A 20-year-old youth died after an oven exploded in a biscuit factory in Dhaka's Kodomtoli Thursday, police said. Md Mozammel, from Sylhet's Habiganj, was working with the oven when it exploded at 9:30pm, his colleague Azhar said. "He received serious injuries to his face and head." Mozammel was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he was declared dead at 10:15pm, Bachchu Mia, in-charge of the police outpost at the hospital, said. The body has been kept at the DMCH morgue for autopsy, he added. Read more: Two suffer burn injuries in N'ganj AC explosion  

A fire broke out at a pesticide factory inside Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) industrial area in Savar’s Dhamrai early Saturday. The fire broke out on the 3rd floor of the four-storey Bangladesh Agricultural Industry around 4:45 am and spread soon, said Mahfuz Ahmed, a fire service official. On information, nine firefighting units rushed to the spot and had the fire under control around 8:40 am. Also read: Maldives fire: Identitties of Bangladeshi victims confirmed However, ten people were injured while trying to douse the fire, said “A probe has been ordered to find out the cause behind the fire,” he said.  

Goods worth Tk 15 crore were gutted in a fire that broke out at Prime Print and Packaging Factory in the Rohitpur Industrial Area of Keraniganj on Friday night, officials said on Saturday. It took two-and-a-half hours for seven fire tenders to douse the flames, said Mamun-ur-Rashid, officer-in-charge of Keraniganj police station. According to Mohsin Sarker, the owner of the factory, not only raw materials but machineries and the two-storey factory building were also damaged in the fire. Azizur Rahman, deputy assistant director (DAD) of Fire Service Headquarters, zone-5, said they came to know about the fire at 11.45pm and soon reached the spot.   Read: Gazipur yarn godown fire under control “Initially we suspected that the fire originated from one of the machines. The exact reason behind the fire will be known after an investigation,” said Azizur.

At least 10 workers sustained burn injuries as a fire broke out in a readymade garment factory in Gazipur's Kaliakair Monday. The blaze started at Nur Group's Rayan Textile in Chandra just one week after another fire accident at the same factory. The fire originated at a fabric warehouse on the 4th floor of the factory and spread like a wildfire, Gazipur Fire Service Deputy Assistant Director Md Abdul Hamid said. Five firefighting units from Joydebpur, Kaliakair, and Kashimpur responded, and could get the blaze under control after one and a half hours. READ: Fire at Gazipur pharma factory "A few workers got injured while trying to douse the flames. They were sent to Kaliakair Upazila Health Complex," Abdul Hamid said. "The extent of damage from the fire could not be confirmed immediately. Also, the reasons for the fire mishap could not be known," he added.

Police have  arrested the owner of an unauthorized fireworks factory in Mymensingh where an explosion killed two female workers on Wednesday.  The arrestee is  Md Borhan Uddin, 50, said Mukta Dhar, special superintendent of police, in a press briefing held at CID headquarters on Saturday.  The arrest was made from Brahmanbaria during a drive on Friday night, she said.  The arrestee is the prime accused in two cases filed under the Explosive Substances Act and the Penal Code at Nandail police station in Mymensingh over the incident.  READ: Explosion at Indian fireworks factory kills at least 22 On Wednesday, Nasima Aktar,30 and Afia Khatun,45, were killed in an explosion around 6:30 am while working at the factory located at South Bashati Chondipasha area.  Primary interrogation revealed, Borhan was illegally producing fireworks at the factory for the last 20 years and used to supply them to nearby local shops. “50 workers used to work in the factory on rotation basis. Deceased worker Nasima had been working there for one and a half year and Afia for just four months,” said SSP Mukta Dhar. 

A fire broke that out in a polythene manufacturing factory at Koylar Ghat in the city’s Kamrangirchar on Thursday was brought under control. The fire started around 4:30 pm. Also read: Mirpur building catches fire, 3 burn injured Four firefighting units immediately rushed to the spot and managed to control the flames after one and half an hour, said Md Shahjahan Shikdar, Deputy assistant director (media cell) of Fire Service and Civil Defence. The origin of the fire is yet to be known, he said. No casualties were reported. Also read: Moving car catches fire in Dhaka

A fire that broke out on Saturday afternoon at a shoe factory near Kajla Mridha Baria area at Jatrbari in the city has been brought under control. READ: 60-yr-old Bangladeshi woman dies in Kolkata guest house fire Six units of fire tenders from Postogola and Demra fire stations managed to bring the flames under control after over one hour of frantic effort at 3:35 pm, said Md Shahjahan Shikdar, Deputy assistant director (media cell) of Fire Service and Civil Defence. No casualties have been reported and the origin of the fire is yet to be known, he said.

