tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/industrial-accidents-31412/articlesIndustrial accidents – The Conversation2023-04-22T16:20:10Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2015382023-04-22T16:20:10Z2023-04-22T16:20:10ZFast fashion still comes with deadly risks, 10 years after the Rana Plaza disaster – the industry’s many moving pieces make it easy to cut corners<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522252/original/file-20230421-26-yyte0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C3%2C1019%2C679&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Activists in Dhaka demand safe working conditions in 2019, on the anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/industry-all-bangladesh-council-activists-protest-to-news-photo/1139075620?adppopup=true">Mamunur Rashid/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On April 24, 2013, a multistory garment factory complex in Bangladesh called Rana Plaza collapsed, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-22476774">killing more than 1,000 workers</a> and injuring another 2,500. It remains the worst accident in the history of the apparel industry and one of the deadliest industrial accidents in the world.</p>
<p>Several factories inside the complex <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/04/26/these-retailers-involved-in-bangladesh-factory-disaster-have-yet-to-compensate-victims/?sh=3444108c211b">produced apparel for Western brands</a>, including Benetton, Primark and Walmart, shining a spotlight on the unsafe conditions in which a sizable portion of Americans’ cheap clothing is produced. The humanitarian tragedy hit home as wealthy nations’ shoppers wrestled with their own complicity and called for reforms – but a decade later, progress is still patchy.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://michiganross.umich.edu/faculty-research/faculty/ravi-anupindi">a professor of operations and supply chain management</a>, I believe it is important to understand how the complex and fragmented supply chains that are the norm in the clothing industry create conditions where unsafe conditions and abuse can flourish – and make it difficult to assign responsibility for reforms.</p>
<h2>Shamed into action?</h2>
<p>Rana Plaza was <a href="https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2022/06/05/the-worst-industrial-disasters-in-bangladesh-since-2005">not the first garment industry accident in Bangladesh</a>. While the government had stringent building codes “on the books,” <a href="https://ces.ulab.edu.bd/sites/default/files/Building_Code_Analysis-hi.pdf">they were rarely enforced</a>. Most workers lacked the information and power to demand safe working conditions.</p>
<p>Yet the fact that the Rana Plaza collapse was not only a humanitarian crisis, but a public relations crisis, prompted swift action by international organizations and Western brands and clothing retailers. A campaign for <a href="https://ranaplaza-arrangement.org/">full and fair compensation</a> for families of victims was launched immediately, facilitated by <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/lang--en/index.htm">the International Labor Organization</a>, a U.N. agency. Within a few months, two initiatives were designed to bring garment factories in Bangladesh up to international standards: the European-led <a href="https://bangladeshaccord.org/">Accord for Fire and Building Safety</a>, and the American-led <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/bangladesh-alliance-for-bangladesh-workers-safety-announces-end-of-its-tenure/">Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety</a>.</p>
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<span class="caption">Rescue and recovery personnel on the site of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BangladeshBuildingCollapse/7f235631839d40e4ad3cbba1e0825166/photo?Query=(renditions.phototype:horizontal)%20AND%20%20(%22rana%20plaza%22)%20&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=297&currentItemNo=295">AP Photo/Wong Maye-E</a></span>
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<p>While the two initiatives differed in some important ways, both shared the common goal: to improve building and fire safety by leveraging the purchasing power of the member companies. In other words, Western brands would insist that production partners get up to standard or take their business elsewhere.</p>
<p>Altogether, the two agreements covered about 2,300 supplier factories. The coalitions conducted factory inspections to identify structural and electrical deficiencies and developed plans for factories to make improvements. The initiatives also laid the groundwork to form worker safety committees <a href="https://iosh.com/news/bangladesh-project-success-story/">and to train workers</a> to recognize, solve and prevent health and safety issues. Member companies set aside funds for inspections and worker training, <a href="https://cleanclothes.org/issues/faq-safety-accord">negotiated commercial terms</a> and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/alliance-sets-plan-to-finance-bangladesh-factory-upgrades-1417791607">facilitated low-cost loans</a> for factory improvements.</p>
