The Rana Plaza collapse (also referred to as the Savar building collapse or the collapse of Rana Plaza) was a
structural failure
Structural integrity and failure is an aspect of engineering that deals with the ability of a structure to support a designed structural load (weight, force, etc.) without breaking and includes the study of past structural failures in order to ...
that occurred on 24 April 2013 in the
Savar Upazila
Savar ( bn, সাভার) is a city in central Bangladesh, located in Dhaka District in the division of Dhaka. It is the closest city from Dhaka. It is also a part of Greater Dhaka conurbation which forms the Dhaka megacity. About 296,851 ...
of
Dhaka District
Dhaka District ( bn, ঢাকা জেলা, Dhaka jela) is a district in central Bangladesh, and is the densest district in the nation. It is a part of the Dhaka Division. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, and rests on the eastern banks o ...
,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, where an eight-storey commercial building called Rana Plaza collapsed. The search for the dead ended on 13 May 2013 with a death toll of 1,134.
Approximately 2,500 injured people were rescued from the building.
It is considered the deadliest accidental
structural failure
Structural integrity and failure is an aspect of engineering that deals with the ability of a structure to support a designed structural load (weight, force, etc.) without breaking and includes the study of past structural failures in order to ...
in modern human history, the deadliest
garment-factory disaster in history and the deadliest industrial accident in the history of Bangladesh.
The building contained clothing factories, a bank, apartments and several shops. The shops and the bank on the lower floors were immediately closed after cracks were discovered in the building.
The building's owners ignored warnings to avoid using the building after cracks had appeared the day before. Garment workers were ordered to return the following day and the building collapsed during the morning rush-hour.
[
]
Background
The building, Rana Plaza, was built in 2006 and was owned by Sohel Rana, who was allegedly a member of the local unit of Jubo League
The Bangladesh Awami Jubo League ( bn, বাংলাদেশ আওয়ামী যুবলীগ) commonly known as the Jubo League, is the first youth organization of Bangladesh founded by Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani. It is the youth wing o ...
, the youth wing of Bangladesh Awami League
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, the political party in power.[ It housed a number of separate garment factories employing around 5,000 people, several shops and a bank.] The factories manufactured apparel for brands including Benetton,[ Zara,] the Children's Place
The Children's Place Inc. is a specialty retailer of children’s apparel and accessories headquartered in New Jersey. It also markets apparel under the Children's Place, Place, Baby Place, and Gymboree brand names.
As of October 31, 2015, it o ...
,[ ]El Corte Inglés
El Corte Inglés S.A. (), headquartered in Madrid, is the biggest department store group in Europe and ranks third worldwide. Its primary source of sales is from department stores, followed by internet sales. It is a family business, with most s ...
, Joe Fresh
Joe Fresh is a Canadian fashion brand and retail chain created by designer Joe Mimran for Canadian food distributor Loblaw Companies Limited. It was formed in 2006. The label includes adult and children's wear, shoes, handbags, jewelry, beauty pr ...
, Mango
A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree ''Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South a ...
, Matalan
Matalan is a British fashion and homeware retailer based in Knowsley, Merseyside. It was established by John Hargreaves in 1985, and is still owned by the Hargreaves family. , the company employed over 13,000, and had 230 stores in the United K ...
, Primark
Primark Stores Limited (; trading as Penneys in the Republic of Ireland) is an Irish multinational fast fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. It has stores across Europe and in the United States. The Penneys brand is not u ...
, and Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
.
The head of the Bangladesh Fire Service & Civil Defence
The Bangladesh Fire Service & Civil Defence (FSCD) of the People's Republic of Bangladesh is an emergency service operating under the Security Services Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Department's main goal is to provide fire protect ...
, Ali Ahmed Khan, said that the upper four floors had been built without a permit. Rana Plaza's architect, Massood Reza, said the building was planned for shops and offices – but not factories. Other architects stressed the risks involved in placing factories inside a building designed only for shops and offices, noting the structure was potentially not strong enough to bear the weight and vibration of heavy machinery.
