The Bangladesh Accord and Alliance: addressing building safety through global supply chain co-governance

The Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013 that killed 1,134 garment workers illustrated to the world the urgency of taking seriously the issue of safety and health at work, as noted by the 2019 ILO Commission's report. The question that remains is how to ensure effective implementation of safety standards at work, particularly in the case of enterprises tied to global supply chains. An analysis of two building safety initiatives implemented in Bangladesh, the Accord and Alliance, provide critical insights to this question. What we find is that safety at work requires clear and detailed benchmarks, professionally trained inspectors, sanctioning power, full transparency of findings, and worker participation, ideally empowered and protected by trade union representation. In the case of global supply chains, co-governance with employer and worker representatives and legal consequences for non-compliance also enhance the likelihood of remediation.