We are extremely concerned by the lack of progress made by more than 1,000 RMG units in becoming "fully safe," since the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh closed its operations in the country in May 2020. After the Accord left the country, the responsibility of making the factories structurally safe and compliant with the international standards was handed over to the RMG Sustainability Council (RSC). However, it seems the RSC hasn't made any significant headway in terms of factory inspections and other safety-related matters.

According to the RSC's website, over 70 factories from the Accord and RSC's list still haven't implemented even half of the remediation measures recommended by Accord. Moreover, there are a few factories that are just getting started with their preliminary inspection after the RSC took over. Even though around two-thirds of the listed un-remediated factories had implemented over 90 percent of the remediation measures recommended at the time of Accord's departure, even the minor work that has been left incomplete can cause major accidents—as made evident by the fire at Zaheen Knitwear Ltd in late January this year.

The RSC has said that it faced many drawbacks in carrying out its safety-related inspection work and other matters due to the pandemic. However, the fact remains that ignoring such work can be extremely costly in terms of human lives—as proven by a number of past tragedies. Moreover, the goodwill that Bangladesh has been able to develop with foreign brands and other customers since the tragic events of Rana Plaza will also be at risk if RMG factories across the country now start to ignore safety standards in absence of Accord. And that could be very costly economically in the long run, particularly for Bangladesh's balance of payment, which relies so heavily on RMG exports.

Many experts and activists believe that the fact that the RSC cannot legally force brands to stop buying from factories that are not making progress in remediation—which the Accord agreement had the power to do—is among the main reasons why this process has slowed down so significantly.

At the end of the day, factories that do not strictly enforce all the necessary safety measures have to be held accountable in some way. Otherwise, why would they have the incentive to implement them—especially when it is cheaper for them to not do so? We believe that it is time the RSC started acting like an independent and empowered institution that prioritises the issue of workers' safety.