On 23 April 2013 (one day before the collapse), a TV channel recorded footage that showed cracks in the Rana Plaza building. Immediately afterward, the building was evacuated, and the shops and the bank on the lower floors were closed. Later in the day, Sohel Rana said to the media that the building was safe and workers should return tomorrow. Managers at Ether Tex threatened to withhold a month's pay from workers who refused to come to work.
Collapse and rescue
On the morning of 24 April, there was a power outage and diesel generators on the top floor were started. The building collapsed at about 08:57 am BST, leaving only the ground floor intact. The president confirmed that 3,122 workers were in the building at the time of the collapse.[ One local resident described the scene as if "an earthquake had struck."
The United Nations' ]urban search and rescue
Urban search and rescue (abbreviated as USAR or US&R) is a type of technical rescue operation that involves the location, extrication, and initial medical stabilization of victims trapped in an urban area, namely structural collapse due to natu ...
coordination group – known as the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group
The International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) is a network of disaster-prone and disaster-responding countries and organizations dedicated to urban search and rescue (USAR) and operational field coordination. It aims to establish s ...
, or INSARAG – offered assistance from its members, but the government of Bangladesh rejected this offer. The government made a statement suggesting that the area's local rescue emergency services were well equipped. Before offering assistance to Bangladesh, the UN held consultations to assess the country's ability to mount an effective rescue operation and they reached the conclusion that they lacked that capability. Bangladeshi officials, desiring to take "face-saving" actions and protect national sensibilities, refused to accept the assistance offered to them by the UN. A large portion of the rescue operation consisted of inadequately equipped volunteers, many of whom had no protective clothing and wore sandals. Some buried workers drank their urine to survive the high temperatures, waiting to be saved. Not only was the Bangladeshi government accused of favoring national pride over those buried alive, but many relatives of those trapped in the debris criticized the government for trying to end the rescue mission prematurely.
One of the garment manufacturers' websites indicates that more than half of the victims were women, along with a number of their children who were in nursery facilities within the building. Bangladeshi Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir
Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir (born 1 March 1942) is a Bangladeshi politician. He is a Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Chandpur-1 constituency since 2008, and was Minister of Home Affairs from 2011 to 2013. He is also an economist, civil serv ...
confirmed that fire service
A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...
personnel, police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
and military personnel were assisting with the rescue effort.[ Volunteer rescue workers used bolts of fabric to assist survivors to escape from the building. A national day of mourning was held on 25 April.][
On 8 May, army spokesman Mir Rabbi said the army's attempt to recover more bodies from the rubble would continue for at least another week.][ On 10 May, 17 days after the collapse, a woman named Reshma was found and rescued alive and almost unhurt under the rubble.]
Causes
The direct reasons for the building problems were:
# Building was built on a filled-in pond which compromised structural integrity,
# Conversion from commercial use to industrial use,
# Unauthorized addition of four floors not included in the original building permit,
# The use of substandard construction material (which led to an overload of the building structure aggravated by vibrations due to the generators and heavy industrialised machinery). Those various elements indicated dubious business practices by Sohel Rana and dubious administrative practices in Savar.
The collapse of the building was preceded by a number of administrative failures, leading to early warning signs being ignored. It was reported that the industrial police first requested the evacuation of the building until an inspection had been conducted. It was also reported that Abdur Razak Khan, an engineer, declared the building unsafe and requested public authorities to conduct a more thorough inspection; he was arrested for helping the owner illegally add three floors. It is also reported that Kabir Hossain Sardar, the Upazila Nirbahi Officer
An Upazila Nirbahi Officer ( Abbreviation: UNO; bn, উপজেলা নির্বাহী অফিসার) is the chief executive officer of an upazila (subdistrict) and a mid-level officer of the Bangladesh Civil Service (administratio ...
who visited the site, met with Sohel Rana and declared the building safe. Sohel Rana said to the media that the building was safe and workers should return to work the next day. One manager of the factories in the Rana Plaza reported that Sohel Rana told them that the building was safe. Managers then requested the workers to go back to work. Managers at Ether Tex threatened to withhold a month's pay from workers who refused to come to work. As a result, workers also returned to the factories the next day.
