We Are All Responsible for Fire Deaths

As I woke up yesterday morning to more news of fire deaths in a garment factory in Bangladesh I braced myself for another devastating death toll, similar to the 112 who died in November, or the 300 killed in Karachi in September.

I was relatively relieved to hear that the latest fire in a Bangladesh factory took only eight lives, thanks in part to the fact that the fire broke out after the majority of factory workers had gone home, according to reports.

Tragically, this kind of story would normally go unnoticed in Western media outlets, but the scrutiny on the country and on the garment industry in general has massively intensified since the unspeakable horrors of the Rana Plaza factory complex collapse two weeks ago, a catastrophe that has killed almost 900 — with the death toll still rising.

The safety standards in general in Bangladesh are, quite simply, not good enough.

Earlier this year, IFSEC Global heard from Emily Scragg, a Trading Law and Technical Manager for a major international retailer. Her visit to Bangladesh and to some of the factories in Dhaka, including Tazreen where 112 died in a fire, was intended to form the basis for a standards document that would be used to assess suppliers.

What is clear from the latest tragedies in the country, and in similar factories around the world, is that relying on the local safety rules and enforcement is not working. While the owner of the Rana Plaza factory may well see justice, it’s questionable as to whether the balance of power can shift in favour of the minimum wage factory workers.

Last year, in the immediate aftermath of the deaths of more than 300 people in two separate incidents in the Pakistani city of Karachi, I was extremely critical of Pakistani authorities, and asked if the UN should impose fire safety standards, possibly based on international fire codes, on countries that prove to be unable to enforce adequate standards to protect workers.

I also wrote, and would still contest, that it seems extraordinary that a nation able to maintain its nuclear arsenal cannot guarantee basic fire safety standards for workers.

Factories in Bangladesh, meanwhile, often do not have fire doors but this is rarely listed as a non-compliance with local rules. Ms Scragg wrote in March:

There is simply not a local expectation that fire doors are fitted. The factory can comply with local fire safety standards and still not ensure life safety.

The story when it comes to fire drills is the same. There is no local expectation that fire evacuations should be completed in a set time, but foreign buyers have been known to ask factory owners to prove they are capable of evacuating the building within three minutes.

People have very little idea of why this is expected of them — there is a serious lack of fire safety education — so they will happily inform buyers that they are able to do this, even if they are not.

Lasting change
People may recall the Libor scandal in the banking industry — where banks manipulated the inter-bank lending rate in order to make it appear that their banks were in a stronger financial position than perhaps they were. The rationale for lying to the public in their Libor rates was simple — perceived weakness in a bank is perhaps an even more dangerous thing that actual weakness.

In the garment industry, perceived high safety standards could be worth a lot of money to a factory owner. I have a real concern that the latest line of tragedies will lead only to an increase in falsely “improved” safety standards. After all, is it cheaper to install fire doors, or to just say you installed them?

There is no inference that factory owners in Bangladesh are deliberately trying to deceive buyers and the public, but they are simply unaware of why a fire door or a safe and ordered evacuation is important.

Sadly, once the media spotlight moved on from the fires in Karachi, and in Tazreen, the working conditions in developing countries moved out of the public consciousness. In the same way that the vitriolic calls for improved gun control following the killing of 20 schoolchildren at Sandy Hook faded from the attention of the world’s media, it remains to be seen if the latest tragic deaths of Bangladesh lead to any significant or lasting change.

I was wrong to call on the United Nations to ensure that workers are protected. It should be up to businesses themselves.

The retail industry of the west will have to not just show due diligence in selecting suppliers, but in my view, should actively push for and ensure that fire safety and other standards are achieved. This might push the prices of clothes on the high street up in the long term, but isn’t the price of life something we should all be paying for?

Related posts:

• Pakistan fires: Multiple deaths from factory fires are not inevitable
• Bangladesh factory fire kills over 100
• Karachi factory fire kills almost 300
• Shocking Fire Standards in Bangladesh
• International Fire Code: Not International at All