Experts are of the opinion that weak maintenance of safety standards, lack of proper coordination, proper monitoring and enforcement are likely to be the reasons behind rising industrial accidents.
Following the recent factory accident in Narayanganj, they suggested taking up a two-pronged approach to address these challenges that include strengthening the monitoring and enforcement capacity of existing organizations.
These observations emerged at the virtual dialogue on “Industrial Safety of the RMG Sector during the Post-Accord-Alliance Period” held on Sunday. It was organized by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Bangladesh.
CPD’s Research Director, Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, in his keynote presentation, said that the process of institutionalization on industrial safety needs further activities in order to make it fully operational.
According to a report presented at the virtual dialogue he said that about 22.5 percent of the four thousand garment factories have still not been inspected.
Highlighting the accidents in the garment sector in three years prior to 2018, he said that the number of accidents and the number of injured in accidents are increasing again.
DIFE Inspector General Md Nasir Uddin Ahmed, who attended the dialogue as a Guest of Honour, said that, general inspection must be carried out in full flow. He put emphasis on more human resource in the DIFE in order to undertake safety inspection and monitoring properly.
Dr Fahmida Khatun, Executive Director, CPD delivered the introductory remarks at the dialogue.
The meeting was chaired by Syed Manzur Elahi, member of CPD Board of Trustees, former advisor to the caretaker government, and chairman of Apex group.
He ended on a positive note by calling for an optimistic attitude by the involved stakeholders to deal with the problems collectively.
The dialogue was also attended by relevant government officials, business leaders, development activists, experts and academia, representatives from the development partners and media professionals.