The success in this

industry is creating
entrepreneurs as well.
Many among the young
generation would have
otherwise gone abroad,
but this industry has
ushered in a hope
among them to stay in
the country and make investment. Instead of being an employee in another
country they are providing employment to many in their own country. This is
also another social change that this industry has brought.

The success of RMG has given a positive image to Bangladesh worldwide.

Many brand name apparel items are now 'Made in Bangladesh'. In shopping
centers across USA and
Europe, clothes 'Made in
Bangladesh' can be found.
Thus Bangladesh is no
more known as number
one corrupt country;
people abroad identify
Bangladesh as a place
where their dresses come
from. It also makes the non-resident Bangladeshis (NRB) proud seeing
products from their country show cased in stores like Macy's or JC Penny in
USA.

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The garment industry has improved the quality of clothing in the country in
terms of design, making, and material; and above all it is affordable to the
poor people. Another success of this industry is that it has encouraged the
people, the young generation in particular to get used to local products. This
ultimately saves foreign exchange.
It is praiseworthy that despite tough global competition the garments industry
of Bangladesh has made its place in the world market. The industry also
sustains overcoming many internal
problems like lack of continuous
power supply, lack of a sound
freight transportation system, poor
container handling system at the
port, unfriendly environment for
business and unstable political
situation which have increased
their cost of production. Success in
this sector is the result of hard work
and dedication of the workers and the management. This success can even
be brightened if the garments industry takes additional initiatives. This will
benefit the industry, the lives of the workers as well as the national economy.

There are quite often incidents of fire in the garment industries. Fires every
year claim many lives and make extensive loss of properties. If properly
designed and structurally sound, the causes of fire in the garments factories
will be reduced. Each factory should have required number of fire
extinguishers as well. There should be regular fire safety and earthquake
drills.

The garments owners should ensure recreational facilities and well-being of

their workers. This will ultimately yield in a better output by the workers.

The garments industries should make every effort to ensure that they are not
polluting the environment. They should take measures to make sure that toxic
substances from their factories are not polluting the waterways.

The garments industry of Bangladesh has given a new identity to Bangladesh

worldwide through their quality products. It has changed the life of many
people in the country and has contributed to the national economy. The
government should assist this industry to stay competitive in the global
market. The government should also try to lower the cost of production by
implementing a better transportation network system. Citizens should not do

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anything that may cause harm to this industry.

It is important to realize that the main export product of a country changes its
economy. As the economy improves the country opts for export of other
products that are more sophisticated and yields higher profit. Jute and tea
were once our main exports, but now RMG has replaced them. Thus, even
though Bangladesh is able to gain a bigger share of the global apparel market
in future, there may be a time when Bangladesh will not be a major player in
this market. RMG then may be replaced by electronics products or computer
software or something even more sophisticated.

Particulars of the Company:

Tazreen Fashion Ltd, a unit of Tuba Group at Nischintapur in Savar, is

reported to be exporting knit items worth $35 million. A factory, which was set
up in 2009, with a sprawling 49,000 square feet equipped with twelve
production lines, 1,200 workers, machinery strength of 650 sets, produces
knitted polo shirts, fancy fleece jackets and basic t-shirts.

These included the US Marines Dutch company C&A, the American company
Wal-Mart and Hong Kong-based company Li & Fung. The factory is part of
The Tuba group which is a major exporter of garments from Bangladesh into
the U.S., Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands. Its major clients include
Wal-Mart, Carrefour and IKEA.

When Disaster strikes:

A fire broke out at Tazreen Fashions, Nischintapur, Ashulia, and Dhaka,

Bangladesh on the
night of November 24,
2012. The factory
employed more than
1200 workers almost
95% of whom were
females. The annual
turnover of the factory
was over USD 36
million. The major
buyers include Wal-
Mart, KIK GMBH,

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Teddy Smith Ace, C&A, Li & Fung, Infinity Women, Karl Rieker, Carrefour,
Dinkies, and Ikea etc. The fire resulted in the deaths of 111 workers and more
than 300 workers were injured. This accident created uproar against the
existing work conditions in the RMG sector globally. Wal-Mart cancelled its
import contract with this factory considering its inadequate occupational safety
measures. There were multiple investigations undertaken by the government
and the garment association (BGMEA – Bangladesh garment Manufacture
and Export Association) which termed the fire as ―pre-planned‖ and sabotage.
The Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation
(OSHE) carried out an
independent investigation
into the incident to
highlight the root causes
and failures resulting in
the large number of
deaths and injuries in the
incident. The team
conducted field
investigations, visited the
factory site, met the workers and victims of the factory, met government
officials and other Stakeholders. The findings of the report were presented
during a multistate holder consultation on ―Safe Work at Garments Factories
in Bangladesh: Lesson Learned from Tazreen Fire Accidents- Challenges and
Way Forward‖ held at the CIRDAP Auditorium, Dhaka on January 7, 2013. A
large number of people from different trade unions, NGOs, government
agencies, victims, media, academics etc. were present during the discussions

