Management of the Liberty Fashion Wears a forcibly shut Bangladeshi apparel maker has asked the Accord on Fire and Building Safety to withdraw unsafe tag as the factory building is termed safe by BUET engineers. The factory is in operation but due to Accords’ embargo, buyers cannot buy products from the factory neither can it produce apparel goods for the European brand. In last couple of years, the factory has incurred production losses worth Tk490 crore due to the unethical shut by the Accord

After Rana Plaza incident that killed over 1,135 workers in 2013, Tesco, one of Liberty Fashion Wears buyers hired Medway Consultancy Services (MCS) to assess the structural design of the building. In May 2013, the MCS conducted a visual and observational inspection and made a report identifying the building with “Red” mark stating that the building would collapse within 60 hours. Aftermath of the report, the factory was declared unsafe for workers by the Accord.

Later, based on MCS’ report, Accord, a platform of European Union apparel buyers to improve safety standard in the apparel sector, served letter to its signatory brands not to buy products from the factory terming it unsafe to workers safety.