Bangladesh campaign groups cannot agree on shared audits
04/09/2014
Both groups were set up following the Rana Plaza disaster in April 2013. One of them, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety (Alliance), was set up by mostly North American clothing brands. The other, the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (Accord), has mostly European brands as its members.
At the end of August, the Alliance issued a statement to express its disappointment that it had been unable to reach agreement with the Accord on sharing audits.
“One of the critical areas that must be resolved is how to handle the inspection of factories shared by both Accord and Alliance brands,” the statement said. “From the beginning, we have advocated a joint approach to develop a protocol and understanding for shared factories to ensure that safety standards are met without subjecting workers and owners to duplicate inspections.
“We understand from a recent announcement by the Accord that it will reject inspections in shared factories that were conducted by Alliance member brands. This is a setback for garment factory safety efforts in Bangladesh.”
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