Mr. Omar Faruk of

OSHE presented the
findings of the
investigations.
 There were no
fire or
emergency exits
or stairways
 There was only
1 main entrance
and exit way
which is situated
on the ground

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floor which was in itself not wide enough to accommodate the number
of workers in the factory
 fire extinguishers and other fire defense materials were inadequate
and were not to be found during the fire
 111 workers lost their lives out of which 58 have been identified
 53 bodies are still unidentified
 DNA samples have been taken from the victim’s families and report is
awaited. It was told that the results will be disclosed only when all
samples are collected.
 Most of the workers died due to suffocation and burns. only 6 workers
died due to fall from height

 The second floor collapsible gate was locked and the highest numbers
of dead bodies (69) were
recovered from this floor.
Supervisors on the 2nd
and 3rd floors stopped
the workers from
evacuating the factory
when the fire alarm went
off stating the alarm as a
false.
 Owner did not
follow building code, had
a nine storey factory but had permission only for three floors.
 Raw materials were stored on the ground floor and in close proximity to
the high voltage electric transformers which resulted in the flames
spreading at a fast rate.

 The factory did not have a renewed fire safety certificate either.
 Compensation of BDT
600,000 has been handed
over to 45 families so far out
of 58 deaths.
 Almost 300 workers are
injured, some seriously
although BGMEA has so far
prepared a list of only 63
injured workers. The OSHE team has compiled a list of 89 injured and
58 cases of death due to the fire tragedy.

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 Only 40 workers out of 1200 had received a basic fire safety

introduction

This incident killed around 111 people, 102 charred bodies were found inside
the factory. 59 bodies burnt beyond recognition. 6 people died when they
jumped outside the Windows. These kinds of accidents are very hard to
survive but they could have been saved. This where the question lies, of
whether it is an accident or inhumanity.

What & how it happened

Bangladesh’s garment industry has a long history of industrial accidents, but

the fire at Tazreen Fashions in November 2012 which killed 112 workers was
the first time that the national stakeholders and the international community
paid serious attention. The fire, presumably caused by a short circuit, started
on the ground floor of the nine-
story factory, trapping the
workers on the floors above.
Because of the large amount of
fabric and yarn in the factory,
the fire was able to quickly
spread to other floors,
complicating firefighting
operations. The fire burned for
more than seventeen hours
before the firefighters were successful in extinguishing it.
The day of the fire was just like any other day. There was a fire alarm and all
got out of their seats but did not expect it was an actual fire. Workers heard
fire alarms in the factory sometimes but management were never serious;
they just sounded it but they were not asked to
go outside. Sometimes they said to their
management that they were not maintaining
drills properly because they were not practicing
leaving the factory but they said it was not
important. After about five minutes we saw
smoke. Everything started to go dark. They ran
to the female stairs and found fire. Then they
ran to the male stairs and found fire. The main
exit was locked. Everyone was running in every

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direction, choking on the smoke, blinded in the darkness and scared. Workers
ran to the sample room and broke the windows and jumped onto the roof of
the building next to the factory, then onto the ground. Workers don’t know
where the managers were. It seems they got out through the main exit, locked
it and left. Nobody really knows who locked the doors because they couldn’t
see any faces; it was just dark and
full of smoke. I do not really know
what happened after I jumped. I
broke my arm in many places and
injured my back. They put a plate in
my arm and said that after two
years they will do another operation
and take out the plate.
This fire continued till the early
morning of 25th November. It was a
nine storey building; the floors were burnt entirely by the furious fire. A female
worker, who was working at the second floor of this factory, said when it was
near 6.00 pm, fire alarms were ringing. She with other workers who tried to
get down from the second floor but the stairway was dark and full of smoke
and the electricity supply had been shut down. That is why; they were unable
to go downstairs. Finally, she was able to leave through a broken window on
the south side of the factory which opened to the roof of a two storied building
beside the factory. She also said that only a few number of workers were able
to get out through that window and only some of them were able to get to that
floor of the factory but most workers were unable and she assumed that all of
them had died. Majority of those workers were women. She also observed
that fire was climbing from the ground floor to the upper floors, leaving
workers trapped. None of the floors had emergency exits. The second floor
collapsible gate was locked and
the highest numbers of dead
bodies (69) were recovered from
this floor. Supervisors on the 2nd
and 3rd floors stopped the
workers from evacuating the
factory when the fire alarm went
off stating the alarm as a false.
Owner did not follow building
code, had a nine storey factory
but had permission only for three floors. Raw materials were stored on the
ground floor and in close proximity to the high voltage electric transformers

