LAHORE - The textile value-added sector, expressing serious reservations on hurdles created by bureaucracy in the way of industrialisation, has criticised the issuance of notices to industries by the Civil Defence, Labour and Environment Departments without even properly probing the issues.
The garment industry representatives suggested the government that the field staff of these departments should be instructed to desist from such practices in future that are bound to undermine the government efforts to revive the economy.
Addressing a training programme held at Pakistan Readymade Garments Technical Training Institute (PRGTTI), PRGMIA central chairman Sajid Salim Minhas viewed that a strong public-private sectors liaison could help correct things on the economic front that have gone wrong beyond repair because of multiple challenges for the last many years.
He said that adhering to fire and safety measures and to comply with the international regulations is the need of the hour in order to save our exports in particular and the industry in general.
“In an endeavour to get textile value-added sector certified with social and safety compliances to enhance country’s exports, the Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association in collaboration with the SGS, a world's leading inspection and certification company, organised a fire safety training workshop.”
Association central chairman observed that this workshop is one of the series of fire safety trainings conducted by PRGMEA with a view to restore confidence of international buyers on Pakistani textile value-added products.
This is the first time when an international training workshop addressing the crucial industrial needs of fire safety and risk assessment was organised in Pakistan in collaboration with the SGS. The Association has already conducted successful training programmes in collaboration with WRAP in Lahore as well as Karachi, indicating the industry has started to take responsibility of adopting complete social and safety compliances.
On this occasion, Kamran Yousef Sandhu, Project Director, Pakistan Readymade Garments Technical Training Institute stated that Safety Training Workshops have now become a permanent feature of PRGTTI around the year.
These courses will be highly beneficial to the industry by providing essential education on creating safe working conditions in export-oriented production units. He mentioned that that the sessions have focused on fire prevention and covered a range of topics including Pakistani fire laws, fire safety & protection, fire spread & combustion, routine fire prevention measures, effective response during fire, and risk assessment.