Case Study: Rubble of Rana Plaza
I chose rubble of the collapsed Rana Plaza building because it is considered to be the deadliest garment-factory accident in history, as well as the deadliest accidental structural failure in modern human history. More than 1100 number of lives which were lost due to poor management of the company brought my attention to do this case study.
Contemporary management issue in relation to this article
Issue: Diminishing Corporate Social Responsibility across global supply chains and sweatshops.
Background and context of the company
The eight-storey high building, Rana Plaza, is located near Dhaka, which is the capital city of Bangladesh. This building was owned by Sohel Rana, allegedly a leading member of the local Jubo League, the youth wing of the ruling Awami League political party. It housed a number of separate garment factories employing around 5,000 people, several shops, and a bank. The factories manufactured apparels for brands including Benetton, Bonmarché, the Children's Place,El Corte Inglés, Joe Fresh, Mango, Matalan, Primark, and Walmart.
Key issues for the company
As a result of poor building constructions and running heavy equipped machineries, despite not being designed for industrial use contributed to the collapse of this eight-storey building, two floors of which were added illegally. Besides that, employees of the garment factories were forced to work by the owners even after discovering cracks on the exterior walls of the building. The employees were clearly under poor working conditions.
Relevant Management Theories and the key issues relating to them:
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): “Socially responsible practices related to employees, customers, sup...
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...er grounds with good quality construction materials. Besides that, employees must be given training on how to escape in adverse situation and normal working hours should be ensured. Any extra working hours (overtime) must be with the consent of the employee. This step matches the CSR theory (Kumar, et al. 2004).
Key challenges that the company faces are shortage of employees and hesitation or withdrawal of foreign apparel companies to operate in their factories. The issue may be resolved by an increase in wages for garment-factory employees with proper working conditions and proper supervision of the stability of the building as well as the employees' safety. I recommend those practices are ensured in the factory and the government imposes harsh punishment towards factory owners and building constructors if they do not fulfill the building criteria.
...afety should have inspected the building prior to issuing permits for further renovation, especially knowing this structure was going to be housing 124 residents. It seems that lack of knowledge from prior owners and lack of responsibility of city officials are responsible for this collapse and sadly, the loss of 9 brave men in the line of duty. The Boston Fire Department could have worked closer with the owner/ construction crew at the Hotel Vendome, and the deficiencies would have been found, and they would have known the instability they were walking into on June 17. At that point, firefighting operations would have more than likely been defensive. The firefighters did not conduct pre-incident planning which would have let them know they were going to face the construction barriers while attempting to lay hose, maneuver hose, and get the hose to a water source.
On March 25, 1911, a devastating fire broke out in New York City. Specifically it started in the eighth floor of the ten story Asch building, the first of three floors that belonged to the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. The fire spread to the floors above claiming the lives of 146 workers. Nearly all of these workers were young women, mainly recent immigrants that were Jewish, or Italian. This case is not an arson case as some may think with the amount of lives lost, rather the fire was, as far as anybody knows, an accident. Due to the working conditions these workers faced, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company was considered a sweatshop. They worked in crowded rooms with too many people, and got paid very little for their work. It appears as though it was common practice to keep doors restricted so that only one person could exit the floor at a time. By doing this the owners Isaac Harris, and Max Blanck could check the workers personal belongings as they left work, for stolen shirts or material. Between the overall working conditions and the exits that only allowed one person to exit at a time, this case becomes a crime against globalization case.
Previous to the fire, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union took a stand with the Women’s Trade Union League to strike against the their working conditions. Unfortunately, even though their voices were heard, many of the sweat shop owners disregarded all basic workers’ rights. Management had no fear from
The documentary strived to show us how factories were corrupt that they couldn’t provide good working conditions for the workers until we lost people. This documentary is about the tragic fire that took place on March 25, 1911 in the Triangle factory. We can clearly see through this documentary that these people didn’t matter to the factory owners because their needs were not met. The documentary shows that the year before the fire took place the workers led a strike asking for better working conditions, but obviously their voices were not heard. After the fire took place this is when factories started improving working conditions. It is sad to learn that it took 146 lives of innocent people in order for factory owners to be convinced that they need to improve the poor working
Work in the mills was hard and dangerous. The men worked from six to six, seven days a week. One week on day shifts and one week on night shifts, at the end of every shift the workers worked twenty-four hours. When the men worked the long shift they where exhausted, this made it fatally easy to be careless. Accidents were frequent and the employers did little or nothing to improve the conditions that the workers h...