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which resulted in the flames spreading at a fast rate. The factory did not have
a renewed fire safety certificate either.

Damages & Losses

Natural and man-made hazards may affect industrial production sites by both
direct losses (due to physical damage to assets and buildings) and indirect
losses (production losses). Indirect losses, e.g. from production downtimes,
can exceed direct losses
multiple times. Thus, the
vulnerability and risks of
industrial sectors and to
determination of its losses
is an important component
for analyzing damage and
loss assessment. In this
paper a theoretical
conceptual indicator
framework are presented
which allow assessing the direct and indirect damage and loss of industrial
sectors to fire disasters in a quantitative manner. The results are useful for
information sharing and decision making in crisis management and
emergency planning (mitigation measures, business continuity planning),
since the developed indicator system helps to take the complex phenomenon
of industrial vulnerability and the underlying interdependencies into account.
Besides the identification and conceptual motivation of the indicators,
methodical aspects such as standardization, weighting and aggregation are
addressed.
Every year small and large scale of fire in garments factory resulting huge
economic damage and loss is a common phenomenon in our country.
Damage and Loss depends
on different indicators (e.g.
magnitude of the fire, flame
ability, degree of destroyed
materials, loss of life, injury,
ecological impact etc.).
According to information of
Bangladesh Fire Service and
Civil Defense 2427 small and
large scale of fire occurrences

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have been occurred in RMG sector in Bangladesh from the year of 2000-2014
in which loss has determined BDT 8997426164, death 368 and injured 680.
To prepare this thesis six remarkable fire incidents and their impacts have
been observed. The observing factories are Tazreen Fashion, Smart Fashion
Export Factory, Tung Hay Sweaters Ltd, Aswad Composite Mills Limited,
Standard Group and Mega Yarn Dyeing Mills Limited. From the visited
factories loss for the causing fire BDT 31110710177, death 140, injured 392.
Tazreen Fashion is a 9 storey building conceives of 51000 sq. ft. About 96%
which indicates 49000 sq. ft. was affected during setting fire. Loss of affected
area which damaged major parts of the factory and only 10% of the affected
was recovered, total damage was considered in amount BDT 500000000
(Approx.). When a factory affects by setting fire, different types of losses are
observed. A factory is equipped by different types of machinery or
equipment’s. Here considerate machinery is sewing machine, knitting
machine, linking machine and jacquard machine etc. for the calculation of loss
of production equipment’s. The equipment’s were fully (100%) affected in
Tazreen Fashion, Smart Fashion and their rate of recovery respectively 10%,
the highest employee death 7.92% and injury is also recorded 21.42% in
Tazreen Fashion. Valuation of
death, injured and disabled
person is very difficult and it’s
never be measured accurately
but different methodology have
been used here to calculate the
value of loss of life, injury and
disability. According to the
calculation the value of a death
person measured BDT 3000000 and a disabled person BDT 5100000. By
calculation total value of mentioned death persons is BDT 420000000 and a
disabled person is BDT 81600000.

Similar Incidents in West Countries:

There are hardly any garments factory established in west countries to

produce cloths and cottons that have faced any major accidents. But there are
many industrial disasters took place in west countries that have killed
thousands of people since the beginning of the industrial revolution.

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Some of the recent

disasters are in
2006 Sago mine
disaster that has
killed 12 people,
2010 Upper Big
Branch mine
explosion which
killed 29 killed, 2007
Crandall Canyon
mine cave in killed 9
killed people, 2008
New York City crane collapse (7 killed) and also the 2010 Deep water Horizon
oil platform explosion that has killed 11 killed.

