Bangladesh fire renews labour condition concerns

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Feb 4, 2016

Early Tuesday morning, a fire broke out at a factory in Bangladesh which manufactures clothing for retail giants, H&M, JC Penny, Walmart, and others.
 
The massive fire which injured four and fortunately missed 6,000 workers who had not yet arrived at work, has renewed concerns over labour conditions.

 
According to a statement released by the Clean Clothes Campaign, the fire broke out at at the Matrix Sweaters factory in Gazipur around 7:30 am. It took firefighters four hours to extinguish it.
 
The report states that a fire safety inspection report, carried out in May 2014, reveals that a large number of life-threatening safety hazards were found at the factory, including a lack of adequate fire exits, no fire doors, no sprinklers, and many other safety risks.

The statement also reveals that the incident occurred just days after four labour rights groups issued a report raising concerns about long delays in safety renovations at H&M’s supplier factories in Bangladesh.
 
In a statement emailed to Quartz magazine about the fire and its factory conditions, H&M said it is in “close dialogue with the suppliers and are following up on the work that remains to be done.” No other retailers have issued statements.