Dhaka building collapse

It was the 24th day of April 2013, when the fate of around 5000 workers brought the worst day of their lives. Rana Plaza was an eight-story commercial building situated in Savar, which is a sub-district in the Greater Dhaka Area of the capital of Bangladesh. This building collapsed to the pile of rubble. Up to the last efforts in the search for survivors on 13 May, 1,129 dead bodies were found and around 2,515 injured people were rescued alive.

 There was not any one to blame specifically. It was a crime committed collectively by the owners of the building, owners of garment factories operating inside that building and the government authorities.

 Sohel Rana, owner of the building was used as a scapegoat to put all the blame on, while the owners of factories who forced the workers by threatening to cut their one month salaries after ignoring a day before notice from government authorities, were viewed as less culpable.

 There are a few ethical issues involved in this incident including but not limited to the following:

 It is the social responsibility of the organizations to check the poor working conditions of the factories from where they are outsourcing.

 Overloading a factory beyond its production capacities would definitely result in creating a chain of sub-contracts after sub-contract to fulfil the order completion. In such a chain, subsequently, it goes beyond control to have checks on working conditions.

 Workers in Rana Plaza factories were a perfect example of modern day slavery. They were working at $38 salary rate.

 An eight-storey building with 5000 workers; we can imagine such working conditions.

 The collapse of Rana Plaza was not just a collapse of a building but it actually was a failure of a whole system.The owners of factories, the plaza and the government authorities, ignored their personal, social and industrial responsibilities.

 To avoid such an incident in future, we have to examine all the system including all stakeholders from the manufacturers, retailers and consumers to the local authorities and workers.