In 2000, May 13, Enscheda, Netherlands fireworks disaster: A fire and

explosion at a fireworks depot in Enscheda, Netherlands resulted in 24 deaths
and another 947 were injured. About 1,500 homes were damaged or
destroyed. The damage was estimated to be over US$300 million in insured
losses.
Falk Corporation Explosion, December 6, 2006, a gas leak triggered a large
explosion and ensuing fire at a gear manufacturing facility in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. Three were killed and 47 injured, with several of the building at the
facility being leveled.
February 1, 2008: Istanbul fireworks explosion. An unlicensed fireworks
factory exploded accidentally, leaving by some reports at least 22 people
dead and at least 100
injured.
November 3, 2004: Seest
fireworks disaster. N. P.
Johnson’s fireworks factory
exploded in Seest, a
suburb of Kolding,
Denmark. One firefighter
died; seven from the
rescue team as well as 17
locals were injured. In total
2,107 buildings were
damaged by the explosion,
with the cost of the damage estimated at €100 million.

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November 19, 2010: Pike River Mine disaster in New Zealand. At 3:45 pm,
the coal mine exploded. Twenty-nine men underground died immediately, or
shortly afterwards, from the blast or from the toxic atmosphere. Two men in
the stone drift, some distance from the mine workings, managed to escape.
(Extract from Royal Commission of Enquiry Report on Pike River.
Also there were many power plan explosion happened in many west
countries. Some of the recent incidents are discussed below:
In 2010 Connecticut power plant explosion. A large explosion occurred at a
Klein Energy Systems 620-megawatt, Siemens combined cycle gas- and oil-
fired power plant in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. Preliminary
reports attributed the cause of the explosion to a test of the plant's energy
systems. The plant was still under construction and scheduled to start
supplying energy in June 2010. The number of injuries was eventually
established to be 27.Fifty five people died in the explosion.
April 20, 2010: Deep water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Sixty six oil
platform workers along
with other people died in
an explosion and fire that
resulted in a massive oil
spill in the Gulf of Mexico,
considered the largest
offshore spill in US
history.
Not only that in 2011,
March, Fukushima I
nuclear accidents took
place in Japan. Regarded
as the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl disaster, there were no
direct deaths but a few of the plant's workers were severely injured or killed by
the disaster conditions resulting from the earthquake.

October 29, 2012: Hurricane Sandy caused a Conation power plant to

explode, causing a blackout in most of midtown Manhattan. The blue light
emitted from the arc made places as far as Brooklyn glow. No person was
killed or injured.
July 6, 2013: Lac-Megan tic, Quebec Canada. Forty-seven people were killed
when there was a derailment of an oil shipment train. The oil shipment caught
fire and exploded, destroying more than thirty buildings. It was the fourth-
deadliest rail accident in Canadian history.
May 13, 2014: Soma mine disaster in Manisa Province, Turkey. An explosion
occurred two kilometers below the surface, starting a fire, which caused the

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mine's elevator to stop working. This trapped several hundred miners, many
of whom died of carbon monoxide poisoning. 787 workers were present
during the disaster, and 301 of them died during the disaster.
November 8, 2012: Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Two people died and 19
were injured in an industrial processing plant belonging to Neptune
Technologies & Bioressources, a manufacturer of health care products.
April 17, 2013: Fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas. An explosion
occurred at the West Fertilizer Company storage and distribution facility in
West, Texas, 18 miles (29 km) north of Waco, while emergency services
personnel were responding to a fire at the facility. At least 14 people were
killed, more than 160 were injured and more than 150 buildings damaged or
destroyed.

Similar Incidents in East:

Factory fires pose one of the greatest dangers to garment workers around the
world. Some deadly situation occurred in East
region Garments industries Especially in China,
India and Pakistan. China has a long history of
industrial accidents, from factory explosions
and mine collapses to avalanche. Here are just
a few of those to have hit the country.

In April 25, 2011 (Monday)., a tremendous fire

broke forth about 1 am local time in the four-
story building in the capital’s southern Daxing district. Ninety people were
killed and 45 injured in a blaze at an illegal Beijing building. The building in
Jiugong town was illegally built by a local resident who leased out its ground
floor to a couple who ran a garment processing business. The fire spread to
upper floors, and the victims were
all migrant workers living in the
building and mostly died from
smoke inhalation. According to the
China central television, an
electrical short-circuit was
suspected as the cause of the fire,
but that an investigation was under
w As firefighters advanced into the
wreckage during the day, battling
back flames, they found dozens of bodies clumped together on the lower
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floors. Similar incidents happened December 4, 2012 (Tuesday) in BEIJING a

southern city of Shandon, a massive broke forth to a garments factory. In that
incident 115 people died at the spot, state media reported. The fire broke out
at around 3:30 pm Guangdong province emergency officials and it was
contained half an hour later. Around 90 people got injured and taken to
hospital for treatment. Deadly fires are common in China and are typically
blamed on lax observation and enforcement of fire-safety measures.

