Effects of environmental and safety factors on productivity of RMG industry in Bangladesh: A survey-based approach

The Ready-Made Garments (RMG) industry is the only multi-billion-dollar manufacturing and export earning sector in Bangladesh. This industry contributes 83% of the country's total export earnings, which was 18% of total GDP in 2016. Productivity, which reflects the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization in transforming its inputs into outputs, is very crucial for this industry. Since most of the RMG workers have little and sometimes no formal education, productivity factors associated with environmental and safety factors gain less attention. This study focuses on assessing and quantifying the effects and relationship of Ergonomics, Health Safety & Environment (HSE), and Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) on workers' productivity in the selected RMG factories. A structural questionnaire has been used for data collection. Expected outcomes of this study are (i) Ranking of the factors by their contributions to the productivity, (ii) Individual effect of the factors on productivity, and (iii) the relationships among the factors and the productivity of RMG industry in Bangladesh. These outcomes will be helpful to concern policymaker and factory owners about the importance of Ergonomics, HSE, and OHS and to provide a sustainable safety environment to the workers for improving productivity