Some garments factories are death traps?

Systematic flouting of safety norms and a breakdown in regulations have turned the country's garments factories into veritable death traps. Even today people recall with shock the incident in 1997 when five female garment workers of Novelle and Modern Garments in the Mohakhali area of the Dhaka city were killed in a stampede as the panicked workers made a desperate bid to escape after hearing a fire alarm.

A post-disaster sweep in some of the garments factories in the city has revealed the sorry state of affairs. About 1400 out of 2600 garments factories in the country lack adequate fire-fighting tools like one asbestos or heavy woolen blanket or one bucket of water or one carbon dioxide extinguisher of 2 kg capacity per minimum.

The garments owners association (BGMEA) along with the ministerial committee set up by the government earlier has so far identified ten causes for such mishaps. These include absence of alternative stairs or emergency exit routes, lack of fire-fighting equipment and materials, faulty gas and electric lines in the factories, violation of building codes that prohibit installing a labour intensive and fire-prone factory above the second floor, non-use of fire retardant materials in walls and the roof, use of low-quality fittings, lack of proper warning signal arrangement during a disaster, and lack of disaster drill and training of the workers that helps them to quit the premises in an orderly manner without creating chaos in times of emergency.

After taking a detour of the garments factories in the city, one gets a somewhat unhappy impression. In most of these factories fire-safety checks are non-existent. The units are housed in buildings least suited to fire prone factories with poor safety standards, have a near absence of emergency exits, and operate without a valid license from the Fire Service and Civil Defense Directorate. Often fire-safety certificates are taken not from the fire department but the electrical inspectorate that knows little about the fire prevention system. Most shockingly, an industry that employs about ten lakh workers, mostly women, in the capital city, and now ranks as the biggest foreign exchange earner, has given little attention towards ensuring safety and security of its workers. No sensible citizen in the country can compromise the idea of allowing such a vital industry to operate with so little accountability and so scarce periodic inspections of its electrical installations. While the long-term measure of relocating these industries to the outskirts of the city as suggested by the ministerial committee is a long way off, short term measures such as installation of fire fighting implements in the buildings and creation of emergency exit routes must be taken up without further delay.

In most cases, building laws are violated with impunity. Most of these factories have exit routes or stairs throttled with waste clothes and baskets full of waste. Most shockingly, in most of the time the main entrance gate remains locked without the guard being available. Think of the colossal problem that it is likely to create when some 500 to 600 workers, mostly untrained women from the rural areas, want to evacuate through such a narrow three-foot staircase after hearing an alarm bell! Other than these, electrical lines are most fragile and a little spark or a short circuit can spread the fire through the whole installation in the twinkling of an eye. In some factories there are no buckets of water or containers to fetch water in emergency situation. Despite the fact that a series of accidents have taken place in quick succession, the licensing authorities or the administration have never showed up or visited these factories to see if these units meet the safety regulations and norms. Most of these factories situated in the narrow by-lanes and densely populated residential areas on high rise buildings are almost inaccessible to fire tenders.

The ministerial committee constituted by the government made some recommendations that the garments owners must follow. Sadly true, these laws were already there but management were reluctant to invest the extra money needed. Rather they lived with the risk of their factories and their workers being exposed to frequent hazards. There is hardly any plausible explanation as to why the main collapsible gate should be locked and the key or the security guard would not be available in emergency situation as it happened in the case of Sheefa Garments and Omega Sweater factories.

No one would believe that the garments industries are a losing concern and that, as such, any additional investment would render the business unprofitable. Smoke alarms and sprinklers that might cost only a few lakhs could have been put in most of these factories living with constant hazard of electric short circuit. None of these factories have battery operated emergency lights that cost only a few thousand taka, a dire need to check stampede, chaos and melee when darkness envelops the premises in the event of a sudden short circuit.

Starting in the 80s, this industry has made substantial impact on our economy, identifying itself as a vital foreign exchange earner as well as providing jobs to a vast cohort of unemployed youths, especially women. This industry now employs about 13 lakh men and women that comprises almost 50 per cent women workers. The absorption of a large number of female workers -- a big outflow of migrant unemployed and widowed or unwed women from the rural areas -- has added to the importance of sustaining this industry with care and caution.

Recalling the fact that this industry was forging ahead creating job opportunities for people and earning substantial foreign exchange to the tune of crores of taka, the hazardous nature of these installations prompts the entrepreneurs to enforce safety measures to prevent a premature collapse like the jute industry in the post liberation days. Too frequent fire incidents in the jute godowns in those days are still etched in public memory and that to a large extent reduced the jute mills and the industry itself to ashes. Sensible citizenry see the wreckage of these RMG units with such sickening regularity as a metaphor for collapse of the buoyant optimism about the country's future development.

