RANA PLAZA - 2013
The 2013 Savar building collapse or Rana Plaza collapse was a structural failure that occurred on Wednesday, 24 April 2013 in the Savar Upazila of Dhaka, Bangladesh where an eight-story commercial building named Rana Plaza collapsed. The death toll of 1,130 and approximately 2,500 injured people were rescued from the building alive. It is considered the deadliest garment-factory accident in history. The collapse of Rana Plaza brought worldwide attention to deathtrap workplaces within the garment industry.Many saw this event as a wake-up call for fashion. And yet, the industry is still plagued by uneven and poorly enforced legislation on wages, working hours and health and safety; and unclear supply chains, where sub-contracting makes it easy for factories and brands to pass on responsibility for the conditions in which their products are made.
In response, 12 of Australia’s largest and most influential companies started to address this issue. This included signing onto the Bangladesh Fire and Safety Accord which has so far enabled safety inspections of more than 1,600 garment factories in Bangladesh. Australian clothing companies were also challenged to publish the locations of their clothing suppliers in Bangladesh. However, only five of these 12 major Australian retail brands have currently done so.
