Sunday marks the ninth anniversary of a collapse that shook not only the foundations of the Rana Plaza building but also the fashion industry, as the rubble in Sawar, Bangladesh highlighted grievances in other manufacturing countries.
Safe workplaces became a myth, as shown by blocked exits, barred windows, extreme time pressure and insults and harassment by superiors, but also damage to buildings and a lack of safety precautions.
The industry came together and made an example of Bangladesh: “Made in Bangladesh” was to move from a deficiency to a trademark, just as “Made in Germany” had succeeded in the post-war years: Factories were recorded, audited and action plans set in motion to address the deficiencies should fix. Bangladesh should become the safest garment industry in the world; Companies like Denim Expert showed how it was done.
The Bangladesh Accord and the Alliance for Occupational Safety in Bangladesh, which divided up the factories among themselves and “worked them off”, were particularly distinguished here. However, both were initially limited to five years. While the alliance said goodbye after five years, the Accord was extended until 2020 and then handed over to the state supervisory authority RCC and later to the RMG Sustainability Council (RSC).
At this time, about 1,000 units of Bangladesh’s more than 4,000 garment factories were late in their measures to become fully safe. This process is still ongoing today; the pandemic is partly blamed for the delay; the union is already warning of a deterioration in Bangladesh’s garment factories.
What has changed in the last nine years?
Transparency is no longer the alien word it once was, and fashion brands and retailers are realizing the benefits of moving from keeping the names of their manufacturing operations a secret to sharing with others and finding new solutions together search.
Keyword Corona Pandemic: Long-term relationships and good communication in the supply chain have proven their worth here, as a result of which orders can be changed and divided up in order to relieve understaffed factories and to compensate for delivery bottlenecks.
If this was not the case, there were short-term relationships and little communication, which also meant little sympathy for the situation of the other person: orders were canceled or finished goods did not arrive and/or were not paid for, which forced many factories and garment workers to give up brought to the limits of their existence.
An international accord
The Bangladesh Accord became the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Garment and Textile Industry, which operates out of Amsterdam and came into force on September 1st last year. Independence from any specific country makes the new agreement more international and flexible, but also offers a loophole not to join: The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), for example, says it cannot be applied to factories in Bangladesh and so does the RSC would not recognize it.
This brings the focus back to brands and retailers: when they demand stringent safety precautions, including being verified on-site before entering into new business relationships, and then continually checking further, factories have no choice but to upgrade security. State aid should be provided for this, because this is expensive; around 175,000 to 260,000 euros per factory, it is estimated. The Supply Chain Act is also a step in the right direction.