As a result of the accord’s inspections, four factory buildings have been ordered temporarily closed for fear of collapse, while the accord has asked a government committee to close four others. Questioning the thoroughness of the alliance’s inspections, some accord members ask why the alliance has had only one factory closed even though it has conducted more inspections.

Ian Spaulding, a senior adviser to the alliance, said that it had asked the Bangladeshi government to order four more factories closed because of serious structural problems. He said the alliance was blamed unfairly — partly because labor unions and a vocal university group, United Students Against Sweatshops, are constantly belittling it.

“We need to do a better job as an organization telling our story,” Mr. Spaulding said. “We don’t want to fall victim to this tit-for-tat thing. The alliance isn’t perfect, and the accord isn’t perfect.”

Some alliance members fault the accord for not paying wages to the more than 2,500 workers at the Softex factory when it was closed in March after accord inspectors found structural problems that needed urgent attention. The alliance says that it has a $5 million fund to pay half the wages of Bangladeshi workers laid off in such a situation. (The factory owner is supposed to pay the other half.) Under the accord’s rules, factory owners are supposed to pay all the lost wages, if they can.

Rezwan Selim, Softex’s chief executive, asserted that his factory was closed without due process and that the accord was not being cooperative or professional. Mr. Selim said he took out a bank loan to pay the wages after the workers engaged in protests.

Rob Wayss, the accord’s executive director for Bangladesh, said his group’s exacting inspections had met with some resistance from factory owners. He said the accord had adhered to the letter of the law in closing plants and had pledged to help factory owners pay lost wages and finance needed safety improvements if they demonstrated that they could not afford those things themselves.