Carrefour : first French signatory of the new “Fire and building safety” agreement in Bangladesh

The three-year extension of the 'FIRE AND BUILDING SAFETY' agreement to improve safety conditions in textile factories in Bangladesh follows the general lines of the first agreement signed in 2013, while reinforcing certain points. The previous agreement resolved over 100,000 safety problems identified by inspections in 1,800 garment factories employing a total of over 2.5 million workers.

In 2013, following the Rana Plaza catastrophe, a five-year agreement was signed between entities placing orders for supply in the country and the main international unions under the aegis of the ILO. Today it comprises over 200 brands and aims to ensure worker safety in the factories through fire, electrical and structural inspections. Any nonconformities detected during inspections must be corrected and employees of the factories trained to ensure their safety through health and safety committees.

All of the active factories working with Carrefour were inspected and 87% of the improvement actions recommended have been implemented, compared with an average of 78% as regards the other members of the agreement. In addition, over half of these factories are involved in the process of raising awareness and training the 'health and safety committees' provided for by the agreement.

The new agreement will complete the previous agreement's compliance programme and in time, will see the Bangladeshi government take over the inspection system.

This commitment forms part of the action programme taken by Carrefour teams in Bangladesh to improve working conditions in the factories as well as environmental protection with the 'Clean Water Project'.

Link to the agreement: http://bangladeshaccord.org/