They’re a lot of cattle anyway.” This reflects negatively on the neglect and passivity of factory owners and inspectors because of their unwillingness to protect the safety and wellbeing of factory owners.Within the same document, it Mr. H.F.J Porter mentioned that “There are only two or three factories in the city where fire drills are in use. In some of them where I have installed the system myself, the owners have discontinued it.” This is yet again another example of how neglectful factory regulators can be to employees and that they pay little attention to their health just to earn money in an easier but cruel way. Employees on the other hand, form unions to rebel against poor conditions, low pay, and long work hours. The employees also went on strike. They knew that they needed to prevent themselves and other employees from falling into the trap of harsh conditions of factories. The owners eventually raised their pay and shortened hours, but did not improve the working conditions of the
Most of the victims were suffocated or burned to death within the building, but some who fought their way to the windows and leaped met death as surely, but perhaps more quickly, on the pavements below. The news account contains vivid eyewitness testimony about the fire and the horrible, painful deaths it caused. Accounts such as this one can rally public opinion and force the government to more closely regulate working conditions in factories and other
Sweatshops, while seemingly helpful, are filled with inexperienced workers, ranging from children ages twelve or younger to grown adult women. These workers are not how to properly operate the heavy machinery. In some moments, the machines will actually fall apart and/or explode, greatly exposing horrible injury on the workers. On top of that, workers have no access to compensation for their injuries while working in sweatshops. Thes...
In chapter three of the current document, the analytical case studies are explained and the investigated buildings are described. Also, the observed damage in these buildings is studied.
On their own, some countries were able to rebuild or repair slightly damaged factories and warehouses. Contrary to popular belief, factories...
At the time, New York City was the factory headquarters for America, but the Big Apple did well to hide their industrial side. The city did its best to keep up the facade that everything was glitz and glam. These factories, each with hundreds of workers inside, were loft buildings that were never designed to house factories. They were made in an attempt to save money on electricity and insurance, which worked because the lofts were “fireproof”. The structure of the building also allowed for more to packed into a smaller place due to taller ceilings. Another crucial design flaw in the loft factories were the exits. There was only one narrow hallway for the workers to exit. This was to ensure the workers (women especially) were not stealing
Firstly I will provided a brief timeline of events beginning with the first WTC collapsing all the way to the built output of the new WTC. I will examine the political effects on the building followed by social and the economic. In conclusion I will state how and how much all these issues have affected the built output.
It then goes on to say who the factory was owned by and who the majority of the workers were. It also states the poor quality the building was in. After that, the source tells of the previous history that the owners had with fires in their factories and how the past fires had happened. Next, it reveals that the International Ladies Garment Workers Union held a strike due to the pay and hours and how the owners of the factory reacted to the strike. Following all of this, it describes how the girls tried to get out of the fire after it had happened and the number of girls that had died due to different causes. It then states how the owners got away without any charges and how the reform party came to
What are the causes of the weak safety record of the Bangladesh garment industry? Do Western companies that import garments from Bangladesh bear any responsibility for what happened at the Rana Plaza and other workplace accidents? The causes of the weak safety record of the Bangladesh garment industry are because of Western companies that import garments from Bangladesh and the government. The government could utilize their power to improve the conditions in Bangladesh, but instead they sit around and do nothing about it. Additionally, Western companies and others like it that chose to conduct business with industries like in Bangladesh seek to produce their products effectively and efficiently. Therefore, poor work conditions should be expected because those companies should know the situation those industries is in because their country is poor. Nevertheless, Western company’s do bear responsibility for what happened at the Rana Plaza along with other workplace
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