Factory vetting process step — site visit checklist
In brief: A site visit checklist for a Bangladesh buying house is a 22-item, 90-120 minute walk that produces dated photographs of every production section. It scores energy displays, shift notice boards, fabric storage, emergency exit accessibility and the production floor calendar — operational signals that predict delivery reliability under CSDDD and LkSG.
22
Checklist Items
Every section of the floor scored against the same items, every visit.
90-120 min
Walk Duration
Less than 90 minutes means the floor was not actually inspected.
Dated
Photographs
Every section photographed with a date stamp and stored in the factory file.
I walk Bangladesh factory floors for a living. Twenty-five years of it, across knitwear, woven, denim, sweater and outerwear. The thing I want European buyers to understand is that a factory tour and a factory vetting walk are not the same activity. A tour is something the factory does to you. A vetting walk is something you do to the factory. The checklist below is the one Bengal Origin Co. runs, in the same order, every time.
What does a site visit checklist for a Bangladesh buying house actually contain?
Twenty-two items. Ninety to one hundred and twenty minutes on the floor. Dated photographs of every production section, stored in the factory file before I leave the compound. The checklist is split into five groups: building and safety, production floor discipline, fabric and chemical storage, worker-facing signals, and order-mix transparency. Each item is either present or absent — no scoring out of ten, no narrative grading. Either the shift notice board exists with wage payment dates posted, or it does not. Either the emergency exit on Floor 3 opens, or it does not.
I run the same checklist whether I am vetting a 2-line specialist or a 200-line multi-category factory. The non-obvious items are where I learn the most.
Why does the production floor calendar matter for subcontracting risk?
The production floor calendar is usually a whiteboard near the planning office. It lists active orders by line, with cut dates, sewing dates, and finishing dates. The detail I look for is the factory of origin field — whether each order is being produced in this factory or in another. Most calendars do not have that column. I ask for it to be added before I confirm a partnership. A floor calendar without an origin column is how subcontracting hides in plain sight.
I did not have a written subcontracting prohibition on the orders that failed in the 2022 supply chain failure. The understanding was verbal. Now the prohibition is written on every purchase order and every service agreement, and the floor calendar is the operational check that backs the document up.
What do energy displays and shift notice boards tell a vetting walk?
Visible energy consumption displays on production lines — kilowatt-hour meters mounted at sewing line entry points — are a sign of LEED-tier operational discipline. They mean the factory measures energy by line, not by month. LEED Gold certification is held by fewer than 50 Bangladesh factories, and a buyer can usually tell the difference within the first 10 minutes of the walk from how energy data is presented on the floor.
Shift schedule notice boards are the worker-facing signal I pay closest attention to. A healthy notice board shows the wage payment date for the current month — and the date is the 7th, not the 15th, not the 20th. Wage payment timing is the earliest indicator of factory financial stress, and a board that lists it openly is a factory that expects to be on time. The other signal: fabric storage organisation with chemical compliance labels visible on every roll. Disorganised fabric storage precedes finishing subcontracting, which is where most REACH compliance gaps appear.
How does the checklist compare to a standard factory tour?
The two columns below contrast a factory tour against a Bengal Origin Co. vetting walk.
| Item | Factory tour | Vetting walk |
|---|---|---|
| Duration | 30-45 minutes | 90-120 minutes |
| Route | Cleanest line, managed pace | Every floor, same order, every time |
| Photographs | Not requested | Dated, every section, stored in file |
| Production calendar | Not shown | Reviewed with factory-of-origin column |
| Emergency exits | Pointed at | Physically opened on every floor |
| Output | Verbal impression | 22-item scored record |
Source: Bengal Origin Co. vetting walks across 120+ Bangladesh factories, 2022-2026.
Vetting walk vs factory tour
Energy consumption displays on production lines
Shift notice board with wage payment dates
Fabric storage organisation and chemical labelling
Emergency exit accessibility on every floor
Production floor calendar by order and factory
Dated photographs of every section walked
Certificates framed on the meeting room wall
A sample section running the brand's own product
The cleanest line, walked at a managed pace
Lunch with the managing director
A printed company profile and capacity brochure
Verbal assurances on subcontracting and lead time
What This Means for European Brands
If your buying house cannot show you a published, repeatable site visit checklist with dated photographs from the last walk, you do not have a vetting record — you have a relationship. Under CSDDD ongoing monitoring and LkSG documentation requirements, a relationship is not evidence. Ask your sourcing partner for their checklist, the date of the last walk, and the photographs. The answer to those three questions tells you most of what you need to know about Tier 2 visibility.
If you would like to see the 22-item checklist and a sample factory walk file before your next Bangladesh vetting trip, I am happy to share both and walk through how they map to CSDDD and LkSG documentation.
Request a Factory Credential Pack →