Management and safety compliance
The decision by managers to send workers back into the factories was partially due to the pressure to complete orders on time, putting partial responsibility for the disaster on the short production deadlines preferred by buyers due to the fast fashion
Fast fashion is a term used to describe the clothing industry's business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and High fashion, high-fashion designs, mass production, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail stores qui ...
industry. Media including ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' have argued the demand for fast fashion
Fast fashion is a term used to describe the clothing industry's business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and High fashion, high-fashion designs, mass production, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail stores qui ...
and low-cost clothing motivated minimal oversight by clothing brands and that collectively organised trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
s could have responded to the pressure of management.[Colin Long (16 June 2014)]
After Rana Plaza
''Jacobin
, logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg
, logo_size = 180px
, logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794)
, motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir)
, successor = Pa ...
.'' Retrieved 19 January 2015. Others have argued that trade unions would increase workforce costs and thus endanger the Bangladesh garment industry.
Since the Spectrum factory collapse in 2005, prominent manufacturers organized projects like the Ethical Trading Initiative The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) is a UK-based independent body founded on 9 June 1998, which brings together companies, trade unions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to ensure compliance with international labour standards in the globa ...
and Business Social Compliance Initiative to prevent such disasters in the Bangladesh textile industry
The textile and clothing industries provide a single source of growth in Bangladesh's rapidly developing economy. Exports of textiles and garments are the principal source of foreign exchange earnings. By 2002 exports of textiles, clothing, a ...
and elsewhere. These programs ultimately failed to prevent the Savar building collapse. Despite social compliance audits conducted according to BSCI procedure at two of the factories at Rana Plaza, auditors failed to detect the structural concerns. In a press release following the collapse, BSCI explained that their system did not cover building safety. This has been contested, as the BSCI audit questionnaire required auditors to check building permits, and discrepancies between the permit and the number of floors in practice were evident. Some have argued that the BSCI has weak incentives to report such violations.
More conclusions about causes will be available when the investigation is over and the courts give their decisions.
Aftermath
Bangladesh
The day after the Rana Plaza building collapsed, the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha
Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (abbreviated as RAJUK; literally the Capital Development Authority of the Government of Bangladesh) is a Bangladeshi public agency responsible for coordinating urban development in Dhaka, Bangladesh. RAJUK is compo ...
(Capital Development Authority) filed a case against the owners of the building and the five garment factories operating inside it. On the same day, dozens of survivors were discovered in the remains of the building. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
Sheikh Hasina Wazed (''née'' Sheikh Hasina ; ; bn, শেখ হাসিনা ওয়াজেদ, Shēkh Hasinā, , born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Prime Minister ...
had said in Parliament that the name "Sohel Rana" was not in the Jubo League office bearers list; she then ordered the arrest of Sohel Rana and four of the owners of the garment factories operating in the building. Sohel Rana was reported to have gone into hiding;[ however, authorities reported that four other individuals had already been arrested in connection with the collapse.
Two days after the building collapsed, garment workers across the industrial areas of Dhaka, ]Chittagong
Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...
and Gazipur
Gazipur ( bn, গাজীপুর) is a city in central Bangladesh. It is located in the Gazipur District. It is a major industrial city north of Dhaka. It is a hub for the textile industry in Bangladesh. Its other name is Joydebpur.
Demogra ...
rioted, targeting vehicles, commercial buildings and garment factories. The next day, leftist political parties and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয়তাবাদী দল, Bangladesh Jātīyotābādī Dol; BNP) is a centre-right to right-wing nationalist, political party in Bangladesh and one of the major ...
-led 18 Party Alliance
The 20 Party Alliance is a Bangladeshi coalition of right-wing political parties, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It was originally formed as the 18 Party Alliance on 18 April 2012 in Dhaka, extending its predecessor the Four Party Alli ...
demanded the arrest and trial of suspects and an independent commission to identify vulnerable factories. Four days after the building collapsed, the owner of the Rana Plaza, Sohel Rana, was arrested at Benapole
Benapole ( bn, বেনাপোল) is a township in Sharsha Upazila in the Jessore District of Bangladesh. The Petrapole Customs station of India is situated across the border and since 1971 (some sources say 1947), many people have travell ...
