Analysis - 'Sitting above a bomb': Bangladesh's missed fire-safety lessons
By Krishna N. Das and Ruma Paul
© Reuters/AL MAHMUD BSFILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from the spot after a massive fire broke out in an inland container depot at Sitakunda, near the port city Chittagong
DHAKA (Reuters) - A deadly fire at a container depot in Bangladesh has laid bare the dangers still facing millions of the country's workers a decade after a series of tragedies in the export-focussed garment industry spurred a safety revolution.
Intense scrutiny of Bangladesh and the major international clothing retailers that rely on it for supplies has helped prevent further disasters in the garment sector since a fire in 2012 and a building collapse in 2013 together killed more than 1,200 workers.
But in other industries, mainly catering to Bangladesh's booming domestic economy and without an equal emphasis on safety, hundreds have died in fires in recent years.
At least 41 people burned to death in a depot blaze that erupted on Saturday and has yet to be extinguished. Nearby containers loaded with chemicals pose a risk of further life-threatening explosions.
Bangladesh saw its last major garments factory fire in early 2017 in which six workers were killed. But fires in other commercial settings or factories, making everything from fans to fruit juices, have killed at least 200 since then and injured many more, according to a Reuters count.
"The safety is more in the garments sector than in other industries because there is an international compliance-monitoring system, and no compliance means no orders," said Jewel Das, general secretary of the Bangladesh Association of Fire Consultants that works with the government on fire audits.
"But in other sectors, there is no international monitoring system and the national monitoring system is not strong."
Unlike established garment businesses which have their power systems including diesel generators located away from their factories, many other units are built right on top of their power sources.
"Because most fires start from the electrical systems, it's like sitting above a bomb," Das said.
He said many non-garment factories also lack fire-safety measures like the segregation of flammable materials, maintenance of fire-escape routes and clear demarcation of assembly areas in the densely populated country of more than 160 million.
Monir Hossain, a senior official at Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence who was inspecting chemicals and fire standards at the depot, agreed that oversight was weak in most other industries. He feared not much would change even after the latest disaster.
"A lot has been done to improve the safety conditions in garments but other sectors still remain out of scrutiny," said Hossain.
"When something happens, there are investigations but after some time, we all forget that. Then another incident happens."
At the container depot, he said even basic fire-safety measures were missing. There were only a handful of fire extinguishers, he said, at a site storing everything from clothes to chemicals.
'NO COMPULSION, NO COMPLIANCE'
The world woke up to Bangladesh's hazardous factory conditions in 2012 when a fire at Tazreen Fashions, which made goods for Walmart Inc and Sears Holdings, killed 112 workers.
The disaster was followed by the collapse of the eight-story Rana Plaza a year later, killing 1,135 garment workers and triggering a wave of public outrage around the world about the human cost of cheap clothes.
This prompted global retailers, foreign governments and international agencies like the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) to act to help the world's second-largest garments industry improve safety and labour conditions.
The IFC said it had established a five-year, $40 million credit facility for local banks to help garments and related factories upgrade their structural, electrical, and fire safety standards.
No similar arrangements are in place for other industries which have mushroomed as the economy has grown much faster than in many other countries in the past decade.
The International Labour Organization said it was working with Bangladesh's fire, factories and other departments to improve safety across the economy.
"The lessons learned from the garment sector should be channelled towards focused interventions in other sectors based on hazards and risk to health and safety," it said.
"An effective national industrial and enterprise safety framework as well as enforcement and training system is needed in Bangladesh."
Ali Ahmed Khan, who was the chief of the fire department until a few years ago, said Bangladesh now needs to focus on the small and medium-sized industries if it wants to stop a recurrence of deadly fires.
He said industries like leather goods, pharmaceuticals and plastic goods were stepping up exports but were not fully compliant with fire-safety rules.
"Unless there is a compulsion, people will not comply," he said.
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi and Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Editing by Toby Chopra)
By Krishna N. Das and Ruma Paul
© Reuters/AL MAHMUD BSFILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from the spot after a massive fire broke out in an inland container depot at Sitakunda, near the port city Chittagong
DHAKA (Reuters) - A deadly fire at a container depot in Bangladesh has laid bare the dangers still facing millions of the country's workers a decade after a series of tragedies in the export-focussed garment industry spurred a safety revolution.
Intense scrutiny of Bangladesh and the major international clothing retailers that rely on it for supplies has helped prevent further disasters in the garment sector since a fire in 2012 and a building collapse in 2013 together killed more than 1,200 workers.
But in other industries, mainly catering to Bangladesh's booming domestic economy and without an equal emphasis on safety, hundreds have died in fires in recent years.
At least 41 people burned to death in a depot blaze that erupted on Saturday and has yet to be extinguished. Nearby containers loaded with chemicals pose a risk of further life-threatening explosions.
Bangladesh saw its last major garments factory fire in early 2017 in which six workers were killed. But fires in other commercial settings or factories, making everything from fans to fruit juices, have killed at least 200 since then and injured many more, according to a Reuters count.
