Seeking to ensure compliance of safety norms at workplace, the readymade garment (RMG) industry of Pakistan is looking to associate with some reliable global firm engaging in issuance of safety certifications, which can perform audit of safety policies of its member firms.
Pakistan Readymade Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) is negotiating with some of the international compliance certification companies to engage them for carrying out safety audit of association members, PRGMEA Central Chairman Sajid Saleem Minhas said while speaking at the association’s central executive committee meeting.
He said PRGMEA now aims to ensure 100 percent compliance of safety norms by its members to avert reoccurrence of any unfortunate incident like the fire incident at a garment factory in Karachi, which took hundreds of lives, and raised concerns of global buyers over credibility of Pakistani apparel manufacturers.
PRGMEA has decided to compulsorily carry out audit of all its member firms and grant them international safety certifications, to win back the confidence of the international buyers, he said.
Mr. Minhas said PRGMEA even organized a workshop to help the entire textile value-added sector to obtain social and safety compliance certifications, to ensure that their exports to the EU and the US are not impacted by buyer’s safety concerns.
The workshop was organized by PRGMEA in association with Accordia Global Compliance Group and Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP).
The association has also scheduled one more workshop in association with SGS, which would be held this month at its Lahore training centre – the Pakistan Readymade Garments Technical Training Institute (PRGTTI).
WRAP has given an open invitation to PRGMEA to visit its US headquarters to enter into a MOU for setting up a centre of excellence at PRGMEA’s Lahore and Karachi based training institutes.
Besides, a team of PRGMEA representatives would also be visiting their leading buyers to alleviate their concerns regarding compliance of health and safety norms followed by Pakistani garment factories.
