Wal-Mart Stores Inc. broke with major European retailers on Tuesday by announcing its own plan for improving safety at Bangladesh garment factories. The plan is billed as a commitment, but is different from the legally-binding pact meant to prevent disasters like the building collapse that killed more than 1,100 garment workers last month. 
 
 Under its plan, Wal-Mart said it would hire an outside auditor to inspect 279 Bangladesh factories and publish results on its website by June 1. When fire and building safety issues are found, Wal-Mart said it will require factory owners to make necessary renovations or risk being removed from its list of authorized factories. 
 
 In declining to go along with the other retailers, Wal-Mart—like Gap Inc. earlier this week—cited that accord's legally binding provisions. 
 
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 On Tuesday, the five-year Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, negotiated with worker-safety groups and labor unions and some major European retail chains, drew support from at least six more retailers, including Canada's Loblaw Cos., whose Joe Fresh clothing was found in the building's rubble. 
 
 Wal-Mart will pay for factory audits, which will be conducted by Bureau Veritas, a European inspection company. The retailer won't pay for renovations but will "expect the cost of safety improvements to be reflected in the cost of goods we buy," said Rajan Kamalanathan, Wal-Mart's head of ethical sourcing, in an interview. 
 
 "We don't want anyone to cut corners to put workers safety in jeopardy," he said. 
 
 Nearly three weeks after a factory collapse killed more than 1,100 people, the world’s biggest clothing companies are committing to safety standards that could play a key role in policing the country’s main industry. Andria Cheng reports. 
 
 Americans' appetite for cheap clothes led to a manufacturing boom in Bangladesh, and the race to add capacity set the stage for the series of horrific accidents. Ann Zimmerman reports. Photo: AP. 
 
 Meanwhile, J.C. Penney Co., Sears Holdings Corp. and a number of other North American brands have been drafting their own safety plan. Details of that plan are still evolving, said Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation, a U.S. trade group. 
 
 The proliferation of competing proposals may undermine their effectiveness, some experts said, and voluntary efforts have a poor track record. "Without the legally binding contract that the European retailers have signed, it's just putting lipstick on a pig," said Bob Ross, a critic of sweatshops who teaches sociology at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. 
 
 Some U.S. retailers are uncomfortable with the accord because they could be liable in U.S. courts if they fail to adhere to the provisions, according to one person familiar with the matter. 
 
 Enlarge Image Close Xinhua/Zuma Press Army personnel Tuesday at the site of collapsed Rana Plaza building on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. 
 
 Gap had cited that legal liability issue as the reason it hasn't signed the accord. It has proposed an amendment to the pact that would replace the legally binding language with a provision that retailers that failed to live up to the standards be publicly expelled from the program. 
 
 "We are six sentences away from signing the accord that's been proposed and remain cautiously optimistic that we will move down that path," a Gap spokesman said. 
 
 Sears said it would continue "participating in discussions on the Accord as updates are made and more information is available, but is not prepared to sign the current proposal." 
 
 Enlarge Image Close Agence France-Presse/Getty Images The retail giant said it will make public a list of more than 250 factories whose authorization to produce goods for Wal-Mart has already been revoked. 
 
 The sponsors of the safety pact said they had met their goal of signing up enough retailers to cover 1,000 of the roughly 5,000 garment factories in Bangladesh and still expect more to sign on. Among the new signers on Tuesday were Italy's Benetton Group SpA, Spain's Mango MNG Holding SL and El Corte Ingles, France's Carrefour SA, and Marks & Spencer in the U.K. PVH Corp., the parent of Calvin Klein, Hennes & Mauritz AB and Inditex, parent of the Zara fast-fashion chain, had announced on Monday they were signing the accord. 
 
 Wal-Mart is among the biggest customers of Bangladeshi garment factories, which has grown into a $20 billion a year business. 
 
 Wal-Mart said its safety plan meets or exceeds the proposal and "will get results more quickly," a spokesman said. The other plan endorsed by the European retailers "introduces requirements, including governance and dispute resolution mechanisms, on supply chain matters that are appropriately left to retailers, suppliers and government, and are unnecessary to achieve fire and safety goals," he said. 
 
 Under the accord, a governing board will include three labor representatives, three retailer representatives and a chairman chosen by the U.N. International Labor Organization. The board will oversee safety inspections of up to 5,000 factories over two years, with the results to be made public. 
 
 The board also will oversee dispute resolution between retailers and union representatives, which will be subject to arbitration with decisions enforceable in a court of law in the country of the retailer. To implement the accord, each company's cost will be based on how much they produce in Bangladesh. Participation will cost each company a maximum of $2.5 million over the five-year period, according to a draft of the agreement. 
 
