Alliance has ceased operations in Bangladesh effective December 31, 2018.
Following the Rana Plaza building collapse in April 2013, that killed more than 1,100 people, mostly garment workers, North American fashion brands and retailers formed the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, which would run for five years, setting time frames and accountability for inspections, trainings and worker empowerment programs in Bangladesh’s readymade garment sector.

The platform inspected more than 700 readymade garment factories in Bangladesh from where they procure products. About 93 per cent of faults identified in the factories were corrected, while 428 factories completed 100 per cent remediation work.

The buyers’ group removed 178 factories from its compliant factory list because of their lack of progress in ensuring safe working conditions.

Fortifying safety in factories and equipping workers with empowerment tools was Alliance’s focus. Alliance designed a safety training workshop for senior factory managers and partnered with the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology on a graduate-level short course for Bangladeshi engineers, both designed to build in-country capacity on safety.

More than 1.4 million workers were trained in basic fire safety, and 1.3 million participated in refresher courses. Nearly 27,000 security guards were trained in fire safety leadership while about 20,000 received refresher training.