International Labour Organisation has hired Bureau Veritas, an international testing, inspection and certification agency, to support the capacity of Remediation Coordination Cell of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments to expedite readymade garment factories’ remediation works.
The ILO on Thursday signed a contract with Bureau Veritas with an aim of providing engineering, case management and training support to RCC and boosting the existing capabilities of the government to move the remediation efforts forward. Through the support, RCC is expected to evolve into an Industrial Safety Unit (ISU) to provide oversight in terms of industrial safety for all industrial sectors in Bangladesh, an ILO press release said.
The contract was signed at Six Season Hotel in Dhaka by ILO country director Tuomo Poutiainen, and Bureau Veritas (Bangladesh) Pvt Ltd managing director Umesh Jadhav.
DIFE inspector general Shamsuzzaman Bhuiyan and RCC project director Aminur Rahman were present at the signing ceremony.
ILO is supporting the operations and capacity building of the RCC and under its ‘Improving Working Conditions in the Ready-Made Garment Sector in Bangladesh’ programme, which is funded by Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Speaking at the signing event Tuomo Poutiainen said the contract would allow the remediation of the factories to move faster. It would also help building stronger foundation on the journey to graduate RCC into competent industrial safety unit, he said. ‘Under the agreement RCC will get 54 employees, including 34 engineers, to expedite remediation in the factories inspected under national initiative,’ Shamsuzzaman told New Age.
Earlier, the government had appointed 60 engineers in the RCC in July this year.
After the Rana Plaza collapse in April 2013 that killed more than 1,100 people, a total of 3,780 garment factories were assessed under three initiatives: European retailer platform Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, North American buyers’ platform Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety and the government-led and ILO-supported national initiative.
Some 1,549 garment factories were inspected under the initiative and the government established RCC in May 2017 to oversee remediation works in the factories.