Hardly have the garments owners gone into actions that constitute safety and security of the workers as well as their sense of belonging to the unit they work in. None of these factories should be allowed to operate without having a fire-safety drill of its workers. The Fire Service authority has a great role to play to the extent of sealing a factory building for fire safety violation.

The causes have been identified much earlier and now a maze of agencies like the PWD, Rajuk, DCC, Fire Service, and Electrical Inspectors would have to play their part. Most cogently, the PWD or Rajuk must see that a factory premise is not chosen in a high-rise building especially above 2nd floor, that render fire-fighting facilities inaccessible.

Speaking about the short-term measures, the stairs of the factories must be widened and there must be more than one stair as well as a number of safe and accessible exit routes with avenues for the fire-fighting equipment to gain access to the building in times of hazard. Persons with agility and verve capable of standing face to face with any catastrophic situation and with previous training in fire-fighting and thoroughly versed in electrical operations and safety control measures must be employed as supervisors or guards. Over and above, workers must come under insurance coverage without exception. Sadly true, garments owners are still hesitant to buy insurance coverage for their workers even at a minimal cost of Tk. 10.00 per employee per year. So far only 1.5 lakh employees of 33 factories have been brought under insurance coverage.

Precisely known to all, the series of incidents that go unchallenged with frightening regularity owe their origins to multiplicity of authorities each conniving their obligations, blissfully unaware of the implications, even in cases in exchange of cash reward. In fact, there are too many agencies -- and usually the wrong ones involved in allowing these factories to operate without paying any heed to fire safety measures and illegal and faulty electrical installations. Like Sheefa and Omega Sweater factories at Mirpur, many other units in the city have fire bombs sitting in their installation only waiting to go off. Callous management with somewhat laughable attitude about violations of the norms because no accident has taken place in their units plus the apathy of the regulatory agencies have added to the catastrophic situation.

It is high time we pondered if we could allow these fire traps to pass off as sophisticated industries where innocent and most gullible humans could put their sweat to earn a living. Neither the government nor the owners of the factories can absolve themselves of the responsibilities. Passing the buck and the blame does not solve anything. The best way we can achieve fire safety in these RMG units is by investing the total safety measure and responsibility in one authority instead of allowing it to be regulated by a panoply of controlling authorities. The administration must realise the gravity of the situation and must act promptly to save a valuable industry from extinction. Otherwise, of horror may be repeated elsewhere too with increasing frequency.

The Mirpur garments factories disaster may have led to recriminations and frenzied activity in the garment factory owners in Dhaka, but the rest of the country remains blissfully unaware -- and unconcerned -- about the fire traps that pass off as garments factories. The fire originated, as the DESCO engineer says, from pile of waste cloths and burnt the wire of the transformer that led to the blast. That speaks of the carelessness and negligence of the factory owners, lax monitoring of the regulations and ceaseless flouting of safety laws. Sadly true, earlier in 2001, seventeen garment workers were killed and fifty others injured in a stampede following a false fire alarm at a factory in Mirpur. Alarmingly, over the last 14 years, around 300 workers were killed and about 150 injured in 35 accidents in garment factories in the capital, including the latest incident on May 5 last.

Mentionably, the PWD or Rajuk would ensure that the garments factory building conforms to the sanctioned plans. The DCC (Dhaka City Corporation) will make sure that the building or floor or floors used as such factory has the required number of exits and avenues for fire engines to gain access. In most garment factories in the city situated in the alley ways, narrow lanes and mostly on the top floors, such facilities are non-existent. Moreover, the electrical inspectors will check the safety and location of potential fire hazards like transformers and generators. The fire department will review the functioning of the fire fighting equipment. Lastly the Deputy Commissioner will issue a final license based on no objection certificate (NOCs) from this maze of agencies. What happens in garments factories is a sort of callous attitude. In most factories there is hardly any fire-fighting equipment and trained personnel. Fire extinguishers are too few and often useless. Most employees don't know how to use them. Fire alarms and sprinkler systems are virtually unheard of. Mandatory buckets of sands are used as spittoons.

Even after so many accidents and deaths, these factories are in bad shape. What is shocking is that government does not seem to realise the gravity of the situation. Someone must act now. Otherwise Sheefa and Omega Sweaters horror incidents may be repeated with frightening regularity.

Md. Asadullah Khan is a former teacher of physics and Controller of Examinations, BUET