A fire that broke out at a garment factory at Modonpur in Bondor upazila of Narayanganj on Friday afternoon has been brought under control after around five hours. The fire started around 4:30 pm at three two-storey buildings of Zaheen Knitwears Ltd at Modonpur Sonargaon road, said Shahjahan Shikder, Deputy Assistant Director (media cell) of the Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters. READ: 70-year old woman dies in fire in Chandpur On information, 13 units of firefighters rushed to the spot and brought the blaze under control after five hours of frantic efforts at 9pm, he added. The origin of the fire could not be known yet, Shahjahan said. Abdullah Al Arefin, deputy assistant director of Narayanganj Fire Service and Civil Defense, said the fire spread quickly around 5pm and 10 units of different fire stations of the district started working for extinguishing the blaze at first. Later, three more units joined the extinguishing work. READ: Fire at BSMMU doused Since the factory was closed today, no workers were inside. No casualties have been reported yet, he added. Meanwhile, the fire disrupted vehicular movement on a few kilometers of the Dhaka-Chattogram highway. The vehicular movement resumed on the highway after 9 pm.

A fire that broke out in an apparel factory near Lal Masjid at Shyampur of Postogola in the city was doused early Sunday. The fire started on the third floor of  the seven-storey building of Alam Garments at 11:45pm on Saturday, said Shahjahan Sikder, deputy assistant director (media cell) of Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters. READ:  Fire at apparel factory in Postogola; 8 Fire Service units fighting flames "Firefighters rushed to the spot within 13 minutes. Eight firefighting units brought the flames under control," he added. The fire was brought under control around 2.20 am and doused at 5.15 on Sunday. READ: N'ganj godown fire under control Duty officer at the Fire Service and Civil Defense headquarters control room Nazma Begum said that a short circuit caused the fire.

A total of 222 garment factories across the country, of which 66 per cent are export oriented—have confronted fire incidents during 2020. Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a social think-tank, found this in its latest study that also revealed that the number of injured workers in factory related accidents increased by almost 24 per cent in 2020 compared to that of in 2019. CPD Research Director Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem disclosed the findings on Sunday while presenting the study report at a virtual dialogue on “Challenges of Industrial Safety in the Post-Accord-Alliance Era: Is the Institutionalisation Process Slowing Down?” Also read: ILO saddened by Rupganj factory fire, urges proper safety measures in factories  The virtual seminar, jointly organised the CPD and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Bangladesh, was also addressed by CPD Chairman Dr Rehman Siobhan, organisation’s distinguished fellow Prof Mustafizur Rahman, Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun, President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Faruque Hassan, President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporter Association (BKMEA) Vice President Mohammad Hatem, Inspector General of Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment (DIFE) Md Nasir Uddin, Chief Technical Advisor of International Labour Organisation (ILO) George Faller, garment labour leaders Babul Aktar, China Rahman and Executive Director of Karmajibi Nabi Sanjida Sultana, and Brac official Jenefa Jabber.   Treasurer of CPD Board of Trustee and Apex Group CE0 Syed Monzur Elahi moderated the function. Dr Moazzem said the issue of workplace safety in the RMG sector has come to public attention in recent times with the rise in industrial accidents in garment and allied factories. Also read:Locked inside a factory without fire exit, 52 lives go up in flames He said the rising number of accidents raises question about the effectiveness of the institutional process followed for maintaining industrial safety in the post-Accord-Alliance period. He also claimed that the number of incidences increased by 100 per cent in FY2020 compared to that in FY2019 followed by a decline of 20 per cent in FY2021 (up to April, 2021). “Accidents took place for different reasons such as fire, short circuit, structural collapse, boiler explosion and so on”, he said adding the incidences of fire and electrical (short-circuit) were the main reasons (35% of total incidences). Citing the example of latest fires incident at Sezan Juice Industries at Rupganj, this has been an eye opener for the all concerned stakeholders that it puts an extra importance to look at the working environment at other industrial sectors beside the garment industries.  Dr Rehman Sobhan said now time has come to pay attention to improvement of the working environment in other industries as well for the sake ensuring workers’ safety.  Speakers from garment workers’ leaders blamed the lack of the government’s proper monitoring for growing incidents of fire and other accidents for which the workers are being the main victims.  “We’ve been hearing the same statement from the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment (DIFE) in last eight years since the Rana Plaza Disaster in 2013 that it has no adequate manpower to monitor industries“, said China Rahman. Citing the fire incident at Sezan Juice Factory in Rupganj that killed 52 workers, she said during the incident, gates were locked up although there was strict directive that no gate of factory can be locked during working hour.        Babul Aktar said the primary responsibility of any industry should go to the factory owners first and then to the government.  He said always the DIFE shows the lame excuse of manpower shortage for its failure to do its duty.    Inspector General of DIFE said the department has a sanctioned post of 993 while inspectors’ post is 575 and now only 314 inspectors are working against those post to oversee over registered 90,000 factories and 440,000 non-registered factories.