Wal-Mart, GAP and other major US retailers will implement a Bangladesh factory-safety plan. The group is made up of 20 companies known as the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety. It has pledged to put fire and building safety standards in place by September 10.
Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety is the US industry's way of improving working conditions in facilities in Bangladesh and preventing disasters like the garment factory collapse in April. Retailers, who include Macy's and Target, have struck a five-year deal to train workers and inspect factories. They will require factory owners in Bangladesh to pay for their own safety renovations but have committed to providing $100 million in low-cost loans toward the effort.
Meanwhile owners of some 500 readymade garment units in Bangladesh have agreed to invest in workers' safety systems, fire-fighting equipment, evacuation mechanism, proper installation of machines and a healthy work environment. Factory owners are trying to introduce compliance following constant pressure from home and abroad. Nearly 1,830 garment workers have died so far in different building collapses, fires, and other accidents from 1990 to 2013.