In 11 September (Wednesday), 2012 an enormous fire broke out at a garment

factories in the Pakistani cities of Karachi Which is considered to be the most
deadly and worst industrial factory fires in Pakistan's history. Karachi,
Pakistan's largest city and commercial heart, has around 10,000 factories on
seven industrial estates. The fires occurred in a RMG factory in the western
part of Karachi. Where 300 people died and seriously injured more than 600.
The victims died of smoke inhalation, and many of the survivors sustained
third-degree burns. Firefighters found dozens of people dead in a large room
of the factory's basement. It was totally burnt and parts of it were smoldering,
which they put out before shifting the bodies to the hospitals. This fire blaze
was the biggest fire in terms of death in Pakistan. Rescuers used arc lights to
work through the night. According to the reporters, At least 65 other workers
had suffered broken bones after jumping out of windows to escape the fire.
The entire floor filled with fire and smoke and the heat was so intense that
some workers rushed towards the windows, broke its steel grille and glass
and jumped out. The cause of the Karachi fire still unrevealed. The fire
erupted very quickly and the emergency exits were not provided to the
industry. They had few options of escape every exit but one had been locked
and the windows were mostly barred. In desperation, some flung themselves
from the top floors of the four-story building, sustaining serious injuries or
worse, witnesses said.
But many others failed to
make it that far, trapped
by an inferno that
advanced mercilessly
through a building that
officials later described
as a death trap.

In November 11, 2013 a

massive fire broke out at
a garments factory in a
New Delhi of Sahibabad

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around 4:30 am in the morning. More than hundred workers died in this fire at
a suspected illegal garment factory on the outskirts of the Indian capital early
Friday as they slept in the workshop. The blaze started in the early hours of
the morning on the ground floor of the narrow residential building. The fire
spread from the ground floor that housed the stitching unit to the upper two
storeys. The laborers were on the top floor the fire was likely caused either by
a short circuit or a cigarette. The front of the workshop had been shuttered
with a metal grill which had prevented the workers from escaping when the
blaze began. According to the Residents and local fire officers, almost 35 of
the body were burnt to death while the others died of smoke inhalation and
two of the workers survived by jumping from the building's balcony. The fire
department was informed at around 5.20am but fire tenders struggled to get
to the building. They put up a ladder and rescued some of the trapped
workers. The road is barely 9-10 meters wide and is crowded with material
and parked vehicles. According to the victims two of the workers woke up by
chance while running towards the terrace they screamed for others to wake
up but others did not woke up. Those who were inside most of them burned
with the blaze of fire. Only three of the 16 staff survived. They suffered minor
injuries and were to be discharged from hospital in the evening. A dozen fire
engines doused the flames after battling them for several hours. The cause of
the fire is still unrevealed. The police still investigate the matter. The fire is yet
blight on India's poor record for workplace safety where deadly accidents are
commonplace.

Company initiative:

After the massive fire incidents in Tazreen fashion house the company it didn’t
actually take any specific initiative to serve the victims but all the victims and
their families were compensated by the government and also the industry.
Whereas Tazreen fashion house, after the incident decided to shut down its
whole business and has not yet decided to go for any further business in
garments industry.

Industry Initiative:

As a result of the Tazreen Fashion factory fire, several important initiatives are
now underway in Bangladesh to address fire and building safety in garment
factories. Tazreen Fashion were stitching clothes for Wal-Mart, KIK, C&A, EI
Corte Ingles and many more western brands. After that disaster, Prime

