News

Latest Bangladesh tragedy renews the call for independent safety inspections

Four workers are dead, while approximately 100 are trapped after a factory collapse in Bangladesh on March 12, occuring almost two years after the Rana Plaza tragedy.

Officials say 150 workers were inside the building when the collapse occurred.

Rescuers pulled 40 survivors from the debris after the factory collapsed in the town on Mongla, 335 km southwest of the capital, Dhaka.

In April 2013, a building containing garment factories collapsed in Dhaka, killing more than 1,100 people. Since then, many retailers have committed to signing the Bangladesh Accord for Fire and Building Safety, which uses independent, third-party inspectors in order to improve conditions for workers in the developing nation. By signing onto the Accord, retailers commit to putting people before profits at their supplier factories.

Walmart has refused to sign onto the Accord, instead has joined other retailers such as Target to set up their own voluntary, self-regulating body, The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, which means that they are not bound by any independent agency to live up to enforcing building repairs and safety in Bangladesh.

The tragedy comes a day after a report was released by the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a employer driven initiative created to avoid accountability for worker safety, stated that changes from retailers that back the Alliance such as Walmart and Target have transformed worker safety in Bangladesh for the better.