Continuing Hiccup
Not even a fortnight has gone since the fire tragedy in a garment factory in the city that another flare-up has been reported. Though no casualties were reported, Saturday's fire at the godown of Seraj Apparel could have very easily turned into a killer inferno as it had happened in the case of another factory in the same locality on July 16 . It would be some time before the causes of the fire are known or more likely, nobody would bother to dwell on it for "its failure to be a news at the cost of human lives". But the fact of the matter is that time is ripe for reviewing the safety measures in the garments factories. Having commented unfailingly in this column about the appalling structural flaws of these factories, the foundational edifices of our export industry, we take this opportunity to press home the urgency of bolstering the safety measures. Although it is yet to be known what caused Saturday's fire that despite its innocuous nature required an hour's work of the fire fighters to be put down, it is quite possible to imagine what went wrong. Probably short circuit, a common problem occurring due to patchily done work in networking power supply was behind the fire. We believe if only the factory owners take the common hazards of a collective working place into active consideration and accordingly, observe the safety measures strictly, incidence of fire can be greatly scaled down. It is simply a matter of awareness put to use. We wonder what the government, BGMEA and all concerned in this industry are doing in order to bury the fire fear once for all. Whatever is being mooted in this connection, needs to be implemented soon so that we do not have to be witness to more tragedies due to human callousness.
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