<p>Both were five-year agreements: the Alliance <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/bangladesh-alliance-for-bangladesh-workers-safety-announces-end-of-its-tenure/">was sunsetted in 2018</a>, whereas the Accord operated for a few more years before handing operations over to the locally created <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/bangladesh-rmg-sustainability-council-to-take-over-accord-operations-after-281-days/">Readymade Sustainability Council</a> in June 2020.</p>
<h2>The record since</h2>
<p>The onus and expense of making these improvements, however, were largely to be borne by the suppliers – a substantial financial burden for many factories, especially considering the low cost and slim profit margins of the clothes they were producing. </p>
<p>Under the Alliance and the Accord, thousands of factories were inspected for building and fire safety, identifying problems such as lack of fire extinguishers and sprinkler systems, improper fire exits, faulty wiring and structural issues. At the end of five years, both initiatives reported that <a href="https://issuu.com/nyusterncenterforbusinessandhumanri/docs/nyu_bangladesh_ranaplaza_final_rele?e=31640827/64580941">85%-88% of safety issues were remediated</a>. Around half of the factories completed more than 90% of initial remediation, while over 260 of the original 2,300 factories under the initiatives were suspended from contracting with member companies.</p>
<p>In addition, more than 5,000 beneficiaries, including injured workers and dependents of victims, were compensated <a href="https://ranaplaza-arrangement.org/">through the Rana Plaza Arrangement</a>, receiving an average of about US$6,500.</p>
<p>Overall, I believe that these initiatives have been successful in bringing safety issues to the forefront. In terms of infrastructure improvements, however, while there has been decent progress, much still needs to be done; for example, the initiatives covered just about <a href="https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/%7Etwadhwa/bangladesh/downloads/beyond_the_tip_of_the_iceberg_report.pdf">one-third of all the garment factories in Bangladesh</a>. Importantly, neither addressed company sourcing practices.</p>
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<span class="caption">Family of Rana Plaza victims look at their relatives’ graves as they mark the disaster’s anniversary in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/dhaka-bangladesh-april-24-2017-relatives-of-rana-plaza-news-photo/672595062?adppopup=true">Rehman Asad/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Clothes yesterday and today</h2>
<p>To understand why so much apparel manufacturing takes place in substandard conditions, we need to understand the underlying economic forces: extensive outsourcing to countries with low wages in the quest to meet demand for more – and cheaper – clothing to sell to customers in the West.</p>
<p>In the 1960s, the average American family <a href="https://www.kqed.org/lowdown/7939/madeinamerica">spent 10% of its income on clothing</a>, buying 25 pieces of apparel – almost all of it made in the United States. Fifty years later, around the time of the Rana Plaza disaster, the average household was spending only about 3.5% of its income on clothing – but buying three times as many items, 98% of which were imported.</p>
<p>Over these decades, low-income countries in Asia and Latin America started producing more garments and textiles. Apparel production is labor-intensive, meaning these countries’ lower wages were a huge attraction to brands and retailers, who gradually started shifting their sourcing.</p>
<p>On a $30 shirt, for example, a typical retailer markup is close to 60%. The factory makes a profit of $1.15, and the worker <a href="https://theconversation.com/years-after-the-rana-plaza-tragedy-bangladeshs-garment-workers-are-still-bottom-of-the-pile-159224">makes barely 18 cents</a>. Were a similar shirt produced in the U.S., labor costs would <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/05/02/world/asia/bangladesh-us-tshirt/index.html">be closer to $10</a>.</p>
<p>As labor costs rose in China, Bangladesh became <a href="https://qz.com/389741/the-thing-that-makes-bangladeshs-garment-industry-such-a-huge-success-also-makes-it-deadly">a very appealing alternative</a>. Garment exports now account for 82% of <a href="https://bgmea.com.bd/page/Export_Performance">the country’s export total</a>, and the industry <a href="https://www.bsr.org/en/blog/what-if-all-garment-workers-in-bangladesh-were-financially-included">employs 4 million people</a>, about 58% of whom are women. </p>