"The safety is more in the garments sector than in other industries because there is an international compliance-monitoring system, and no compliance means no orders," said Jewel Das, general secretary of the Bangladesh Association of Fire Consultants that works with the government on fire audits.
"But in other sectors, there is no international monitoring system and the national monitoring system is not strong."
Unlike established garment businesses which have their power systems including diesel generators located away from their factories, many other units are built right on top of their power sources.
"Because most fires start from the electrical systems, it's like sitting above a bomb," Das said.
He said many non-garment factories also lack fire-safety measures like the segregation of flammable materials, maintenance of fire-escape routes and clear demarcation of assembly areas in the densely populated country of more than 160 million.
Monir Hossain, a senior official at Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence who was inspecting chemicals and fire standards at the depot, agreed that oversight was weak in most other industries. He feared not much would change even after the latest disaster.
"A lot has been done to improve the safety conditions in garments but other sectors still remain out of scrutiny," said Hossain.
"When something happens, there are investigations but after some time, we all forget that. Then another incident happens."
At the container depot, he said even basic fire-safety measures were missing. There were only a handful of fire extinguishers, he said, at a site storing everything from clothes to chemicals.
'NO COMPULSION, NO COMPLIANCE'
The world woke up to Bangladesh's hazardous factory conditions in 2012 when a fire at Tazreen Fashions, which made goods for Walmart Inc and Sears Holdings, killed 112 workers.
The disaster was followed by the collapse of the eight-story Rana Plaza a year later, killing 1,135 garment workers and triggering a wave of public outrage around the world about the human cost of cheap clothes.
This prompted global retailers, foreign governments and international agencies like the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) to act to help the world's second-largest garments industry improve safety and labour conditions.
The IFC said it had established a five-year, $40 million credit facility for local banks to help garments and related factories upgrade their structural, electrical, and fire safety standards.
No similar arrangements are in place for other industries which have mushroomed as the economy has grown much faster than in many other countries in the past decade.
The International Labour Organization said it was working with Bangladesh's fire, factories and other departments to improve safety across the economy.
"The lessons learned from the garment sector should be channelled towards focused interventions in other sectors based on hazards and risk to health and safety," it said.
"An effective national industrial and enterprise safety framework as well as enforcement and training system is needed in Bangladesh."
Ali Ahmed Khan, who was the chief of the fire department until a few years ago, said Bangladesh now needs to focus on the small and medium-sized industries if it wants to stop a recurrence of deadly fires.
He said industries like leather goods, pharmaceuticals and plastic goods were stepping up exports but were not fully compliant with fire-safety rules.
"Unless there is a compulsion, people will not comply," he said.
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi and Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Editing by Toby Chopra)
AFP Published June 6, 2022 -
This picture, taken on June 5, 2022, shows smoke billowing after a fire broke out at a container storage facility in Sitakunda, about 40 km from the key port of Chittagong in Bangladesh. — AFP
Bangladesh authorities accused a container depot operator on Monday of not telling firefighters about a chemical stockpile before it exploded with devastating consequences, killing at least 49 people — nine of them from the fire service.
The toll from the giant blast, which followed a fire at the BM Container Depot in Sitakunda and sent fireballs into the sky, was expected to rise further.
Some containers at the depot were still smouldering on Monday, more than 36 hours after the explosion, preventing rescuers from checking the area around them for victims.
Around a dozen of the 300 injured were in critical condition.
The nine dead firefighters are the worst toll ever for the fire department in the industrial-accident-prone country, where safety standards are lax and corruption often enables them to be ignored.
“The depot authority did not inform us that there were deadly chemicals there. Nine of our officers were killed. Two fighters are still missing. Several people are also missing,” fire department official Mohammad Kamruzzaman told AFP.
Purnachandra Mutsuddi, who led the fire-fighting effort at the 26-acre facility on Saturday night, said it “didn't have any fire safety plan” and lacked firefighting equipment to douse the blaze before it turned into an inferno.
“The safety plan lays out how the depot will fight and control a fire. But there was nothing,” Mutsuddi, an assistant director of the Chittagong fire station, told AFP.
“They also did not inform us about the chemicals. If they did, the casualties would have been much less,” he said.
The BM Container Depot in Sitakunda, an industrial town 40 kilometres from Chittagong Port, is a joint venture between Bangladeshi and Dutch businessmen with around 600 employees, and began operations in 2012.
Its chairman is named on its website as Bert Pronk, a Dutch citizen, but AFP was unable to reach him for comment. Few European businessmen operate in the country.
Local newspapers said another of its owners is a senior official of the ruling Awami League party based in Chittagong, who is also the editor of a local Bengali daily.
Police have yet to lay charges over the fire. “Our investigation is going on. We will look into everything,” said local police chief Abul Kalam Azad.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed grief over the loss of lives in the incident and extended his condolences to the people of Bangladesh.
