TORONTO – More than a dozen garment factories in Bangladesh have been closed for security reasons in the wake of a building collapse housing five garment factories that left over 800 people dead.
According to reports, textile minister Abdul Latif Siddique said 16 factories in Dhaka and two in Chittagong have been ordered to close. Siddique told reporters the government will shut down any plant deemed unsafe by inspection.
Authorities are still digging through the rubble of the Rana Plaza building in search of bodies two weeks after the eight-story building collapsed.
Read more: In wake of Bangladesh collapse, labour activists hope for a consumer shift
Officials say the building’s owner illegally added three floors and allowed the garment factories to install heavy machines and generators, even though it was designed as a market and an office building.
Bangladesh is now facing heightened pressure to enforce stricter safety measures from the European Union, the United States, and the International Labour Union.
The chief executive of Canada’s Loblaw Inc., which owns the Joe Fresh clothing line that was being made in Rana Plaza, decried the response of “deafening silence” from what he said were more than two dozen other international retailers who used garment factories in the collapsed building.
Loblaw announced on Thursday that it will include the structural integrity of buildings in future audits of suppliers as a result of the collapse.
“We must do a better job to enforce the safety of workers producing our products in Bangladesh and around the world,” said Joe Mimran, who founded the Joe Fresh brand.
For the latest on the Bangladesh building collapse, click here
With files from The Associated Press
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