<p>The growth of this sector has <a href="https://dspace.bracu.ac.bd/xmlui/handle/10361/482">reduced poverty</a> significantly and also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2015.01.006">empowered women</a>. To meet the rapid growth of the apparel industry, however, many buildings were converted to factories as quickly as possible, often without requisite permits. </p>
<h2>Everyone and no one</h2>
<p>A common way that foreign companies source products from low-cost countries like Bangladesh is through intermediaries or agents. For example, when a brand places a large order with an authorized factory, the factory in turn may <a href="https://issuu.com/nyusterncenterforbusinessandhumanri/docs/nyu_bangladesh_ranaplaza_final_rele?e=31640827/64580941">subcontract part of the production to smaller factories</a>, often without informing the brand.</p>
<p>This highly competitive environment, with people at each step of the process looking for the lowest price and no guarantee of longer-term relationships, gives suppliers incentives to cut corners – particularly when under extreme pressure to deliver on time. This can translate into <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bangladesh-worker-rights/bangladesh-urged-to-stop-worker-abuse-in-garment-industry-idUSKBN20W25O">exploitative labor practices</a> or unsafe conditions that violate local laws, but enforcement capacity is weak. </p>
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<span class="caption">Nilufer Begum, an injured garment worker who survived the Rana Plaza disaster, during a 2018 interview with AFP in her small tea stall.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photograph-taken-on-april-17-2018-nilufer-begum-an-news-photo/949797208?adppopup=true">Munir Uz Zaman/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In their constant quest for lower prices, buyers may turn a blind eye to these practices. The supply chain’s opaqueness, especially when brands do not source directly, makes it difficult to investigate and remediate these practices. Since the 1990s, international <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7591/9781501727290-004/pdf">scrutiny of labor conditions</a> has grown, but reform efforts largely ignored building and fire safety, the prime reason for the Rana Plaza collapse. Because multiple buyers would often use the same factory, no single buyer felt obligated to invest in the supplier to ensure better conditions.</p>
<p>Garments traverse a complex global supply network by the time they reach stores thousands of miles away. Workers are caught in this web, exploited by factory management that is seldom held responsible by governments either <a href="https://www.npr.org/2013/05/09/182637164/bangladeshs-powerful-garment-sector-fends-off-regulation">unwilling or unable to enforce laws</a>. Western brands escape the scrutiny of their governments by outsourcing production to low-cost countries and absolve themselves of direct responsibility. And consumers, eager for a bargain, shop for the lowest price. </p>
<p>This complex system makes it hard to assign ethical responsibility, because everyone, and therefore no one, is guilty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201538/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ravi Anupindi is affiliated with Fair Labor Association. </span></em></p>Ten years after the collapse at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, the garment industry’s deadliest disaster, reforms are incomplete. The opaqueness of today’s complex supply chain is part of the problem.Ravi Anupindi, Professor of Technology and Operations, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1592242021-04-22T06:16:28Z2021-04-22T06:16:28ZYears after the Rana Plaza tragedy, Bangladesh’s garment workers are still bottom of the pile<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395941/original/file-20210420-19-18tfdll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C544%2C5266%2C2637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In this picture taken June 14, 2013, Henna Begum holds a picture of her daughter Akhi Akhter, a garment worker in the Rana Plaza building in Savar when it collapsed. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Frayer/AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2013 Dhaka garment factory collapse, killing more than 1,100 workers and injuring 2,600 more, is the clothing industry’s worst ever industrial incident.</p>
<p>It is not just the body count, though, that made the collapse of the Rana Plaza, a nine-story building in the Bangladeshi industrial city of Savar (near <a href="https://theconversation.com/signals-from-the-noise-of-urban-innovation-in-the-worlds-second-least-liveable-city-56925">Dhaka</a>), capture global attention (briefly) and spur activism around the world to improve the treatment of garment workers. </p>
