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"Garment worker killed in Bangladesh factory blast", 12 December 2019

A fire at a sweater factory in Bangladesh that supplies fashion retailers including Next and H&M has resulted in one death and left several others injured. Local press reports say the [gas heater] explosion occurred at the Natural Sweater Village knitwear factory in the Gouripur area of Ashulia, near the capital Dhaka... on 10 December...

A spokesperson for Next [said]... the factory was compliant with Next safety standards and was last inspected in June 2019. It had also been inspected by the Bangladesh Accord engineers before the explosion, and it was compliant with their standards...

H&M [said]... "We are deeply sorry to hear about the tragic accident... The Accord is in charge of the investigation and our team in Bangladesh is monitoring the situation closely..."

Boiler safety at Bangladesh ready-made-garment (RMG) factories remains a major issue... an investigation commissioned by Bangladesh Accord signatories [found]...