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Walmart and an industry group representing many U.S. retailers say they will not join an international pact intended to improve factory conditions in Bangladesh’s garment industry – although many global retailers have signed the agreement.

The death toll in that collapsed Bangladesh factory building has reached 1, 127 people – making it the world’s worst industrial disaster since the 1984 Bhopal gas leak in India, which claimed an estimated 3,787 lives.

More than two weeks after the collapse of a factory building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, sources are reporting that the death toll has reached 912 – and additional bodies may be found as workers continue to dig through the wreckage.

A new report from the United Nations calls for “urgent and vigorous” action to address the issue of work-related diseases, which kill approximately two million people around the world each year. About 160 million more are afflicted by non-fatal occupational illnesses.

The death toll in last week’s collapse of a factory building near Dhaka in Bangladesh has risen to at least 398, according to Red Crescent officials in that country, who say that they don’t expect additional survivors to be found.

With the death toll now exceeding 350, the collapse last week of a factory building in Bangladesh helps focus attention on International Workers’ Day – May 1 -- as well as Workers’ Memorial Day and National Day of Mourning (in Canada), both of which were yesterday but continue to be observed in ceremonies this week.
 

The 9th edition of OS+H ASIA, The Occupational Safety + Health Exhibition for Asia, will be held from May 7 – 9, 2014 at the Suntec Singapore International Exhibition and Convention Center in Singapore. The event will be organized by Messe Düsseldorf Asia (MDA), the subsidiary of Messe Düsseldorf in Germany, renowned as the organizer of A+A - the leading international trade fair for safety, security and health at work.

In addition Workers Memorial Day in many countries and Workers’ Day of Mourning in Canada, April 28^th has also been designated World Day for Safety and Health at Work. The focus this year is on the prevention of occupational diseases.

A proposal to introduce new sustainability reporting requirements across the European Union (EU) could open the door for a quantum leap in transparency and accountability among European companies, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) said recently.