<p>This had been an accident waiting to happen. Structural cracks in the building had been discovered the day before. Businesses on the lower floors (shops and the bank) were closed immediately. The five garment factories on the upper floors made their workers keep working. On the morning of April 24 2013 there was a power outage. Diesel generators at the top of the building were turned on. Then the building collapsed.</p>
<p>The official death toll is 1,132. But these things are never clear-cut. That number doesn’t include, for example, Nowshad Hasan Himu, a volunteer who spent 17 days in the rescue work that pulled more than 1,000 survivors from the rubble. Some could be only be freed by <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6651472/">amputating limbs</a>. Himu rescued dozens alive, and also moved the dead. On April 24 2019, the sixth anniversary of the disaster, <a href="https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/international/bangladesh-nowshad-hasan-himu-face-of-rana-plaza-rescue-operation-commits-suicide">he committed suicide</a>.</p>
<p>He could not forget. We should not forget.</p>
<h2>Global attention</h2>
<p>The Rana Plaza collapse briefly shone a spotlight on the underbelly of the global fashion business, a US$2.4 trillion industry that employs about 40 million of the world’s poorest workers, often in dangerous and degrading conditions. About 4 million of them are in Bangladesh, the second-biggest “ready made garment” exporter in the world, after China. </p>
<p>Activist groups such as <a href="https://cleanclothes.org/about">Clean Clothes Campaign</a> lobbied for compensation for the victims – many still <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6651472/">suffer from their injuries</a> – and better conditions for garment workers generally. For this was no isolated incident. Garment workers routinely died in factory fires and faced other dangers. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Relatives arrive to collect the body of garment worker Mohammed Abdullah on April 27 2013 at the makeshift morgue set in a schoolyard near the Rana Plaza site." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Relatives arrive to collect the body of garment worker Mohammed Abdullah on April 27 2013 at the makeshift morgue set in a schoolyard near the Rana Plaza site.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Frayer/AP</span></span>
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<p>At least 29 global brands were identified as doing business with one or more of the five factories in the Rana Plaza building. </p>
<p>Each was “a complicit participant in the creation of an environment that ultimately led to the deaths and maiming of thousands”, said <a href="https://cleanclothes.org/campaigns/past/rana-plaza">Clean Clothes Campaign</a>. Yet the problem was far wider than just those brands. It was a systemic problem. In a sense every shopper choosing clothes on the basis of cheapest price was complicit. </p>
<p>The industry vowed to do better. Within a month <a href="https://bangladeshaccord.org/2018/07/20/achievements-2013-accord/">222 companies signed</a> the <a href="https://bangladeshaccord.org/">Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh</a>, a legally binding agreement meant to ensure garment workers had safe workplaces. </p>
<p>Things have improved. But not enough. Eight years on, the fundamental problems in global supply chains – the disconnect between profits, accountability and responsibility – remains.</p>
<h2>Compliance a charade</h2>
<p>This disconnect was glaring when we interviewed Bangladesh manufacturers and Australian retailer in 2018 as part of our research. </p>
<p>Retailers maintained they were living up to their obligations by only sourcing garments from manufacturers complying with the <a href="https://bangladeshaccord.org/">Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh</a>.</p>
<p>But manufacturers told us their compliance was often a charade. As one said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Changes brought in after Rana Plaza, such as limiting the worker overtime hours and availability of a nurse and a childcare worker in the facility, are often only done for the day of auditing. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The reason: to keep costs low. As another manufacturer said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Though we are complying to the rules established by the retailer to promote safe production practices, price and quality still plays an important role in getting the orders. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Pocketing the profits</h2>
<p>Here’s the problem illustrated in terms of a T-shirt. </p>