, Jessore District
Jessore District (Bengali: যশোর, pronounced Jaw-shore, Anglicised: Jessore), officially spelled Jashore District from April 2018, is a district in the southwestern region of Bangladesh. It is bordered by India to the west, Khulna Distr ...
, on the Indo-Bangladeshi border, by security forces. On the same day a fire broke out at the disaster site and authorities were forced to temporarily suspend the search for survivors.
On 1 May, during International Workers' Day
International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every year on 1 May, ...
, thousands of protesting workers paraded through central Dhaka to demand safer working conditions and the death penalty for the owner of Rana Plaza. A week later hundreds of survivors of the disaster blocked a main highway to demand wages as the death toll from the collapse passed 700. Local government officials said they had been in talks with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association to pay the workers their outstanding April salaries plus a further three months – £97. After officials promised the surviving workers that they would be soon paid, they ended their protest. The government and garment association were compiling a list of surviving employees to establish who must be paid and compensated. The next day, 18 garment plants, including 16 in Dhaka and two in Chittagong, were closed down. Textile minister, Abdul Latif Siddique, told reporters that more plants would be shut as part of strict new measures to ensure safety.
On 5 June, police in Bangladesh fired into the air in an attempt to disperse hundreds of former workers and relatives of the victims of the collapse who were protesting to demand back pay and compensation promised by the government and the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association. On 10 June, seven inspectors were suspended and accused of negligence for renewing the licenses of garment factories in the building that collapsed. On 30 August, 100 days after the collapse of Rana Plaza, injured workers and family members of those who died there along with workers rights activists inaugurated a memorial for the tragedy, a crude statue of two fists thrusting towards the sky grasping a hammer and sickle
The hammer and sickle (Unicode: "☭") zh, s=锤子和镰刀, p=Chuízi hé liándāo or zh, s=镰刀锤子, p=Liándāo chuízi, labels=no is a symbol meant to represent proletarian solidarity, a union between agricultural and industri ...
. The police attempted to stop the erection of the memorial several times. It remains the only memorial monument for the tragedy.
On 22 September, at least 50 people were injured when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas into a crowd of protesters who were blocking streets in Dhaka demanding a minimum wage of $100 (৳8,114) a month. In November, a 10-story garment factory in Gazipur, which supplied Western brands, was allegedly burned down by workers angered over rumours of a colleague's death in police firing.
In March 2014 Rana Plaza owner Sohel Rana was granted six months' bail in the High Court. This prompted angry reactions from labour leaders. However, Rana would not be released from jail as another case filed by police is pending. A December 2015 report, written by the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights The NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights is an academic research and advocacy organization at the New York University Stern School of Business founded in March 2013. It is the first center to focus on human rights as an integral part of bu ...
, found that only eight of 3,425 factories inspected had "remedied violations enough to pass a final inspection" despite the international community's $280 million commitment to clean up Bangladesh's RMG industry. On 14 June 2016 Sohel Rana and 17 others were indicted for violating building code in the construction of Rana Plaza. In August 2016 the trial was postponed after defendants filed appeals with the High Court of Bangladesh.
Worldwide criticism
Politicians
Nick Clegg
Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicepr ...
, the Deputy Prime Minister of the UK and leader of the Liberal Democrats said: "... consumers have more power than they think when it comes to making choices about where they shop."
Michael Connarty
Michael Connarty (born 3 September 1947) is a British Labour Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament for Linlithgow and Falkirk East from 2005 until 2015, and Falkirk East (1992–2005).
Parliamentary career
He unsuccess ...
, UK's Falkirk East MP, is calling on the UK Government to push through new legislation to end modern day slavery
Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to occur in present-day society. Estimates of the number of enslaved people today range from around 38 million to 46 mil ...
by forcing major High Street
High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...
companies in the UK to audit their supply chain. The framework requests that those companies make vigorous checks to ensure slave labour is not used in third world countries and the UK to produce their goods.
