Abstract

BackgroundSince the 2013 Rana Plaza incident in Bangladesh, the government of Bangladesh has been under pressure to improve health and safety conditions for workers in the ready-made garment industry. Its efforts have focused heavily on structural safety of the buildings but have largely ignored broader occupational health system issues. This qualitative study explores contextual factors and system challenges that create barriers for ensuring a healthy and safe workplace in the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh.MethodsData were collected through key informant interviews (n = 14) with government officials from the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE), factory employers, factory doctors and representatives from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). A thematic analysis was conducted using Atlas-ti v 5.2.ResultsA thematic analysis suggests that the capacity of the DIFE to provide adequate occupational health services remains a problem. There is a shortage of both appropriately trained staff and equipment to monitor occupational health and safety in factories and to gather useful data for evidence-based decision-making. Another barrier to effective occupational health and safety of workers is the lack of cooperation by employers in recording data on workers’ health and safety problems. Finally, government officials have limited resources and power to enforce compliance with regulations. Such deficiencies threaten the health and safety of this important, largely female, working population.ConclusionThis case example focused on the valuable ready-made garment industry sector of Bangladesh’s economy. It identifies the critical need for occupational health system strengthening. Specifically system capacity needs to be improved by both increasing human resources for in-factory hazards and health monitoring, regulatory inspection, enforcement, and improved training of government officials around monitoring and reporting.

Highlights

  • Since the 2013 Rana Plaza incident in Bangladesh, the government of Bangladesh has been under pressure to improve health and safety conditions for workers in the ready-made garment industry

  • According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), globally every year over 2.3 million people suffer from occupational accidents and work-related diseases, thousands of people die every day due to occupational accidents, and about 4% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) is lost in direct and indirect costs of occupational accidents and

  • Occupational health and safety services and capabilities Insufficient human resources Informants described the establishment of Department of Inspections of Factories and Establishments (DIFE) in the 1970s under the Ministry of Labour and Employment

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Summary

Introduction

Since the 2013 Rana Plaza incident in Bangladesh, the government of Bangladesh has been under pressure to improve health and safety conditions for workers in the ready-made garment industry. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), globally every year over 2.3 million people suffer from occupational accidents and work-related diseases, thousands of people die every day due to occupational accidents, and about 4% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) is lost in direct and indirect costs of occupational accidents and Bangladesh is moving towards an industrialized economy and occupational health problems have emerged as a concern in some of its industries [5] Among these industries the biggest is the ready-made garment (RMG) industry, earning USD 30.16 billion in 2017–18 and accounting for over 83% of the nation’s export earnings [6]. This incident came at a critical time, when the government was trying to reassure global buyers by ensuring safe and acceptable working conditions in the RMG sector [9]

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