Identifying Practices and Prospects of Chemical Safety and Security in the Bangladesh Textiles Sector

Abstract

The textile sector is the backward linkage industry for the $30 billion USD apparel sector of Bangladesh, which is the key contributor to the rapid growth of Bangladesh’s economy. This major export-oriented sector of the country consumes a large amount of complex chemical substances for different stages of its processing. It is estimated that almost 1.47 million metric tons of chemicals have been consumed by the textile sector of Bangladesh in fiscal year 2017–2018, which is worth over about $2 billion USD. The chemicals that are consumed by the textile sector are mostly imported from other countries. Alongside imported chemicals, locally produced chemicals are also consumed. This rapidly growing sector has faced hurdles regarding safe, sound, and secure management of chemicals. Textile industries depend on chemical management regulations provided by buyers. There is no existing government policy on textile chemical safety and security. Local textile industries are heavily dependent on chemical management regulations provided by multinational apparel brands, commonly known as buyers. There are stringent regulations based on different private and global chemical management programs, policies, treaties, and frameworks, which mainly address chemical safety and occupational health and safety but hardly address chemical security. Buyers have limited control over chemical formulators, mode of transportation of potentially hazardous chemicals from port to factory gate, and internal transportation of chemicals within the facility and chemical storage. There are significant lapses in electric surveillance, maintaining “live” inventory, and proper segregation in chemical storage units onsite. These practices possess threats of chemical accidents, theft of chemicals, and siege or sabotage within textile industries. This article represents the current practices and prospects of chemical safety and security management in textile industries of Bangladesh. It provides a detailed analysis of textile chemicals consumed in Bangladesh, particularly in knit and woven dyeing industries. Different global and sectoral chemical safety and security frameworks have been analyzed with respect to textile chemicals here. The article aims at cross-linking global, private, and public frameworks for chemical safety and security and addressing key elements of a national textile chemical safety and security policy for Bangladesh. This study could be useful to develop chemical security policies that are missing in the national legal instrument of Bangladesh and to support buyers in efforts to incorporate chemical security and modify safety aspects in the regulations.