Karel De Gucht, the European Commissioner for Trade
The European Commissioner for Trade (sometimes referred to as the ''EU Trade Commissioner'') is the member of the European Commission responsible for the Common Commercial Policy (EU), European Union's common commercial policy.
Responsibilities
...
, warned that retailers and the Bangladesh government could face action from the EU if nothing is done to improve the conditions of workers – adding that shoppers should also consider where they are spending their money.
On 1 May, Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
spoke out against the working conditions in the factory:A headline that really struck me on the day of the tragedy in Bangladesh was 'Living on 38 euros a month'. That is what the people who died were being paid. This is called slave labour. Today in the world this slavery is being committed against something beautiful that God has given us – the capacity to create, to work, to have dignity. How many brothers and sisters find themselves in this situation! Not paying fairly, not giving a job because you are only looking at balance sheets, only looking at how to make a profit. That goes against God!
Advocacy groups
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
stated their concern over the number of factory-building tragedies in Bangladesh; there have been numerous major accidents in the country in the past decade, including the 2012 Dhaka fire
The 2012 Dhaka garment factory fire broke out on 24 November 2012, in the Tazreen Fashion factory in the Ashulia district on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. At least 117 people were confirmed dead in the fire, and over 200 were injured, makin ...
.
IndustriALL Global Union
IndustriALL Global Union is a global union federation, founded in Copenhagen on 19 June 2012.
IndustriALL Global Union represents more than 50 million working people in more than 140 countries, working across the supply chains in mining, energy a ...
, a global union federation representing textile and garment workers' trade unions around the world, launched an online campaign in support of the Bangladeshi unions' demand for labour law reform in the wake of the disaster. The campaign, hosted on LabourStart, calls for changes in the law to make it easier for unions to organise workers, as well as demanding improved health and safety conditions.
On 27 April, protesters surrounded Primark
Primark Stores Limited (; trading as Penneys in the Republic of Ireland) is an Irish multinational fast fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. It has stores across Europe and in the United States. The Penneys brand is not u ...
store on Oxford Street in the City of Westminster in the West End of London. Speaking outside the store, Murray Worthy, from campaign group War on Want, said:
There have been monthly protests at Benetton's flagship store at Oxford Circus in London since the one year anniversary of the collapse. Benetton initially denied reports linking production of their clothing at the factory, but clothes and documents linked to Benetton were discovered at the disaster site. The protesters are demanding that Benetton contribute to the compensation fund, which they have not yet done.
The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights
The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, formerly known as the National Labor Committee (until 2011), is a non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO) that investigates human and labor rights abuses committed by large multinational c ...
established a workers' relief fund, which raised $26,000 for injured workers and surviving family members by September 2013.
Academia
A team of researchers from NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights The NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights is an academic research and advocacy organization at the New York University Stern School of Business founded in March 2013. It is the first center to focus on human rights as an integral part of bu ...
began their investigation which resulted in an April 2014 report entitled "Business as Usual Is Not an Option: Supply Chains and Sourcing after Rana Plaza." A December 2015 report, written by the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights The NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights is an academic research and advocacy organization at the New York University Stern School of Business founded in March 2013. It is the first center to focus on human rights as an integral part of bu ...
, found that only eight of 3,425 factories inspected had "remedied violations enough to pass a final inspection" despite the international community's $280 million commitment to clean up Bangladesh's RMG industry.
Consumers
Dozens of consumers in the United States and Australia spoke out against unsafe working conditions found in the factory building. People also expressed their anger at retailers that did not have any connections to that specific building, but are known to source from factories located in Bangladesh.
Fashion industry response
At a meeting of retailers and NGOs a week after the collapse, a new Accord on Factory and Building Safety in Bangladesh
The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (the Accord) was signed on 24 April 2013. It is a five-year independent, legally binding Global Framework Agreement between global brands, retailers and trade unions designed to build a safe ...
was created and a deadline of 16 May was set to sign it. The agreement expands on a previous accord signed only by the US-based PVH, which owns Calvin Klein
Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc., in 1968. In addition to clothing, he also has given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and ...
and German retailer Tchibo
Tchibo is a German chain of coffee retailers and cafés known for its range of non-coffee products that change weekly. The latter includes: clothing, furniture, household items, electronics and electrical appliances. In Germany, Tchibo's slogan i ...
