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Article

19 Sep 2012

Author:
Declan Walshh & Steven Greenhouse, New York Times

Inspectors Certified Pakistani Factory as Safe Before Disaster [Pakistan]

…[T]wo inspectors who visited the factory, Ali Enterprises in Karachi, to examine working conditions gave it a prestigious SA8000 certification, meaning it had met international standards in nine areas, including health and safety, child labor and minimum wages. The two inspectors were working on behalf of Social Accountability International…Weeks later, a fire swept the plant…trapping hundreds of workers in a building with barred windows and just one open exit…some workers were forced to leap from upper-floor windows, suffering serious injuries; many more died of smoke inhalation and from searing temperatures inside the building...Social Accountability International said it had suspended work in Pakistan with the RINA Group, an Italian company that carried out the Ali Enterprises audit on its behalf…so far just one of its Western customers has come forward publicly…KiK…a company spokeswoman told European labor rights activists that it had obtained three independent audits of Ali Enterprises…KiK said it had started a relief fund for the families of the dead and injured.