It is easy to forget. Most of us work in buildings where safety can largely be taken for granted, and fire drills are annoying disruptions in which a security official seizes the chance to talk loudly and repeatedly on the public address system, stopping us from doing any work.
In the past, that was not true of US and European textile factories. The collapse of the Pemberton mill in Massachusetts in 1860, and the fire at Triangle Shirtwaist factory in Manhattan in 1911 each killed about 145 workers, mostly women. That helped to establish the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and led to health and safety laws.
The collapse of the Rana Plaza textile factories should be a watershed for Bangladesh. But the deaths of more than 400 women, who made garments for retailers such as Primark and Mango, will not be enough. Previous disasters, such as the Tazreen Fashions fire last November, in which at least 110 workers died, did not change attitudes.