.
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
, along with 14 other North American companies, refused to sign the Accord as the deadline passed. As of 23 May 2013, thirty-eight companies had signed the accord. Walmart, J.C. Penney and labour activists have been considering an agreement to improve factory safety in Bangladesh for at least two years. In 2011, Walmart rejected reforms that would have had retailers pay more for apparel to help Bangladesh factories improve safety standards.
On 10 July 2013, a group of 17 major North American retailers, including Walmart, Gap, Target
Target may refer to:
Physical items
* Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports
** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports
** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...
and Macy's
Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
, announced a plan to improve factory safety in Bangladesh, drawing immediate criticism from labour groups who complained that it was less stringent than an accord reached among European companies. Unlike the accord joined mainly by European retailers, the plan lacks legally binding commitments to pay for those improvements.
Dov Charney
Dov Charney (born January 31, 1969) is a Canadian entrepreneur and clothing manufacturer. He is the founder of American Apparel, which was one of the largest garment manufacturers in the United States until its bankruptcy in 2015. Charney subse ...
, the founder and CEO of American Apparel
American Apparel Inc. is an online-only retailer and former brick-and-mortar stores operator based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Canadian businessman Dov Charney in 1989, it was a vertically integrated company that ranked as one of the ...
, was interviewed on Vice.tv
Vice Media Group LLC is an American-Canadian digital media and broadcasting company. , the Vice Media Group included five main business areas: VICE.com (digital content); VICE STUDIOS (film and TV production) VICE TV (also known as VICELAND); ...
and spoke out against the poor treatment of workers in developing countries and refers to it as "slave labor". Charney proposes a "Global Garment Workers Minimum Wage" as well discusses in detail many of the inner workings of the modern fast fashion
Fast fashion is a term used to describe the clothing industry's business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and High fashion, high-fashion designs, mass production, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail stores qui ...
industry commerce practices that leads to dangerous factory conditions like at Savar.
In October 2013, Canadian Brad Loewen was given the responsibility of implementing the Accord requirement to upgrade the safety features of 1600 Bangladeshi garment factories. He and his wife, filmmaker Shelagh Carter
Shelagh Jane Carter (best known as Shelagh Carter, and occasionally referred to as Shelagh Carter-Loewen) is a Canadian director, producer, screenwriter, actress and retired theatre and film professor at the University of Winnipeg, known initia ...
, moved to Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
in December 2013 for an expected five-year term.
By 2023, substantial progress had been made on fire and building safety in the Bangladesh garment industry, but survivors of the collapse still faced uncompensated economic hardships created by physical and psychological injuries.
Compensation to victims
As of mid September 2013, compensations to families of disaster victims were still under discussion, with many families struggling to survive after having lost their lone wage earner who used to provide them food, shelter, education and health care. Families who had received the $200 compensation from Primark
Primark Stores Limited (; trading as Penneys in the Republic of Ireland) is an Irish multinational fast fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. It has stores across Europe and in the United States. The Penneys brand is not u ...
were only those able to provide DNA evidence of their relative's death in the collapse, which proved extremely difficult.[Dhaka factory collapse: No compensation without DNA identificationBy Jane Deith, BBC News, Dhaka, 16 September 2013, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24080579] The US government provided DNA kits to the families of victims.
Of the 29 brands identified as having sourced products from the Rana Plaza factories, only 9 attended meetings held in November 2013 to agree on a proposal on compensation to the victims. Several companies refused to sign including Walmart, Carrefour
Carrefour () is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, France. The eighth-largest retailer in the world by revenue, it operates a chain of hypermarkets, groceries stores and convenience stores, which ...
, Auchan
Auchan () is a French multinational retail group headquartered in Croix, France. It was founded in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez and is owned by the Mulliez family, who has 95% stake in the company.
