Around 850 factories in Bangladesh remain at extreme risk of fire, electrical, and structural hazards, as a nationwide safety initiative has been stalled for the past two years due to poor coordination and lack of institutional will.
The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida) led inspections of over 10,000 factories after the deadly 2021 Hashem Foods fire, identifying 2,245 risky units, including 848 highly risky ones. Yet, progress on corrective actions has been minimal.
Bida, which coordinated the multi-agency programme involving the labour ministry, fire service, and others, has now withdrawn from the role, saying it lacks manpower and mandate.
Officials say most unsafe factories are local, non-export-oriented units. Labour leaders blame the government for inaction, citing corruption and poor accountability in monitoring agencies.
Plans to inspect 2,900 more factories have also stalled, raising fears that the number of unsafe factories could increase further amid a recent rise in industrial fires.
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