A fire broke out at Tazreen Fashions, Nischintapur, Ashulia, Dhaka, Bangladesh on the night of November 24, 2012. The factory employed more than 1200 workers almost 95% of whom were females. The annual turnover of the factory was over USD 36 million. The major buyers include Walmart, KIK GMBH, Teddy Smith Ace, C&A, Li & Fung, Infinity Women, Karl Rieker, Carrefour, Dickies, Ikea etc. The fire resulted in the deaths of 111 workers and more than 300 workers were injured. This accident created an uproar against the existing work conditions in the RMG sector globally. Walmart cancelled its import contract with this factory considering its inadequate occupational safety measures. There were multiple investigations undertaken by the government and the garment association (BGMEA – Bangladesh garment Manufacture and Export Association) which termed the fire as “pre-planned” and sabotage.
The Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE) carried out an independent investigation into the incident to highlight the root causes and failures resulting in the large number of deaths and injuries in the incident. The team conducted field investigations, visited the factory site, met the workers and victims of the factory, met government officials and other Stakeholders. The findings of the report were presented during a multi-stake holder consultation on “Safe Work at Garments Factories in Bangladesh: Lesson Learned from Tazreen Fire Accidents- Challenges and Way Forward” held at the CIRDAP Auditorium, Dhaka on January 7, 2013. A large number of people from different trade unions, NGOs, government agencies, victims, media, academics etc were present during the discussions.
AMRC and ANROEV wrote a report based on the ground realities we saw in Bangladesh based on the consultation and the site visit to the factory site. Both reports are avaliable for download below