With 354,851 employees, of which 261,000 have 5% s ...
and KiK. The agreement was signed by Primark, Loblaw
Loblaw Companies Limited is a Canadian retailer encompassing corporate and franchise supermarkets operating under 22 regional and market-segment banners (including Loblaws), as well as pharmacies, banking and apparel. Loblaw operates a private ...
, Bonmarche and El Corte Ingles. By March 2014, seven of the 28 international brands sourcing products from Rana Plaza had contributed to the ''Rana Plaza Donor's Trust Fund'' compensation fund, which is backed by the International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...
.
More than 2 dozen victims' families have not been compensated as they could not back up their claims with documentation.
Charges
On 15 June 2014, the Bangladesh Anti Corruption Commission
The Anti Corruption Commission ( bn, দুর্নীতি দমন কমিশন) ''often abbreviated:'' ACC ( bn, দুদক) is the principal government agency against corruption in Bangladesh.
History
The Anti Corruption Commissio ...
filed a case against 14 people for building Rana Plaza with faulty design. On 1 June 2015, murder charges were filed by the Bangladesh Police
The Bangladesh Police ( bn, বাংলাদেশ পুলিশ) of the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a law enforcement agency, operating under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It plays a crucial role in maintaining peace, and enforcement ...
against 42 people, including the owners of the building, over the collapse. The accused were indicted on 28 July 2016. The case was delayed after the Bangladesh High Court
The High Court Division, Supreme Court of Bangladesh ( bn, হাইকোর্ট ডিভিশন) popularly known as the 'High Court' is one of the two divisions of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, the other division being the Appellate D ...
stopped trial proceedings against 5 accused including Savar Mayor Refayat Ullah.
On 29 August 2017, the factory owner, Sohel Rana, was sentenced to a maximum three year imprisonment by a court for failing to declare his personal wealth to the country's anti-graft commission. Rana and 37 others, including government officials, have also been charged with murder and could receive the death penalty if they are found responsible for the complex's collapse.
As of 2021, both the murder trial and the violation of the building code trial are still pending. Only Sohel Rana is in custody, the others accused are on bail
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required.
In some countries ...
, on the run or already dead.
International reaction
The Savar building collapse has led to widespread discussions about corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of international private business self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in or supporting volunteering or ethicall ...
across global supply chain
In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, acti ...
s. Based on an analysis of the Savar building collapse, Wieland and Handfield (2013) suggest that companies need to audit products and suppliers; and that supplier auditing needs to go beyond direct relationships with first-tier suppliers. They also demonstrate that visibility must be improved if supply cannot be directly controlled, and that smart and electronic technologies play a key role to improve visibility. Finally, they highlight that collaboration with local partners, across the industry and with universities is crucial to successfully managing social responsibility in supply chains.
Bangladesh Garment Sramik Sanghati, an organization working for the welfare of the workers, has called on the government, international buyers, and factory owners to compensate survivors and victims' families. The group has also asked that April 24 be declared Labor Safety Day in the country.
Global labour and rights groups have criticized Western retailers and say they are not doing enough to ensure the safety at factories where their clothes are made. The companies linked to the Rana Plaza disaster include the Spanish brand Mango, Italian brand Benetton and French retailer Auchan.
On 24 April 2014, thousands of people gathered at an event held to commemorate the first anniversary of the disaster near the building site.
Documentary
Shelagh Carter
Shelagh Jane Carter (best known as Shelagh Carter, and occasionally referred to as Shelagh Carter-Loewen) is a Canadian director, producer, screenwriter, actress and retired theatre and film professor at the University of Winnipeg, known initia ...
produced a short documentary, ''Rana Plaza: Let Not the Hope Die'' (2014), commemorating the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, while living in Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
in support of her husband Brad Loewen's work in implementing the Accord.
See also
* Exploitation of labour
Exploitation of labour (also known as labor) is a concept defined as, in its broadest sense, one agent taking unfair advantage of another agent. It denotes an unjust social relationship based on an asymmetry of power or unequal exchange of value be ...
* Final Embrace
''Final Embrace'' is a photograph showing two victims in the rubble of the April 2013 collapse of the eight storey Rana Plaza building in Savar Upazila, Bangladesh. The photograph, taken by freelance photographer Taslima Akhter, was awarded thi ...