<p>According to Clean Clothes Campaign – an organisation backed by 230 unions, non-government organisations and research bodies – <a href="https://cleanclothes.org/poverty-wages">just 0.6% of the retail price</a> of a t-shirt goes to the worker. The factory owner takes 4% as profit. The brand label takes 12%. But the retailer takes 59%.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396477/original/file-20210422-21-1gzk2hu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396477/original/file-20210422-21-1gzk2hu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396477/original/file-20210422-21-1gzk2hu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396477/original/file-20210422-21-1gzk2hu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396477/original/file-20210422-21-1gzk2hu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396477/original/file-20210422-21-1gzk2hu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396477/original/file-20210422-21-1gzk2hu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Clean Clothes Campaign/The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<hr>
<p>These numbers are, of course, averages. They don’t claim to be the exact profit split for every shirt. But they do give a fair impression of how the system is weighted. Next time you see a t-shirt for less than $10, therefore, think about how much the maker made.</p>
<p>Improving conditions for workers must certainly involve internal reforms in Bangladesh, both through more stringent labour and health and safety laws as well as regulation and enforcement. But easing the incessant pressure placed by buyers on suppliers to cut costs is also crucial.</p>
<p>Factory operators told us they wanted buyers to insist on better conditions for workers, and to pay enough to ensure that could happen. They welcomed contracts that stipulating spending money on safer building and higher pay.</p>
<h2>Economic pressures increasing</h2>
<p>But it is the pressure to cut costs that has intensified with the COVID crisis.</p>
<p>Between March and June 2020, brands cancelled clothing orders <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/19/coronavirus-worsened-the-reality-for-bangladesh-garment-workers.html#:%7E:text=Finding%20Solutions-,%27Vulnerable%27%20garment%20workers%20in%20Bangladesh%20bear%20the,brunt%20of%20the%20coronavirus%20pandemic&text=Garments%20are%20a%20major%20source,most%20vulnerable%20in%20the%20country.&text=Between%20March%20and%20June%20thi">worth billions of dollars</a> to Bangladeshi makers. By September more than 357,000 of the nation’s 4 million garment workers had lost their jobs, and many more were forced to accept lower pay. (Total textile exports for 2020 <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/covid-bangladeshs-textile-industry-hit-hard-by-pandemic/a-56552114">were down nearly 17%</a>, according to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.) </p>
<p>In November 2020, Oxfam <a href="https://www.oxfam.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2020-AC-006-WSM-Research-Report_Digital_FA_Pages.pdf">in partnership with Monash University</a> published a report raising “serious questions about the commitment of brands to ensuring workers in their supply chains are paid living wages and work in decent conditions”.</p>
<p>Based on about 150 surveys and 22 in-depth interviews with industry stakeholders, it rated purchasing practices of Australia’s 10 leading fashion retailers.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Overall rating of Australia's top 10 fashion retailers' purchasing decisions, rated from 0 to 4." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Overall rating of Australia’s top 10 fashion retailers’ purchasing decisions, rated from 0 to 4.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.oxfam.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2020-AC-006-WSM-Research-Report_Digital_FA_Pages.pdf">Oxfam</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Overall, manufacturers rated H&M Group the best (3 out of 4). Big W, Kmart and Target Australia got 2.5. Best&Less, Cotton On, Inditex and Myer scored 2.</p>
<p>Worst performers were The Just Group (Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Jacqui E, Peter Alexander, Portmans, Dotti) and Mosaic Brands (Millers, Rockmans, Noni B, Rivers, Katies, Autograph, Crossroads and Beme). These two companies, along with Myer, also declined to participate in the research. </p>
<p>To solve the disconnect between profits, accountability and responsibility, retailers and brands must be much more closely involved in knowing and caring about what goes on in the factories they source from.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159224/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 2013 Dhaka garment factory collapse is the clothing industry’s worst ever industrial incident. Not enough has changed for garment workers.Shams Rahman, Professor of Supply Chain Management, RMIT UniversityAswini Yadlapalli, Lecturer in Supply Chain Management, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/717792017-02-01T02:45:29Z2017-02-01T02:45:29ZWhy Bill Belichick cast down his tablet<p>As the New England Patriots’ 10th appearance in a Super Bowl approaches, sports fans are eager to see the legendary pairing of quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick take on the Atlanta Falcons. Whatever the Patriots accomplish, though, won’t be thanks to all that fancy new technology assisting the Falcons and other NFL teams. </p>
