Hundreds of thousands of workers in Bangladesh are said to be making clothes for Swedish retailer H&M in dangerous conditions. Washington-based Workers Rights Consortium says there are severe safety hazards, including a lack of fire doors, fire exits, proper alarm systems and sprinkler systems. H&M became the first company to sign the Bangladesh Accord, which came about after the 2013 collapse of Rana Plaza, a building that housed several garment factories.
Considered the country’s worst industrial disaster, the collapse killed more than 1,130 people and brought international attention to the safety of garment workers. H&M is also said to have not followed up on its promises on labor rights and human rights. Last year H&M released a statement defending its progress, stating it only produced in factories that met standards required under the legally binding Bangladesh Accord and it was working to address safety concerns in its factories.
However, the company conceded that it experienced delays in upgrade work due to problems in deliveries of upgraded fire doors and sprinklers as well as a heavy workload for Accord inspection experts. H&M has contracts with 1,900 factories that employ 1.6 million workers. There are 4,100 H&M stores worldwide and another are 400 due to open this year.