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Minister Sheikh Hasina handed over Taka 2.58 crore to the families of 43 of
the 112 garment workers in Tazreen Fashion. The money was given to the
families Taka 6 lakh each at the Prime Minister's Office. The amount needed
for the families of all the 112 dead workers will total Tk 6.72 crore. And also
Tk 6 lakh given to each family or Tk 2 lakh came from the Prime Minister's
Relief and Welfare Fund and Tk 1 lakh each from the labor and employment
ministry, Bankers Association of Bangladesh and Hong Kong-based RMG
importer Li & Fung. BGMEA will provide 100,000 BDT to each of the victim's
families as compensation. BGMEA will also open a disaster relief fund
account to collect contributions from buyers, shipping lines and RMG
manufacturers soon. BGMEA Vice President SM Mannan Kochi said they had
already taken responsibility for the treatment cost of the 55 injured in Tazreen
fire. And they also gave those injured in that fire blaze Tk 50000 BDT.
According to Vice President Faruque Hassan, BGMEA will rehabilitate the fire
victims by offering them jobs in apparel factories, helping for 10 years the
families of those killed if they do not have any earning members and paying
for medical expenses of the injured.

They would disburse salary of 990 victim workers at the Industrial Relations
Institute in Tongi. A Medical Trust, was opened in November 2015 with
payments concluded in June 2016 which will oversee long term medical
treatment for those injured, has now been established, comprising of
representatives of the government, employers and civil society. The
remainder of the Tazreen funds will be managed by this Trust for the provision
of both physical and psychological medical treatment. An agreement was
reached with C&A to establish a fund which would provide for loss of income
payments and long term medical treatment for the survivors and the families
of the skilled workers. Several of the major brands sourcing from the factory
paid contributions to the fund, including C&A, Li and Fung, Wal-Mart, KIK and
El Corte Ingles. Ensuring payments could be made to all eligible beneficiaries.
Others continue to refuse to take responsibility for the incident to this day.

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Unfortunately, Bangladesh garment workers will never have truly safe, healthy
and decent working conditions until they have the ability to speak with a
unified voice that is respected by their employers. Greater worker
representation, in the form of labor unions, will give Bangladesh's garment
workers the power to enforce their rights under the law. So The Government
of Bangladesh and the International Labor Organization have launched a
major initiative including a new better Work programmer aimed at improving
working conditions in the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh. Where
the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are jointly contributing US$15 million
to the US$24.21 million programmer.

Government Initiative:

Immediate after Tazreen Fire incident and tragic collapse of Rana Plaza, the
Government has taken various steps to improve overall workplace safety and
Compliance.
For example the Bangladesh Labor Act, 2006 has been amended on 16th
July 2013 to ensure workers‟ safety, welfare and rights and promoting trade
unionism and collective bargaining. In line with this, the National Occupational
Health and Safety Policy have been adopted by the Government in 2013.
After amendment of Labor Act, 2006 trade union registration situation in the
RMG sector has got a momentum. For example, after amendment of Labor
Act a total of 351 new trade unions have been registered in the RMG sector.
Also different rules have been published official gazette in September 2015
that contains 367 sections and 7 tafsil.
However, The Government, through an accelerated process, also upgraded
the Directorate of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) to a
Department with 993 staff. Out of which 575 are inspectors. Not only had that,
after up-gradation of the DIFE, with the support of ILO and other development
partners arranged different trainings for the Inspectors.
Beside these, the Inspectors also participate in different seminars, workshops
and meetings with ILO, GIZ and others.
Publicly Accessible Database: The DIFE with support of ILO, has developed a
publicly accessible database of 3746 export-oriented RMG factories on 30
March 2014. The database is available at the website of the
Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment.
Hot line (help line): With the Department of Inspection for Factories &
Establishments a help line, on pilot basis, has been established in RMG
prone area at Ashulia, Dhaka on 15th March 2015. The number of the help
line is 0800-4455000

