This study aims to investigate the structural, electrical and fire safety flaws documented in the Corrective Action Plan (CAP) reports of Accord-certified RMG factories in Bangladesh, identifying prevalent deficiencies and patterns of cross-domain co-occurrence.
Content analysis of CAP reports from all 646 Accord-certified RMG factories was conducted using a 61-category inductive codebook. Flaw prevalence, risk-tier classification and within- and cross-domain Pearson correlations were analyzed to identify safety deficiency patterns and compound hazard configurations.
A total of 18,432 safety flaws were identified, with electrical issues accounting for 44.4%, fire hazards for 40.2% and structural problems for 15.4%. Cross-domain correlation analysis revealed a strong positive relationship between electrical and fire-related flaws. Notably, the absence of an emergency evacuation plan frequently co-occurred with exposed wiring, representing the strongest interaction between electrical and fire risks.
The findings offer actionable guidance for safety regulators seeking compound-risk enforcement criteria, factory managers operating under resource constraints, international buyers assessing supplier compliance, and educators developing industry-relevant safety curricula.
This study provides comprehensive, multidomain empirical mapping of safety deficiencies in Accord-certified RMG factories, extending beyond structural assessments that have dominated prior research to integrate fire, electrical and cross-domain compound hazard analysis.
