International Accord Adds Heat to Workplace Safety Risk List

By Priya Raman

The International Accord, the legally binding health and safety agreement covering garment factories in Bangladesh and other producing countries, is moving to treat extreme heat as a workplace safety risk. The shift places heat exposure inside the same inspection and remediation framework the Accord already applies to fire, electrical and structural hazards.

For Accord signatory brands and their supplier factories, the change means heat joins the list of hazards subject to the programme's factory monitoring. The Accord's safety engineers have inspected thousands of ready-made garment plants since the original Bangladesh Accord followed the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse. Heat has now entered that hazard set as a formal compliance item rather than a welfare question.

Why does heat now count as a safety hazard?

The decision reflects growing evidence that high temperatures in cutting, sewing and finishing floors raise the risk of worker illness, exhaustion and reduced safety awareness. Bangladesh's RMG sector, along with other Accord-covered sourcing markets, faces prolonged heat seasons that factory ventilation systems often fail to offset.

By classifying heat as a safety risk, the Accord gives its inspectors a mandate to check ventilation, cooling provision and working conditions against the standard. Factories found deficient will move through the Accord's standard remediation route, with corrective actions tracked and verified.

What does this change for brands and suppliers?

For signatory brands, the move adds a new due-diligence line to supplier monitoring. Buyers sourcing from Accord-covered countries should expect:

• Heat-related findings in future factory inspection reports
• Remediation plans covering ventilation and cooling where deficiencies appear
• Costs shared or negotiated under the Accord's existing compliance mechanisms

Suppliers, in turn, face potential capital outlays on cooling infrastructure where inspections flag gaps. The Accord model spreads the compliance burden across signatory buyers rather than leaving factories to absorb remediation costs alone.

The decision also aligns the Accord regime with the broader direction of mandatory supply-chain due diligence, where buyer duty of care increasingly covers climate-related worker risk. Sustainability claims here trace to a concrete standard: the Accord's binding safety framework, enforceable against signatory brands.

What is the sourcing decision?

Brands under the Accord must now treat heat readiness as part of factory eligibility in covered markets. The practical step is to confirm which supplier plants fall under inspection scope, review current ventilation conditions, and budget for remediation before findings force it.