Why need The ACCORD in Garments Industry.
The Accord (The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh) is an independent, legally binding agreement between brands and trade unions designed to work towards a safe and healthy Bangladeshi Ready-Made Garment Industry.
The overall remediation progress rate of safety issues identified in initial inspections reported or verified as fixed has reached 78 percent. The Accord monitors completion of remediation at the 1,600+ factories with more than 100 engineers on staff who conduct up to 500 follow-up inspections each month.
The Accord Training Team has conducted 1,278 Safety Committee Training Sessions at factories where the program has commenced. The full 7 session training curriculum has been completed at 87 factories.
Signatories: The Accord has been signed by over 200 apparel brands, retailers and importers from over 20 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia; two global trade unions; and eight Bangladesh trade unions and four NGO witnesses.
Governance: The Accord is governed by a Steering Committee with equal representation of the signatory companies and trade unions with a neutral Chair provided by the International Labor Organization (ILO).
Inspections: Factories are inspected against the Accord Building Standards, which are largely based on the Bangladesh National Building Code and the product of discussions facilitated by the ILO between the Accord.
Remediation, escalation, new Inspections: the AB was provided the most up-to-date information and statistics on: inspections of newly listed factories, remediation progress, and Accord engineers’ follow up inspections. Currently, 561factories have completed 90% or more of the remediation from initial inspections. 330have completed all initial structural. 742 have completed all initial electrical. 141have completed all initial fire.111 additional factories have reported all remediation from initial inspections is completed.
The Accord informed the AB of operational measures introduced over the past several months to improve internal efficiencies in: inspections schedule, updating public corrective action plans, escalation and de-escalation management, and review and comment on structural DEAs. The AB received a briefing on the results of an external quality assurance assessment (QAA) the Accord contracted an international engineering firm to conduct in May-June 2017. The QAA engineers checked on the quality and accuracy of Accord verification of corrected safety hazards.
Inspection Reports & Corrective Action Plans: After each factory has been inspected for fire, electrical and structural safety, the inspection reports are shared with factory owners, the related Accord signatory companies and worker representatives. The factory owner and the company signatories are tasked to develop a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) that details what remedial actions will be taken with a clear timeline and a financial plan.
Review of Findings: The fire, electrical and structural findings from inspections form the basis of the Corrective Action Plan. Once the CAP is published, the Accord tracks the total number of findings and their status. The numbers presented here therefore represent all reported findings in the 1506 published CAPs.
The total number of findings increases for two reasons:
1. New factories continue to be listed by Accord signatories. The Accord conducts initial inspections at these factories and the findings from the initial inspections are added to the total findings as soon as the CAP is published and finalized.
2. Follow up inspections often identify new findings. These are either new hazards that have arisen since initial inspection or hazards which were not checked in the initial inspection which was of limited time and scope due to the urgency to inspect all factories rapidly.
Overview of common findings: Most of the findings that are reported in published CAPs are common to many factories, such as unsafe means of egress, unsafe electrical installations and weak structures. Lack of fire separations between floors and lack of adequate fire doors are common in almost all factories inspected by the Accord. In just over 10% of the factories inspected, this resulted in an immediate requirement to reduce the loads in the building, such as storage, water tanks and other weight.
Common safety hazards that need to be remediated include: 6
? Lack of certified fire doors in stairwells
? Inadequate automatic fire alarm systems
? Inadequate fire separations and protected exits
? Excess combustible material (fire load) in areas where people are working
? Loose electrical connections and improper earthing (grounding) systems
? Accumulation of dust and lint on electrical wiring
? Inadequate space for electrical installations such as substations
? Electrical phases that are imbalanced or overloaded
? Negligence towards electrical systems
? Lack of lateral stability in the structure
? Lack of accurate structural drawings.
Factories requiring Fire Design & Drawing: The Accord fire safety inspections may result in the requirement of the factory to install fire protection systems such as automatic fire alarm systems, automatic sprinkler systems and hydrant systems. The design drawings for these systems must be submitted to the Accord for review and acceptance prior to installation of the system to ensure they meet standard.
Remediation Progress: Diagram 6 provides an overview of the status of inspection findings that are reported in the published CAPs.
? In Progress: This is the default status for an inspection finding. It means that remediation of the inspection finding is underway.
? Pending Verification: The Accord has been informed that the finding has been corrected but the Accord is yet to verify this.
? Corrected: The finding has been verified as corrected by the Accord engineers through their follow-up verification visits. The total findings in published CAPs include original findings and new findings.
? Original Findings: Findings from the Accord Initial inspections.
Follow-up inspections: The Accord engineers are monitoring progress and verifying implementation of CAPs. Accord engineers are conducting follow up inspections to verify that corrective actions have been completed correctly. Suppliers failing to participate in the Accord program will go through an escalation procedure implemented by the Accord and signatory companies. This procedure consists of three stages:
(1) A notification of non-compliance from the Accord;
(2) Notice and warning from signatory companies and
(3) Termination of business by signatory companies. The Accord notice and warning procedure under Article 21 has led to escalation measures at 561 suppliers.
Safety Committee and Safety Training Program: The Accord trains and supports joint labor-management Safety Committees at factories producing for Accord signatory companies. Functioning safety committees are key to making sure the aims of the Accord continue to be realized after the five year agreement and for the long term.
Building these committees and making them effective in addressing and monitoring safety and health issues on a day-to-day basis is a central focus of the Accord training efforts. The Accord Safety Committee and Safety Training Program consist of the following key components: Initial Meeting with factory management and signatories
? All Employee safety informational sessions
? 7 Session Safety Committee Training Curriculum
? Ongoing support for effective functioning of Safety Committees
The full 7 Session Safety Committee Training Curriculum has been delivered at 87 factories and at 36 factories the Accord Trainer has returned following the end of the training program to attend the operating Safety Committees.
Progress Overview: The Accord is closely monitoring the progress made by Accord signatories and factories to make RMG factories in Bangladesh safe. an overview of key progress indicators, as well as more detailed quarterly aggregate progress reports.
78% of identified safety issues reported or verified as fixed.
74 factories completed remediation from initial inspections.
494 factories completed more than 90% remediation.
More than 333 Safety Committees trained.
More than 100 safety complaints resolved.
So, Bangladeshi Garments Industry follow THE ACCORD.
Md. Ataur Rahman ( Bulbul), Dhaka, Bangladesh, Skype: ataurrhmn, Email:[email protected], Whatsapp:+8801712835683