One in Six Walmart Clothing Factories in Bangladesh Failed Basic Fire and Other Safety Checks
An independent safety review carried out for US retail giant Walmart has revealed that 32 of the 200 factories from which it buys clothes in Bangladesh were failing to meet basic fire, structural, and electrical safety standards, despite the carnage wreaked by the Rana Plaza fire in April this year, when more than 1,100 workers died after the factory near Dhaka collapsed, and the Tasreen textile factory fire, which claimed the lives of 117 people last November.
The inspectors found serious failings requiring urgent remedial action in 16 percent of the factories used by Walmart. Work to rectify the failings has since been carried out at most of them. However, production is still temporarily halted at two factories, which have failed to make the improvements required for basic safety since the inspections started in May following the Rana Plaza disaster.
Bangladesh is a major source of cheap garments for US and European companies including Walmart, Carrefour, and El Corte Ingles. Earlier this week, the UN’s International Labor Organization said Bangladesh must improve conditions in its garment industry if it is to maintain economic growth.
The Bangladeshi garment sector employs about 3.6 million people, mostly women, making it the second largest garment manufacturer after China. But it pays the lowest wages of its all regional export competitors such as Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam, therefore making its low costs attractive to Western discount retailers such as Walmart. The wages, among the lowest worldwide, have sparked violent unrest in recent weeks in the country.
Walmart signed up to the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a weaker version of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, to which European companies such as Sainsbury’s, Primark, and H&M have put their names.
Walmart has published the survey of 75 inspections of its factories on its website.
Related posts:
- Bangladesh Factory Fire Safety: Retailers Take Responsibility
- We Are All Responsible for Fire Deaths
- Shocking Fire Standards in Bangladesh
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