The Bangladesh government has launched the Essentials of Occupational Safety and Health (EOSH) program. Under this, eight lakh ready-made garment (RMG) workers across the country would benefit. EOSH, is an innovative training package developed by the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) International Training Centre in Turin. The training programme is being delivered by the Bangladesh Employers Federation (BEF) with the support of the ILO and financed by Canada, the Netherlands and United Kingdom, according to a release.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) have also supported the training. The launch marked the third phase of an initiative that has seen a core group of 114 master trainers from BEF, BGMEA, BKMEA and RMG factories train 8,038 RMG managers and supervisors in occupational safety and health.

In the latest phase, this group would now go on and build awareness of key OSH issues amongst 800,000 workers in 585 factories by June 2017. In addition to the EOSH training, the initiative would also see 585 company representatives oriented on the formation of Safety Committees at factory level. The goal is to establish 110 functioning Safety Committees at company level by January 2017. Covering the areas of managing safety and health, and establishing Safety Committees, the modules form part of an OSH kit to be distributed to all RMG factories.