The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (Accord) has handed over the safety activities of 80 more readymade garment (RMG) factories to the government’s Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC), taking the total number of factories transferred to 100. The agency announced this in a press release on 19th December 2018.

Accordingly, a handover letter was signed by Md. Mahfuzur Rahman Bhuiyan, deputy inspector general of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) that the RCC is part of, and Rob Wayss, executive director of the Bangladesh Accord.

In the initial survey of the factories, the work of fire, infrastructure and electrical safety risks has been completed. The Accord has also handed over the factsheets and historical and technical files of all factories, including information about remediation status, records of initial and follow-up inspections and a list of new findings.

A first 20 factories had already been handed over on 24th October 2018. In its more than five years of existence, the Accord has inspected more than 1,600 RMG factories. Ultimately, the Accord will have to hand over all the remediated factories to the RCC in phases as the newly formed entity will monitor the progress of the remediation after the departure of the Accord as well as the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety. However, a decision by Bangladesh’s high court is currently awaited, which will determine the future of the new Accord, called Accord 2018.

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