“Sad to hear about the loss of precious lives in a fire incident in Bangladesh. My heartfelt condolences & most sincere sympathies are with the government and people of Bangladesh,” he said in a tweet.
'Falling like rain'
Wisps of smoke rose into the bright morning sky from dozens of 20-foot containers at the depot on Monday.
“Some 30 to 40 containers are still smouldering,” said fire department inspector Harunur Rashid. “Fire is under control. But chemicals are main problems.”
Once the flames are entirely out, rescuers will search the area for more victims, he said.
Mujibur Rahman, a director of BM Container Depot, said the cause of the initial fire remained unknown.
The container depot held hydrogen peroxide, according to fire service chief Brigadier General Main Uddin, and witnesses said the entire town shook when the chemicals exploded.
“The explosion sent fireballs into the sky,” said Mohammad Ali, 60, who runs a nearby grocery store. “Fireballs were falling like rain.
“We were so afraid we immediately left our home to find refuge,” he added. “We thought the fire would spread to our locality as it is very densely populated.”
Elias Chowdhury, the chief doctor in Chittagong, said doctors at multiple hospitals had been called back from holidays to help treat the hundreds of injured.
Around 90 per cent of Bangladesh's roughly 100 billion dollars in trade — including clothes for H&M, Walmart and others — passes through the Chittagong port at the top of the Bay of Bengal.
Rakibul Alam Chowdhury from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said that about 110 million dollars worth of garments were destroyed in the fire.
“It is a huge loss for the industry,” he said.
Bangladesh authorities accused a container depot operator on Monday of not telling firefighters about a chemical stockpile before it exploded with devastating consequences, killing at least 49 people — nine of them from the fire service.
The toll from the giant blast, which followed a fire at the BM Container Depot in Sitakunda and sent fireballs into the sky, was expected to rise further.
Some containers at the depot were still smouldering on Monday, more than 36 hours after the explosion, preventing rescuers from checking the area around them for victims.
Around a dozen of the 300 injured were in critical condition.
The nine dead firefighters are the worst toll ever for the fire department in the industrial-accident-prone country, where safety standards are lax and corruption often enables them to be ignored.
“The depot authority did not inform us that there were deadly chemicals there. Nine of our officers were killed. Two fighters are still missing. Several people are also missing,” fire department official Mohammad Kamruzzaman told AFP.
Purnachandra Mutsuddi, who led the fire-fighting effort at the 26-acre facility on Saturday night, said it “didn't have any fire safety plan” and lacked firefighting equipment to douse the blaze before it turned into an inferno.
“The safety plan lays out how the depot will fight and control a fire. But there was nothing,” Mutsuddi, an assistant director of the Chittagong fire station, told AFP.
“They also did not inform us about the chemicals. If they did, the casualties would have been much less,” he said.
The BM Container Depot in Sitakunda, an industrial town 40 kilometres from Chittagong Port, is a joint venture between Bangladeshi and Dutch businessmen with around 600 employees, and began operations in 2012.
Its chairman is named on its website as Bert Pronk, a Dutch citizen, but AFP was unable to reach him for comment. Few European businessmen operate in the country.
Local newspapers said another of its owners is a senior official of the ruling Awami League party based in Chittagong, who is also the editor of a local Bengali daily.
Police have yet to lay charges over the fire. “Our investigation is going on. We will look into everything,” said local police chief Abul Kalam Azad.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed grief over the loss of lives in the incident and extended his condolences to the people of Bangladesh.
“Sad to hear about the loss of precious lives in a fire incident in Bangladesh. My heartfelt condolences & most sincere sympathies are with the government and people of Bangladesh,” he said in a tweet.
'Falling like rain'
Wisps of smoke rose into the bright morning sky from dozens of 20-foot containers at the depot on Monday.
“Some 30 to 40 containers are still smouldering,” said fire department inspector Harunur Rashid. “Fire is under control. But chemicals are main problems.”
Once the flames are entirely out, rescuers will search the area for more victims, he said.
Mujibur Rahman, a director of BM Container Depot, said the cause of the initial fire remained unknown.
The container depot held hydrogen peroxide, according to fire service chief Brigadier General Main Uddin, and witnesses said the entire town shook when the chemicals exploded.
“The explosion sent fireballs into the sky,” said Mohammad Ali, 60, who runs a nearby grocery store. “Fireballs were falling like rain.
“We were so afraid we immediately left our home to find refuge,” he added. “We thought the fire would spread to our locality as it is very densely populated.”
Elias Chowdhury, the chief doctor in Chittagong, said doctors at multiple hospitals had been called back from holidays to help treat the hundreds of injured.
Around 90 per cent of Bangladesh's roughly 100 billion dollars in trade — including clothes for H&M, Walmart and others — passes through the Chittagong port at the top of the Bay of Bengal.
Rakibul Alam Chowdhury from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said that about 110 million dollars worth of garments were destroyed in the fire.
“It is a huge loss for the industry,” he said.
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