Fire at P2P Furniture: Factory built breaching Labour Law, says probe report
Two workers were killed in the factory fire on 10 January
The P2P Furniture factory in Chattogram, where two people were killed in a fire last month, was not built following directives and guidelines in Labour Law and related rules, said the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment (DIFE) for the Chattogram region, in its probe report.
The factory lacked the necessary safety measures for its workers and there were no alternative stairs from the second floor where the fatal fire originated, the DIFE said, adding that the factory did not have a fire alarm and lacked a valid certificate for its electrical wiring.
The factory explicitly violated five sections of the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 and Labour Rules 2015, according to the DIFE. It said that six months before the accident, the inspection body recommended the factory add safety features after a regular inspection but the factory authority did not pay heed.
Earlier on 10 January, two workers were killed in a fire in the P2P Furniture factory in Colonel Haat of Chattogram. The bodies were burnt beyond recognition and were handed over to the families after autopsy.
After the incident, the DIFE served show-cause notices to the P2P Furniture authority twice, on 17 January and 30 January, but the factory authority did not get back to DIFE. The Managing Director of P2P Family, the parent company of P2P Furniture, Ashraful Islam Alvi, said "I have not received the letter yet and will contact the factory management soon."
Deputy Inspector General of the DIFE for the Chattogram Region, Abdullah Al Sakib Mubarrat, said the organisation will take action against the factory on the basis of relevant laws.
Earlier, the Fire Service and Civil Defence in their initial report after the fire, said the factory made of steel, had a lot of inflammable materials inside and lacked a fire safety plan.
"There was no fire extinguisher, fire hose, or any water supply system. Everyone was panicking after the fire started. They had no idea about the dos and don'ts in such circumstances," Faruk Hossain Sikdar, divisional assistant director, Fire Service and Civil Defence, told The Business Standard.