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Minimum Wages: The Government has declared the minimum wages for
the workers of the readymade garments industry with an increase of
77% from the previous one. It has been implemented since 01 December
2013. Now the minimum wage of garments workers is Tk 5300/- which is
about US$68.
Inspection Plan and Inspection Policy: Annual inspection plan for 2015 for the
DIFE has developed and formulation of inspection policy is underway.
Regular inspections: Guided by the BLA, 2006 regular inspections are being
carried out by the inspectors of DIFE. Enforcement of the law is ensured
through inspections. In the current year a total of 7406 factories have been
inspected. This includes 962 RMG factories. In case of noncompliance, the
factory owners are noticed to rectify and cases are filed against the
factory owners for failing to rectify. This year 330 cases have been filed
against the factory owners for non complacence issues.
Tripartite National Plan of Action: A Tripartite National Plan of Action on
Fire Safety and Structural Integrity in the RMG Sector was adopted
with the assistance of ILO. To implement the Plan of Action a sixteen
members Tripartite Committee headed by Secretary Ministry of Labor &
Employment has been formed. In line with the Plan of Action ILO has
been implementing a project of $24.5 million under the Ministry of Labor
& Employment. The following areas of intervention have been identified in
the project:
(a) Verification of building and fire safety of the factories;
(b) Strengthening inspection activities;
(c) Training on Occupational Safety and Health;
(d) Rehabilitation of the disabled and injured persons;
(e) Implementation of Better Work Program.
Assessment on structural, fire & electrical integrity: With the assistance of
ILO and under the supervision on National Tripartite Committee (NTC),
a plan for assessment of building, fire and electrical safety of all 3685
active export oriented RMG/Knitwear factories has been developed. A
Common Standard has been developed for assessment of fire, electrical
and building safety of the factories by all initiatives such as National
Tripartite Plan of Action for Fire and Structural Integrity (NTPA); the
Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety (ACCORD); and Alliance for
Bangladesh Worker Safety (ALLIANCE).
National Initiatives, ACCORD & ALLIANCE are carrying out the assessment
for structural integrity, fire and electrical safety of the RMG factory buildings.
In the meantime 3746factories (1549 under National Initiatives, 1368by
ACCORD and 829 by ALLIANCE) have been assessed.

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According to the recommendation of Review Panel, 39 factories have been

fully closed and 42 factories have been partially closed for safety reason.
Assessment reports have been sent to concern factory for
implementation of detailed engineering assessment and to the District
offices of DIFE for close monitoring and supervision. All the factories have
started remediation according to the recommendation of assessing
authorities. In this regard DIFE has started monitoring those remedial
measures taken by factory owners. Two taskforces are working to implement
the remedial measures taken by the factory owners.
Better Work Program: Implementation of Better Work Program in Ready-
Made Garments industry has been launched on 22/10/2013 by ILO.
About 300 factories are expected to participate in the Program.

Negative media coverage:

Washington Post published news in this event:

Rajina Aktar was sewing pockets into a pile of winter jackets bound for
Europe when the fire’s toxic smoke knocked her out on a second-story floor.
In a pitch-dark panic that saw more than 350 people bolt for a single exit,
someone carried the 15-year-old girl to safety. Eight others were trampled to
death on the staircase, a few steps shy of daylight, in the Jan. 26 blaze at
Smart Export Garments, an illegal factory on the outskirts of Bangladesh’s
capital.
Once again, foreign-brand labels were found among the burned-out
wreckage, just as they had been in other episodes among a flurry of tragic
fires that have set passions alight over the ugly underbelly of the country’s
ready-made garment industry. Garment making is the backbone of
Bangladesh’s cash-strapped economy, accounting for annual exports worth
$24.3 billion last year, about 80 percent of the country’s earnings. But the
staggering frequency of lethal factory
fires — which have claimed more than
500 lives since 2006 — shows that
rising profits have not led to
improvements in safety.

Most of the deaths have been in

unlicensed factories that depend
on subcontracted orders from bigger
plants. Industry watchdogs say that
fire-related deaths are an inevitable result of cost-cutting measures taken by

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garment makers under intense pressure from Western apparel companies to

produce ever-larger quantities of clothes at rock-bottom prices.
Despite angry protests and pledges of reform, activists say that what remains
in place amounts to risky business as usual.
―We expected big changes, and very quickly, but the reality is that nothing
meaningful has happened,‖ says Kalpona Akter, a Bangladeshi labor leader
and former child factory worker. ―So far the government and foreign
companies are all talk, no results; the unnecessary deaths continue.‖
Little outside pressure
The majority of Bangladesh’s ready-made garment exports go to Europe, but
nearly 25 percent are sent to the United States. Rights groups contend that
major Western companies know that high-volume, low-cost orders will be
farmed out to sweatshops that have no incentive to respect fire codes or
workers’ rights.
―Bangladesh is the way it is because they have been rewarded by the
industry,‖ Scott Nova, executive director of the Washington-based Workers
Rights Consortium, said of the country’s garment makers. ―It has the worst
labor rights record, lowest wages and most dangerous factories. And the
response of big western retailers has been to pour more business into the
country.‖

―The message to factory

owners: keep doing what
you’re doing,‖ he said.
After a deadly fire swept
through the Tazreen garment
factory on Nov. 24, big-box
retailers Wal-Mart and Sears
sought to distance
themselves from the
situation, claiming that orders
had been subcontracted by local contractors without their knowledge.
Labor rights groups have urged top foreign buyers to sign an agreement that
includes a binding commitment to ban subcontracting to at-risk facilities,
finance renovations and fire-safety training and make audit results public.
So far, however, only PVH Corp., an American company that owns Calvin
Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and German retailer Tchibo has signed on. But the
U.S. Trade Representative’s office has said it is weighing possible sanctions
on Bangladesh’s duty-free benefits under a World Trade Organization rule
that allows special treatment to poorer countries.