 Wal-Mart on Tuesday made public a list of more than 250 factories whose authorization to produce goods for Wal-Mart has already been revoked, though it isn't saying why they are no longer approved. 
 
 "Audits aren't cheap and we pay for them ourselves," said Mr. Kamalanathan, in an interview. "By sharing fire safety and building inspections between the brands, retailers won't have to duplicate efforts." 
 
 He said Wal-Mart wants to encourage retailers to work together by publishing audit results, so other clothing buyers are aware of Wal-Mart's concerns. 
 
 Wal-Mart will also set up an independent call center for garment workers to report unsafe conditions and conduct fire safety training for every worker in the Bangladesh factories that make clothes for the U.S. retailing giant. 
 
 James A. Gross, professor of labor relations at Cornell University said using an outside auditor "frees the company of any independent supervision or assessment of what they are doing," he said. 
 
 Write to Shelly Banjo at shelly.banjo@wsj.com, Ann Zimmerman at ann.zimmerman@wsj.com and Suzanne Kapner at Suzanne.Kapner@wsj.com 
 
 A version of this article appeared May 15, 2013, on page B1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Wal-Mart Crafts Own Bangladesh Safety Plan. ||||| As American retailers face mounting pressure to join a landmark plan to improve factory safety in Bangladesh, newly found documents indicate that apparel had been produced for Wal-Mart at one of the operations in the factory building that collapsed last month, killing more than 1,100 workers. 
 
 The Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity has provided The New York Times with photos of several documents not disputed by Wal-Mart that were recovered in the building’s rubble, showing that a Wal-Mart contractor from Canada had produced jeans last year at the Ether Tex factory, which had been situated on the fifth floor of the collapsed Rana Plaza building. 
 
 While both the contractor and Wal-Mart denied any knowledge of the production orders there, Wal-Mart on Tuesday announced that it would put in place new safety measures at the factories it was using in Bangladesh. 
 
 Saying it was unwilling to sign on to the broad safety plan embraced by more than a dozen European companies this week, Wal-Mart said its factory monitors would “conduct in-depth safety inspections at 100 percent” of the 279 factories it uses in Bangladesh and publicize the results on its Web site. 
 
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 Wal-Mart promised to stop production immediately at factories if urgent safety problems were uncovered and to notify factory owners and government authorities of improvements. But the company, the world’s largest retailer, stopped short of committing to help underwrite the improvements — one of the crucial aspects of the Bangladesh safety agreement adopted by European companies. 
 
 On Tuesday, Carrefour, the world’s second largest retailer, Benetton, Marks & Spencer and El Corte Inglés, the Spanish department store chain, joined major retailers like H&M; and Inditex, the parent of Zara, in signing on to the safety agreement. The plan requires companies to have rigorous independent inspections and to help pay for fire safety upgrades, like adding fire escapes, which many factories still lack. 
 
 But Wal-Mart and numerous other American retailers and apparel companies have sought to maintain a distance from the April 24 building collapse, and have balked at the worker safety agreement urged by consumer and labor groups. 
 
 Wal-Mart maintained on Tuesday that it had no involvement at the Rana Plaza building, playing down the newly discovered documents. 
 
 One document, dated May 12, 2012, that was found in the rubble detailed a purchase order by a Canadian company, Fame Jeans, for “dark blue wash,” “skinny fit” jeans to be delivered to Wal-Mart in the fall of 2012. Another document, dated April 27, 2012, discussed pricing for five styles of jeans, with the prices ranging from $3.41 to $4.50 a pair. 
 
 But Wal-Mart emphasized that the documents dated back a year. “Our investigation of the Rana Plaza building site after the collapse revealed no evidence of authorized or unauthorized production at the time of the tragedy,” said Kevin Gardner, a Wal-Mart spokesman. He declined to say on Tuesday whether the Ether Tex factory, as well as the Fame Jeans order there, were authorized. 
 
 After The Times questioned Wal-Mart about the documents on Tuesday, Alen Brandman, chief executive of Fame Jeans, said in an interview, “It’s very clear that Wal-Mart did not authorize me in any capacity to work within this factory.” He blamed a “rogue employee” for the order, who had decided to use the factory without Mr. Brandman’s knowledge. 
 
 He said after that order “no other product came out” of that factory “for us or for Wal-Mart.” 
 
