Global trade unions have called on the Accord in Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh to be extended to include boiler safety after the recent explosion (3rd July) at the Multifabs garment factory in the capital Dhaka that killed at least 11 people and injured others.

IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union sent their sympathies to the families of those dead and injured in the blast and called for an extension of the Accord. Deputy General Secretary of UNI Christy Hoffman said: “This heart-breaking loss of life is the latest example why safety improvements in Bangladesh’s garment industry are literally a matter of life and death. The Bangladesh Accord has made significant progress in making work safer in this sector, but this explosion shows the need to expand the agreement’s scope to include boiler safety.”

Multifabs is a signatory to the Accord and under this agreement there had been fire, electrical and structural inspections at the factory in 2014 and 2015. In a statement the body that monitors the Accord said that the factory had met requirements for a fire-rated construction that would separate the boiler from a fire in October last year. However this requirement did not address the issue of a boiler explosion. The body will now evaluate whether it can expand its inspection program to include boilers, the statement said.

It was also stated that: "The Accord encourages all brands producing at Multifabs Ltd. as well as the factory owner, to ensure that full and fair compensation is paid to the families of the workers who died and to the injured workers, consistent with the standard established by the Rana Plaza Arrangement."

The Accord was created in the immediate aftermath of the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013 that led to the death of more than 1100 people and injured more than 2000. It was developed as an independent, legally binding agreement between brands and trade unions designed to work towards a safe and healthy Bangladeshi ready-made garment Industry. The Accord's purpose is to enable a working environment in which no worker needs to fear fires, building collapses, or other accidents that could be prevented with reasonable health and safety measures.

This latest accident came soon after a new 2018 Accord was launched extending the safety programme until 2021. UNI Global Union said that up to now fifteen brands employing more than 1,000 factories had signed the new Accord.