Questions about the West's use of cheap overseas factories

Updated April 26, 2013 19:23:00

Survivors continue to be pulled from the rubble of a building collapse in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka. The eight-storey building that housed five garment factories collapsed with thousands of workers inside.

Source: PM | Duration: 4min 17sec

Topics: workplace, death, emergency-incidents, occupational-health-and-safety, bangladesh


MARK BANNERMAN: Survivors continue to be pulled from the rubble of a building collapse in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka.

The eight storey building that housed five garment factories collapsed with thousands of workers inside. But despite the devastation, rescue teams are still finding survivors and there have been some remarkable tales of survival.

Questions are now being asked about the ethics of Western companies using these factories to produce low-cost clothing.

I spoke with the ABC's South Asia correspondent Michael Edwards a short time ago and I asked him how many survivors had been dragged from the wreckage in the past few hours.

Well one of the few good stories to come out of this is that rescuers found one room where 40 people were found alive. They were able to get to these people and pull them out. Now people...

MARK BANNERMAN: Forty people?

MICHAEL EDWARDS: Forty people in one room, which had obviously been spared the debris coming right in on top of it, so that was quite a find.

They're still dropping bottles of water down to some of the survivors and some of the survivors are still talking to the rescuers but there are hundreds of people still missing in this building and the chances for them are eroding as every minute goes by.

MARK BANNERMAN: So what happened when they got the 40 out? That must have been an extraordinary moment.

MICHAEL EDWARDS: It was, yeah. The rescuers were elated with that, and there were reports of people cheering, and as I said it's one of the few good news stories that's come out of this tragedy.

MARK BANNERMAN: So with these people down there, that they're lowering water down to them and perhaps some sustenance, I mean, what is the equipment that they're using? Is it possible that they're going to get them out or will we see further collapses?

MICHAEL EDWARDS: Well presumably these people are quite near to the surface of the rubble. They have some sophisticated equipment there. They've got cutting tools and they've got drilling machines, but the structure is so volatile and there's obviously the risk that there'll be more collapses within the structure already.

So as time goes by, tomorrow they're suspecting that they might have to call off the rescue operation and bring in the heavy earth moving equipment.

MARK BANNERMAN: So at that point it just becomes - all bets are off. Basically if you're in the rubble, that is probably the end of you.

MICHAEL EDWARDS: Yeah, they suspect by tomorrow it'll be very hard to find people who are still alive. And sadly, if they have managed to survive they obviously cannot get their voices heard so rescuers don't know how to locate them because they're trapped so deep in the rubble.

MARK BANNERMAN: That's an awful situation. There have been some demonstrations taking place, we've had reports of. What can you tell us about those demonstrations?

MICHAEL EDWARDS: Yeah these demonstrations are getting increasingly volatile. Thousands of garment workers have converged in the centre of Dhaka to protest about the working conditions in the garment industry. Police have had to fire rubber bullets and they're having to employ a greater level of force to keep them under control. There are four million people who are employed in the garment industry and terrible accidents such as this one are not uncommon. So there's a lot of anger there.

MARK BANNERMAN: So the police are taking a very strict line with them. There's no slack cut here at all for the emotional situation. They're using force.

MICHAEL EDWARDS: Yeah, it doesn't seem to be. They've had quite a bit of unrest due to political reasons recently in Bangladesh as well, so I imagine nerves are quite frayed on both sides of the fence in this dispute.

MARK BANNERMAN: Okay. Now what about Western companies that profit from these sweatshops. Has there been any reaction or discussion or the possibility of regulation?

MICHAEL EDWARDS: Well the industry is supposed to be regulated. The Bangladeshi government has a series of building safety laws and safety codes for garment industries. The problem is though, is that lots of the factories do not adhere to these codes and many of the buildings are built illegally in the first place so they're very haphazardly put up.

So Western companies are supposedly, supposedly using guidelines to deal with these Bangladeshi companies but the problem happens when the companies themselves, the Bangladeshi factories don't abide by them. And there seems to be very few systems in place for Western companies to keep track of these factories and how they operate.

MARK BANNERMAN: South Asia correspondent Michael Edwards joining me.