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It’s widely agreed that efforts to improve conditions at the bottom of the chain
in Bangladesh are complicated by official corruption, limited state resources
and an excess of cheap labor in the world’s most-densely populated country.
Despite a minimum wage of 18 cents an hour, tens of thousands of
Bangladeshis are willing to work for even less money.
Trapped in blaze
A Washington Post reporter gained access recently to what is left of the Smart
Export Garments factory. Found there were tags for several well-known
European brands, including Bershka, a retailer owned by the Spanish firm
Inditex, and the world’s largest fashion group.
Subarna Begum, 28, a
sewing-machine operator
who escaped the January fire
with her 5-year-old daughter
via the roof, said many
underage workers were
present in the factory. Fire
alarms and extinguishers
were not, she and other
witnesses said.

On the afternoon of the fire, they said, the main door to factory floor was
locked, driving everyone toward a narrow emergency exit that was also
locked. It was choked with bodies by the time guards arrived to open the gate.
The charred walls remain streaked with hand marks.
According to the Solidarity Center, an AFL-CIO training office in Dhaka that
tracks fire-related accidents, the Smart Exports blaze was only one among 39
that have taken place in the three months since the Tazreen fire.
For the legions of mainly women who toil at the bottom of the industry, the risk
of returning to factory work is trumped by urgent needs.
Rajina, the 15-year-old survivor, is a case in point: One month on, her eyes
are bloodshot from the head trauma that occurred when she fell unconscious.
Her memory is impaired, she said, and her lungs burn.
But pressure to make rent on the dank basement room she shares with four
family members means she’ll have to start sewing again, and soon.
―I can’t go back to school now,‖ she said. ―This is the only kind of work I can
find.‖

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Besides renowned news channel BBC also

covered the event

A factory fire in Bangladesh which killed more than 100 workers last month
was an act of sabotage, an official inquiry has found.
The head of the inquiry told the BBC it was not clear who was responsible for
starting the fire, which swept through a clothing factory in Dhaka.
But Main Uddin Khandaker added that the owner of the Tazreen factory had
been guilty of "severe negligence".
He said factory managers had prevented workers from escaping the blaze.
At least 110 people died in the 24 November fire at the Tazreen factory, in the
Ashulia district on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka.
The latest report contradicts initial suggestions by fire service officials that the
blaze could have been started by poor electrical wiring - a cause of previous
factory fires in Bangladesh.
'Owner responsible'
Mr. Khandaker told the BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan in Dhaka that the inquiry
would recommend action against the factory owner for negligence, despite
concluding that the blaze was started deliberately.
"The owner of the factory could not avoid the responsibility and he committed
severe negligence by which such
type of death happened," he
said.
Image caption the nine-storey
factory was gutted by the blaze
Nine mid-level officials were
accused of preventing workers
from leaving the building when
the fire started, and padlocking
exits.
The factory owner, Delwar Hossain, has previously denied allegations that the
building was unsafe to work in.
Following the blaze, he told reporters that he believed it was started
deliberately but gave no details.
The disaster was the latest in a string of fatal fires in Bangladesh's large
garment manufacturing sector.
In December 2010, a wiring problem led to a fire in another clothes factory in
the same industrial zone, leaving at least 25 people dead.
Street protests
The Tazreen factory makes clothing for western retailers including Wal-Mart,
C&A and The Edinburgh Woolen Mill.
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There are about 4,500 factories in Bangladesh, employing more than two
million people. Bangladesh is the world's second largest exporter of ready-
made clothes, next only to China.
Western retailers insist that they source their clothes from Bangladeshi
factories which comply with safety standards, our correspondent adds.
Thousands of people joined street protests after the fire, demanding better
protection from such incidents.
The factory's fire safety certificate had lapsed in June and was no longer valid,
the head of the fire service and civil defense told the BBC last week.
The building stood nine storeys high but had permission for only three floors.
Factory fires are common in Bangladesh.

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