Bangladesh garment factories - in pictures

Shahana, aged 22 (left), and Hasina, aged 18 (right), at work in the sewing section of a garment factory in Rampura, Dhaka Photograph: Gazi Nafis Ahmed/VII Mentor Program

The boiler room at a garment factory in Dhaka, where a boiler exploded on 7 March 2012, injuring six people Photograph: Gazi Nafis Ahmed/VII Mentor Program

Workers rush injured colleagues away for treatment after an explosion in a boiler room at a garment factory in Dhaka Photograph: Gazi Nafis Ahmed /VII Mentor Program

Toxic industrial waste seeps into the ground from a dyeing factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh Photograph: Gazi Nafis Ahmed / VII Mentor Program

Tin-shed housing in Gazipur, Bangladesh is typical of the sub-standard housing occupied by workers in garment factories Photograph: Gazi Nafis Ahmed /VII Mentor Program

A family of six who have been living in the same bamboo structure for 21 years. The mother and three daughters are all employed at a garment factory in Chittagong, Bangladesh Photograph: Gazi Nafis Ahmed /VII Mentor Program

A mother preparing supper after a nine-hour shift in a factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She has worked in factories for 34 years Photograph: GaziNafis Ahmed/VII Mentor Program

A tube well that supplies water to eight families in Dhaka, Bangladesh Photograph: Gazi Nafis Ahmed /VII Mentor Program