Rashida Begum worked in a garment factory in Bangladesh until it collapsed on top of her this week with "a bang like a bomb blast." "I tried to hide under the sewing machine and I don't know how I got out of the building," she said from hospital. Many of her colleagues were less fortunate at the Rana Plaza building in Savar, 25 kilometres north-west of Dhaka.
As the death toll climbed past 175 from the accident on Thursday, questions resurfaced about the quality and safety of buildings in Bangladesh, where clothing factories provide the bulk of export income, and low costs are essential to keeping the country competitive.
The problem is not so much a lack of regulations as their flouting, experts say. Plans are signed off unseen, inspectors are bought off, and corners are cut, with sometimes fatal consequences. When things go wrong, offenders are rarely brought to book, said Sultan Uddin Ahmed, director of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies.
"We forget very quickly and those who are responsible for such accidents are never brought to justice," he told dpa. Had the owner of Tazreen Fashon factory, where 112 people were killed in a fire in November, been arrested and brought to justice, the case might have proved a deterrent to others, he said.
The labour law clearly attributes responsibility for workers' safety, but no one has been convicted for any of the 450 deaths in factory fires across the country since 1990, he said. The lack of punishment has led to a feeling of impunity among builders and factory operators, he said. In other accidents, 64 people were killed when the Spectrum Sweater factory collapsed in 2005 in Savar, a suburb 25 kilometres north-west of the capital. At least 22 people died when the Phoenix Textile building in Dhaka collapsed in 2006.
Costs are reduced by using cheaper steel for beams, or by cutting the cement used for concrete with more sand, a development expert with many years' experience in Bangladesh said. "The building shortcuts are planned in from the beginning," he said. "And if an inspector should pass by, he's palmed off with a bit of money." This thrift, combined with a lack of expertise in multi-storey construction, makes for dangerous buildings, he said.
"I'm surprised more don't collapse, given how they build them." In their defence, authorities say they are stretched thin. Local units simply do not have enough professionals to inspect every building for safety, said Emdadul Islam, chief engineer of Dhaka's development authority. "Local authorities have noengineers, surveyors or architects to inspect standards of the buildings," he said. "They only sign off the plans. There is no one to ensure the standards," he told local media hours after Wednesday's accident in Savar.
The lack of monitoring has been criticised by the Clean Clothes Campaign, a group fighting to raise awareness of the conditions under which a large proportion of the West's clothes are made. The group's most recent report condemned the lack of inspection of factory buildings and conditions in Bangladesh, adding that corruption and nepotism are widespread.
Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir went on Thursday called for a thorough investigation of the most recent collapse, and legal action against those responsible. Witnesses told local media that cracks in the building appeared a day earlier, prompting authorities to send all the occupants home. The factories were reopened the next day, reportedly against official advice. Police have said the building's owner, Sohel Rahan, has been accused of skimping on construction materials, and the factory managers of negligence. No details were immediately available of any action against Rahan, who is also a local leader of the ruling Awami League party.
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