FILE: Bangladesh to mark the first anniversary of the world's worst garment industry accident, the Rana Plaza factory collapse, which killed more than 1,100 workers

Record ID: 216553

  • Title: FILE: Bangladesh to mark the first anniversary of the world's worst garment industry accident, the Rana Plaza factory collapse, which killed more than 1,100 workers
  • Date: 21st April 2014
  • Summary: DHAKA, BANGLADESH (FILE - APRIL 24, 2013) (REUTERS) RESCUE WORKERS AT THE RANA PLAZA FACTORY COLLAPSE SITE WORKERS ENGAGED IN RESCUE OPERATIONS VIEW OF THE COLLAPSED FACTORY MORE OF THE COLLAPSED FACTORY WORKERS CARRYING A RESCUED VICTIM ON A STRETCHER RESCUE WORKERS PULLING OUT A BODY FROM A HOLE WOMAN MOURNING ANOTHER WOMAN CRYING RESCUE WORKERS TAKING OUT BODIES FROM T
  • Embargoed: 6th May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Bangladesh
  • Country: Bangladesh
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVAF3P5FINDQTOTY7DUX02871TCW
  • Story Text: Bangladesh is set to mark the first anniversary of the world's worst garment industry accident, the Rana Plaza factory collapse on Thursday (April 24), which killed more than 1,100 workers and injured over 2,000, turning global attention on grim working conditions in the factories of the world's second biggest exporter of garments.
    The collapse on April 24, 2013 of the eight-story Rana Plaza building near Dhaka that housed several garment factories was a harrowing reminder of the collective failure - by the authorities, owners and buyers - to ensure that cheap doesn't mean dangerous. The tower fell like a pack of cards.
    The accident focused attention on working conditions in Bangladesh. U.S. and European retailers responded by forming groups to push for better safety standards and regular inspections.
    Rana Plaza was the deadliest of a series of workplace tragedies in Bangladesh's garment business. It was the third deadly incident in six months to raise questions about worker safety and labor conditions in the poor South Asian country, which relies on garments for 80 percent of its exports.
    Garments are a vital sector for Bangladesh and its low wages and duty-free access to Western markets have helped make it the world's second-largest apparel exporter after China.
    But the $20 billion industry, which supplies many Western brands, has been under a spotlight after a series of deadly incidents including the collapse of building housing factories in April last year.
    The politically well connected owner of the Rana Plaza building, Mohammed Sohel Rana, was arrested after a four-day hunt as he appeared to be trying to flee across the border to India.
    People like Rana have built their business empires by keeping nearly 3.6 million textile workers in sub-human conditions in the squalid back streets of the capital.
    However, now, some Western retailers are lobbying for higher wages and better standards for workers - and have also warned investors there may be a price to pay in terms of reduced profit margins.
    And the after effects of the global outrage are showing on Bangladesh's top foreign revenue earner. Nearly a year after the disaster in Dhaka's Savar district, Bangladesh's garment export growth has slowed to the lowest rate in 15 years.
    The Rana Plaza disaster was by no means an isolated incident in the history of Bangladesh's garment industry. In 2012, scores of workers perished in a fire at a factory on the outskirts of Dhaka called Tazreen Fashion.
    Anger over the working conditions of garment workers - most of whom are women - has grown since the disaster, triggering protests.
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