Alliance, the platform of North American apparel brands and buyers in Bangladesh, has brought allegations of unethical engineering practices against three engineering firms in Bangladesh, saying they manipulated and tampered with safety reports. Alliance also says the firms lack practical knowledge to conduct engineering analysis and retrofitting designs. The other allegations by Alliance include part-time engineers, misguiding and harassing factory owners by giving false hopes, late and faulty detailed engineering assessment reports and negotiation with them to avoid retrofitting.

Fire, electrical and structural integrity in some 3,500 garment factories has been assessed by the initiatives Accord and Alliance. Some building owners or manufacturers have failed to provide the necessary documents, including building designs, during structural inspections.

However, one of the engineering firms says Alliance has forced its member factories to conduct engineering analysis by its nominated six engineering firms. So far, eight reports have been approved by both Accord and Alliance, while some are at the final stage of approval. Garment factories under Alliance have to submit reports within six weeks, a time frame which many say is too short.

Alliance has requested the apparel apex bodies such as BGMEA and BKMEA to inform their member factories they should desist from hiring the three firms.

www.bangladeshworkersafety.org/