We use education and capacity building – not enforcement – to make safety inherent to factory operations in Bangladesh.
Our Theory of Change
Bangladesh is working to develop a legislative framework for safe workplaces and worker rights. With support from the international community and direction from the ILO, the country has made improvements in factory construction in recent years, yet more must be done to ensure workers operate and interact safely in Bangladesh’s factories.
Nirapon and our 55+ members are actively supporting this effort.
Through our collective work, we are educating and encouraging factory leaders to embrace their roles as the changemakers who drive factory safety. We believe education – not enforcement – is the most effective way to make safety ownable and actionable at the factory level. It helps owners, managers, and workers understand the reasons and see the benefits behind safety protocols and practices, so safety becomes an integral part of daily operations.
What’s more, education gives factories the knowledge and tools to take a systems-based, collaborative approach to managing safety that is self-sustained and poised for continual improvement. In addition to supporting sound practices and protocols, education cultivates a true culture of safety and encourages all stakeholders to be aware of, identify, and proactively address safety hazards in the workplace. This leads to reduced risk, positive behavior change, and improved worker rights as company values rather than legal obligations – and it builds customer confidence, business growth, and prosperity in Bangladesh.
Our Services
Our member companies enroll their supplier factories in the Nirapon Safety Management Program, which delivers three interdependent services provided by our local partners. They bring technical expertise, accountability, and insights to our core operations.
Safety Systems
Our safety support team guides factories through a comprehensive, systems-based approach to safety management. This process, which includes factory reporting with fact based evidence and site visit, delivers tailored guidance to help factory managers gain a holistic view of their factory safety and establish effective safety management systems.
Educational Programming
Our safety implementation program complements our Safety Systems program by helping everyone inside the factory understand and uphold their role in creating a safe workplace. Through this program, we train managers and factory-based internal trainers and help factories establish their own administrative controls to develop and maintain a safe work environment.
Worker Helpline
We partner with Amader Kotha, an independent organization that operates an anonymous helpline that gives workers a direct voice to report safety and other issues, allowing managers to resolve these issues in a timely and sustainable way. We use helpline data as an early-warning system to identify emerging risks and patterns of behavior to inform our Educational Programming