IOSH has welcomed the UK Government’s commitment to support improved working conditions in Bangladesh.
Earlier this month, while visiting survivors of the Rana Plaza building collapse in Dhaka, International Development minister Alan Duncan announced that the UK is to fund initiatives that bring buyers, manufacturers, workers, NGOs and the government of Bangladesh together to agree common standards for worker safety.
Existing funds will be used to improve building inspections, including a team of UK specialists to review the building inspection system. Additionally, there will be new UK support for a training programme for low-skilled garment and construction workers.
Justine Greening MP, International Development Secretary, has invited British companies in Bangladesh to discuss how the UK can go further in raising standards in garment production.
IOSH has been calling for action since the horrific factory collapse in May, which claimed the lives of more than 1100 workers.
It wants to see health and safety risk management, including within supply chains, adequately covered in the new strategic reports required by The Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’ Report) Regulations 2013, due in October 2013 and in the forthcoming Turnbull review, consulting soon.
The Institution, which is a co-founder of the Center for Safety and Health Sustainability (CSHS), is working with other CSHS partners to promote the global reporting by businesses of their health and safety performance, as part of efforts to strengthen reporting standards throughout their supply chains.
CSHS director and IOSH past president Steve Granger said: “This tragic loss of life in Bangladesh highlights why the work of CSHS is so important.
“We need to raise awareness and ensure there is meaningful corporate reporting, including of supply-chain management, to help raise standards and save lives. To this end, IOSH, as part of CSHS, is helping to develop global reporting standards.”
The Government announcement follows the recent retailers’ ‘accord’ that several UK high street brands have signed, to help improve fire and safety standards in the garment sector in Bangladesh.
