Rana Plaza is still our shame

The RMG sector has long proved itself to be a boon for Bangladesh. It is the mainstay of its economy, facilitating its sustained 6%-plus GDP growth over the years. Despite the epic growth of our RMG industry and its bright prospects, challenges are still there. One of the biggest challenges currently faced by our RMG industry is to ensure workplace safety and better working conditions for the millions of garment workers. While we were embarking on a fashionable dream to export $50bn by 2021, the industry was shaken by the Rana Plaza disaster.

Last month, I returned to Bangladesh from Turin, Italy, having finished my post-graduate diploma. I went there on a fellowship and had the opportunity to meet 30 nationals from five continents of the world. I entered the campus with lofty thoughts about Bangladesh’s second position in RMG exports.

The very next day in the orientation, when I introduced myself as a Bangladeshi national, all of my coursemates and teachers from the UK, New Zealand, and Ireland rushed to me and asked about Rana Plaza. Most of them don’t even know of our prime minister, or the famous Shakib Al Hasan. They don’t know about our mangrove forest the Sundarbans, or our longest sea-beach Cox’s Bazar, or even our historic independence.

But they all know about the tragic accident at Rana Plaza. I was astonished. I told them that Rana Plaza can’t be the only example. We have so many success stories about our RMG.

Every foreigner I’ve met asked me eagerly: “What about Rana Plaza? Is everything okay?” I am afraid, and wonder if the whole world thinks of Bangladesh in this way, what will be our future image be?

At present, factory owners are more aware than they were earlier. There is some hope that Accord and Alliance have commented that, with regards to safety, Bangladesh’s RMG sector has improved a lot. But it has a long way to go in case of ensuring proper work environments and complete safety for employees.

The McKinsey summer report 2014 found that Bangladesh remains at the top of the list of apparel-sourcing markets, and is expected to grow further in importance in the next few years. As per their forecast in 2011, Bangladesh was on the radar of all European and US apparel buyers, and is likely to grow nearly three times by 2020.

It is high time for us to ensure complete safety in every RMG unit to regain the global image of the country, and its ultimate impact definitely extends to the RMG industry.

Bangladesh is now on the watch-list. International buyers and consumers would like to see effective steps in place to help avert a new tragedy. Because of a few grossly non-compliant operators, the whole sector is getting a bad name, and as such, running the risk of losing markets. Under such circumstances, restoring the image of the country’s RMG sector is now an urgent national task. The government, apparel owners, workers’ representatives, and all others do need to urgently put in their joint efforts to facilitate the sustained development of the industry.

Although, the Rana Plaza and Tazreen disasters were the most unfortunate things to happen in the history of our industry, these two incidents were significant wake-up calls for us — a call for a turn-around and rebuilding the industry, a call for ensuring the safety of our workers, and of ourselves. There has been a paradigm shift in the mindset of entrepreneurs. Tremendous progress has been achieved in safety inspection, awareness, and other occupational safety and health issues.

So, what is our ultimate responsibility to make our garments industry secure? I think the time has come to rethink things, and there is no alternative but to ensure environmental and workers’ safety in the apparel industry for long-term sustainability. By ensuring safety through combined initiatives from both ends — garments entrepreneurs and the government — educating our mid and top level management, and creating home-grown talents through skill-based hands-on experience, we can avoid such unexpected incidents.

Market diversification and duty-free market access by itself does not ensure sustainability of the sector, because many global buyers have said that they are not inclined to import clothes stitched by the blood of innocent workers.