 After a fire last November at another Bangladesh garment factory that killed 112 workers, numerous documents showed that six suppliers had clothes made there for Wal-Mart in previous months. Wal-Mart said it had deauthorized the factory because of violations and had terminated its relationship with the suppliers that continued using the factory after it was deauthorized. 
 
 Judy Gearhart, executive director of the International Labor Rights Forum, an advocacy group in Washington, faulted Wal-Mart for again trying to distance itself from the building collapse just as it sought to do after the November fire. “It’s another example of Wal-Mart’s lack of ability to track the specifics of its supply chain,” she said. 
 
 At the time of the building collapse, Wal-Mart was listed as a customer on Ether Tex’s Web site, another link that advocacy groups were using to try to pressure the retailer, Gap, Target and other American companies to sign onto the safety plan. The only non-European companies to sign are PVH, the parent company of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and Loblaw of Canada. 
 
 By far, Gap has been the most vocal company opposed to the plan, expressing concerns that overzealous American lawyers could seize on the agreement to sue American companies on behalf of aggrieved factory workers in Bangladesh — perhaps in the event of a factory fire. Gap said it supported much of the plan, but it proposed changes that would greatly limit any legal liability for a company that violated the plan. 
 
 Under Gap’s proposal, if a retailer were found to have violated the agreement, the only remedy would generally be public expulsion from the factory safety plan. 
 
 “The U.S. is quite litigious,” said Bill Chandler, a Gap spokesman. “We put forward specific proposals that we thought would bring other American retailers into the fold. We thought it would be a step forward and would turn it into a much more global agreement.” 
 
 Consumer and labor groups said Gap’s concerns about litigation were overblown. They complained that Gap’s stance against the agreement had helped to dissuade other American companies from signing. 
 
 “Gap’s demand is that the agreement be made unenforceable — and therefore meaningless,” said Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a group sponsored by 175 colleges and universities. “What Gap wants is the right to renege on its commitments when it wishes.” 
 
 Some advocates say the European retailers signed the joint accord more readily than the Americans because Europe accounts for 60 percent of Bangladesh apparel exports and the United States one-fourth. 
 
 Wal-Mart also expressed concerns about the joint Bangladesh safety plan, saying it “introduces requirements, including governance and dispute resolution mechanisms, on supply chain matters that are appropriately left to retailers, suppliers and government, and are unnecessary to achieve fire and safety goals.” 
 
 Wal-Mart added that its plan either meets or “exceeds” the group safety plan, and would get quicker results. 
 
 The retailer said its factory inspectors would examine electrical systems for any flaws — a major cause of factory fires in Bangladesh — and would review building design and permits to help avoid future collapses. Those inspections would include thermal circuit imaging of factories’ electrical systems to analyze for problems. 
 
 “Wal-Mart is committed to a global supply chain that first and foremost provides safe conditions for workers,” said Rajan Kamalanathan, vice president of ethical sourcing for Wal-Mart. “Wal-Mart is focusing directly on the most urgent issue, and that’s worker safety. We invite others to join us in this effort.” 
 
 Wal-Mart praised the Bangladeshi government for closing 18 factories that had safety violations. The company said that based on its information none of those factories were making authorized apparel for Wal-Mart, although three of those factories were owned by the Nassa Group, which claims Wal-Mart and Sears as customers and is Bangladesh’s largest exporter. 
 
 Mr. Nova voiced skepticism that Wal-Mart’s initiative would significantly improve worker safety. “It is a unilateral initiative that’s nonbinding and unenforceable, and it’s unclear how much transparency there will be,” he said. “If all of this stuff happens, there’s substance, but there’s no basis to believe it will all happen.”
– Major European retailers are lining up to sign a Bangladesh safety plan aimed at preventing disasters like Rana Plaza, but American companies, including the Gap and Walmart, are backing away. Walmart—which blames a "rogue employee" for an order for its clothes found in the rubble of the building collapse—says it has its own safety plan for the 279 factories it uses in Bangladesh, and it will quickly deliver results as good as or better than the European plan, the New York Times reports. Walmart plans to audit factories for safety and remove them from its suppliers list if hazards are found. But while the European plan is legally binding, Walmart's is voluntary, and experts say such plans have a poor record for delivering results. "Without the legally binding contract that the European retailers have signed, it's just putting lipstick on a pig," a sociology professor who has been a vocal critic of sweatshops tells the Wall Street Journal. The Gap, meanwhile, says it won't sign the European plan unless language is removed that it fears could make it liable in US courts for safety failures at Bangladesh factories. The only American firm to have signed the plan so far is PVH, the parent company of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.