Winnipegger chosen to improve safety in Bangladesh garment factories

WINNIPEG — It’s been six months since a garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed, killing thousands. Now a Winnipeg fire protection expert is preparing for his trip there as part of an effort to enforce building code standards.

Brad Loewen started years ago as a volunteer firefighter in Steinbach and in December, he will head to Bangladesh to improve safety for the workers manufacturing clothes for more than 100 name brands.

“Every morning when I wake up I think, ‘Wow, that’s a big task,’ ” he said of being appointed the chief safety inspector for the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. The accord is a five-year agreement between the government, unions and clothing brands.

“It really is just do what I can as one person in a very big picture and to try and improve the working conditions for the garment workers, primarily women and children in Bangladesh,” said Loewen. “It seems to me that some gains, hopefully large, but certainly smaller, are very possible.”

Jenny Holdcroft, policy director for Industriall Global Union, the group that signed the accord on behalf of the workers, said Loewen will form a team of inspectors to enforce the standards set out by the group.

“There’s a massive capacity issue in Bangladesh — there are not enough safety inspectors,” she said. “There is a certain degree of corruption that must also be shed, and there’s many things that can be improved. The safety standards, most experts seem to agree, there is enough that can be worked with there.”

Loewen’s experience as a fire protection engineer and fire inspector helped snag him the role he admits will be challenging.

“We’re in the neighbourhood of somewhere around 1,750 factories and our goal is to have an initial inspection of all those by next summer,” he said. “So we need to be doing about 300 a month for the next six months to achieve that goal.”