H&M group signs new agreement on fire and building safety
The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety is essential in the work to improve the Bangladeshi garment factories. Since fire and building safety is extremely important to us and we want to continue to play an active role, we re-signed the Accord for yet another 3-year period on June 29th.
We are convinced of the positive impact of the work being done within the Accord and that it will reach its long-term aim: to make the textile industry in Bangladesh safer. We see continuous progress, but to further speed up the work and to be able to work on a wider level together with a joint force to reach the whole textile industry in Bangladesh, the work within the Accord is important. We will continue working closely together with IndustriALL to use our combined leverage where needed.
The new Accord agreement will be applicable from June 2018 and continues to consist of a broad coalition of international buyers, trade unions and factories, addressing fire and building safety in the ready-made-garment industry in Bangladesh. It will also continue to add on to our existing sustainability program and strict requirements on our suppliers. One addition in the new agreement is the promotion of freedom of association, another that trade unions are now included in the health and safety trainings.
The remediation work on fire safety in textile factories in Bangladesh is continuously showing progress. The new additional requirements from the Accord are gradually solved at more factories. Please visit the Accord web site or at the H&M web site to see detailed information on the progress.