* Sweatshop
A sweatshop or sweat factory is a crowded workplace with very poor, socially unacceptable or illegal working conditions. Some illegal working conditions include poor ventilation, little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting, o ...
*''The True Cost
''The True Cost'' is a 2015 documentary film directed by Andrew Morgan that focuses on fast fashion. It discusses several aspects of the garment industry from production—mainly exploring the life of low-wage workers in developing countries—t ...
''
* List of disasters in Bangladesh by death toll
This is a list of disasters and tragic events in Bangladesh sorted by death toll.
Throughout history, Bangladesh has been attacked by various types of natural disasters. Most of the natural disasters happen during May to July.
100 or more dea ...
* Other garment factory disasters:
** Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on Saturday, March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history. The ...
(1911)
** Pakistan garment factory fires (2012)
* Other building collapses:
** Pemberton Mill
The Pemberton Mill was a large factory in Lawrence, Massachusetts. It suddenly collapsed and occupants were crushed or burned alive on January 10, 1860, in what has been called "the worst industrial accident in Massachusetts history" and "one of t ...
(1860 collapse)
** Collapse of Hotel New World
The collapse of the Hotel New World was a civil disaster that occurred in Singapore on 15 March 1986. The Hotel New World was a six-storey building situated at the junction of Serangoon Road and Owen Road in the Rochor district when it suddenly ...
(1986)
** Sampoong Department Store collapse
On June 29, 1995, the Sampoong Department Store in Seoul, South Korea, collapsed due to a structural failure. The collapse killed 502 people and injured 937, making it the largest peacetime disaster in South Korean history. It was the deadlie ...
(1995)
** Collapse of the World Trade Center
The collapse of the World Trade Center occurred during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, after the Twin Towers were struck by two hijacked commercial airliners. One World Trade Center (WTC 1, or the North Tower) was hit at 8:46 ...
(2001)
** Thane building collapse (2013)
** Riga supermarket roof collapse (2013)
** Surfside condominium building collapse (2021)
* Organizations
** Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety
The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, also known as "the Alliance" or AFBWS, is a group of 28 major global retailers formed to develop and launch the Bangladesh Worker Safety Initiative, a binding, five-year undertaking with the intent of im ...
References
Further reading
Heartbreaking Bangladesh Factory Photo Shows Couple In Final Embrace (PHOTO)
''The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
.'' 8 May 2013.
Smile, Work and Die
Vijay Prashad
Vijay Prashad is an Indian Marxist historian and commentator. He is an executive-director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, the Chief Editor of LeftWord Books, and a senior non-resident fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financ ...
. ''Truthdig
Truthdig is an American news website that provides a mix of long-form articles, blog items, curated links, interviews, arts criticism and commentary on current events delivered from a politically progressive, left-leaning point of view. The site of ...
.'' 26 April 2013.
Bangladesh factory collapse: Clothes made for a tenth of retail price, documents show , Toronto Star
''Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'', 14 May 2013
Will Retailers Invest in Safer Conditions in Bangladesh? – YouTube
(7:43)—''PBS NewsHour
''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virg ...
'' interview
*
A year after Rana Plaza: What hasn't changed since the Bangladesh factory collapse
''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', 18 April 2014
'Without stronger unions, Rana Plaza will happen time and time again'
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
.'' 24 April 2014.
27 Arrested at The Children's Place HQ in Protest over Factory Collapse
''Democracy Now!
''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...
'' 13 March 2015.
*
External links
Help the humanitarian relief effort in Savar , Industriall
IndustriALL Global Union
IndustriALL Global Union is a global union federation, founded in Copenhagen on 19 June 2012.
IndustriALL Global Union represents more than 50 million working people in more than 140 countries, working across the supply chains in mining, energy a ...
Made in Bangladesh
The Fifth Estate (TV series)
''The Fifth Estate'' is an English-language Canadian investigative documentary series that airs on the national CBC Television network.
The name is a reference to the term " Fourth Estate", and was chosen to highlight the program's determinati ...
—YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
(42:40)
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