Fire epidemic in the apparel sector

Fire epidemic in the apparel sector

Faizul Khan Tanim writes on the epidemic that can cost us a lot

“In Bangladesh, the words ‘safety’ and ‘regulation’ are only meant for the upper class of the society. The poor will be poorer and more prone to fatality and death because our lives have no value and since there is an explosion of population, garment workers are a genre of labours, readily available after little training. Tell me why should I not come to this conclusion? Would you be able to count the number of deaths caused by fire in the garment factories after the 80’s? And after so many incidents and being the world’s second-biggest clothing exporter, at least three big events each year takes place and its the same issues – inferior fire drills, escapes and locked fire exit doors killing scores of my colleagues, which are issues never addressed properly”, these opinions were voiced by a 29 year-old garment worker from Savar requesting anonymity, who saw at least two big fire breakouts so far, claiming the lives of her loved ones.

One of the biggest fire incidents in the history of Bangladesh took place late last year at Tazreen Fashions, killing more than 100 people and scores of others severely injured with burns and smoke inhalation.

And just two months passed, on January this year, Smart Export Garment Ltd. in Ashulia experienced a factory fire tragedy claiming  more than five and once again the reason is that allegedly the sole emergency exit at the factory was locked and again on February  a fire that gutted garments and machinery in Beximco Industrial Park in Sarabo area of Gazipur Sadar’s Kashimpur very recently. However, no human fatality was reported this time.

According to research by the advocacy group International Labor Rights Forum - factory fires have led to more than 600 garment workers deaths in Bangladesh since 2005. There are almost 5,000 garment factories dispersed all over the country.

Speaking to the president of Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation and general secretary of Awaj Foundation, Nazma Akter, said, “Some of the the biggest problems of fire carnages in the country is related to the lack of factory space, floor designs of the buildings, deficiency of fire drills and the garments owners distrust over the workers   on issues of theft which is why they lock the fire exits. We must remember the most powerful and important thing here is the lives of the human resources, the workers and not the materials because when a fire breaks out, the products perish but does that mean that the workers must pay for this as well? This is such a big blow for our reputation in front of the international sectors and if we cannot address it right now, our over all apparel business will suffer gravely. It is true that we provide the cheapest labour but if fire hazards continue, it will have a maximum negative impact in near future.”

Talking about the remuneration of garment workers, Akter commented “Wages have been increased to Taka 3,000 for an eight-hour shift but 3,000 a month cannot be enough for a woman who feeds her entire family in this economy of recession. These workers heavily suffer from malnutrition due to the less wage and they lose productivity faster than any other illnesses. There are issues like paying wages on-time, festival bonuses and yearly increments and only 50 to 55 percent of the 5,000 apparel factories actually follow these good practices. An alarming situation is soon coming as we can already see that a sharp shortage of garment workers is felt presently but if the current trend continues, this sharp escalation will turn in to a mammoth problem very soon – this might give rise to the induction of child labour and if this occurs, our country will suffer the worst image defeat from which it rose with extreme difficulty. The owners must discard their ideas of maximizing profits from cheapest labour possible and provide healthy environment for these people because end of the day, hard work of these labours are allowing affording luxury for the owners.”

Akter added more on the issue of making labour unions that a labour union leader must be empathetic towards the workers and also see the good of a company simultaneously but if he/she becomes biased for own benefit and not become neutral, moreover, abuse the areas of opportunities, then talking about union rights will never fetch the key problems. “We always blame the garment factory owners as abusers of wages but in most cases, it is the union leaders who are involved in this dirty business. A union is important but it cannot be a dysfunctional one.”

Both Akter and another union leader said that the government must intervene immediately to make a specialized industrial parks or apparel production region like the other sectors where all the factories can move providing safety and dormitory support for the workers because alongside below standard working environment, the female garment workers are not safe on the streets returning home after they finish work. Awareness has to be raised within all the factory owners, their management team and the workers of course otherwise a proper system will never formulate. “Most often, we train our workers during fire drills but never are the floor managers or other management people trained for hazards and due to this, those managers makes mistakes and leaves the workers most affected. Every stakeholder must be accountable and take charge of their actions. Another reason is the management and owners of garment factories stuff the storage areas with all kinds of materials starting from thread, buttons, fabric and not in separate areas which is why a fire spreads much more easily and it becomes very difficult to manage that. Most importantly, the workers take fire drills as fun activities and i think there has to be a unified effort to make them understand of the severity of such disasters”, Akter exclaimed.

*This article was first published in The Independent Weekend Magazine - http://theindependentdigital.com/index.php?opt=view&page=35&date=2013-03-01