<p>Since early October, Belichick has been limiting his use of his NFL-issued Microsoft Surface tablet and its related technological systems. On Oct. 2, Belichick was caught on national television <a href="http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/new-england-patriots-bill-belichick-sideline-tablets-technology-done-101816">tossing his tablet in frustration</a>. The move came after his defense failed to prevent a Buffalo Bills touchdown pass. But what really sparked his ire was something much more common.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wyhjUFcXgo0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Bill Belichick throws his Microsoft Surface tablet.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Who among us hasn’t, at some point, been so frustrated with a computer or other piece of technology that we contemplated throwing it out a window? The real driver in these situations, though, is far more complex than we might expect: A cascade of system failures comes to a head in a crucial moment.</p>
<p>As a systems researcher, I know that this sort of problem can be much more serious than a multimillionaire football coach expressing his disdain for nonfunctioning technological equipment on a Sunday afternoon. Similar failures underlie industrial accidents and often result in the undermining of technological innovations – eliminating the advantages of the technology because the weaknesses are so stark.</p>
<h2>A tool to accomplish a task</h2>
<p>What Belichick was trying to do with his tablet sounds straightforward: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/19/sports/football/bill-belichick-patriots-might-be-a-mac-guy.html">look at pictures of previous Bills play formations quickly</a>, in order to allow his coaching staff to select and send in the best play to the Patriots defense. The tablet was <a href="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000205083/article/nfl-microsoft-strike-deal-to-enhance-fans-tv-viewing-of-games">supposed to deliver</a> those images from cameras high above the field to the sidelines <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/02/finally-the-nfl-has-a-good-use-for-the-microsoft-surface/">more efficiently than the old system</a>, which required a printout.</p>
<p>But something went wrong, and the pictures apparently did not come through in time. The defense blew the play, allowing an early Bills touchdown in what became a 16-0 shutout.</p>
<p>In a follow-up press conference call, Belichick revealed that his problem that day was hardly an anomaly. The normally laconic coach spent more than five minutes <a href="https://twitter.com/ZackCoxNESN/status/788411998006603776/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">detailing the technological problems</a> his team, as well as all of the NFL teams, suffer on a weekly basis.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"788411998006603776"}"></div></p>
<p>In observing that every game brings at least some type of technology problem, Belichick astutely pointed out that there are multiple possible points of failure. Those include the quality of the wireless communication in the stadium, as well as a vast array of electronic equipment supporting the tablet system. Most of that equipment isn’t even under the team’s control, but rather is provided by the NFL hours before game time.</p>
<p>We can better understand why Belichick threw the tablet through what Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen conceptualizes as “<a href="http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/clay-christensen-the-theory-of-jobs-to-be-done">renting</a>” the technology to perform a service for us. The technology is fine, but it failed to do its job – deliver a picture reliably in the precious seconds between plays. As the customer, Belichick didn’t care which part failed – just that the system didn’t work. As the only part of the system within reach of the disappointed customer, it was inevitable that the Surface tablet would be seen taking the blame in front of a national TV audience.</p>
<h2>Resulting in redundancy</h2>
<p>From Belichick’s reaction, we also see another problem that often plagues complex systems. He says he will revert to using paper printouts to see pictures of previous play formations, although other coaches continue to use their tablets.</p>
<p>Rather than replacing one troubled system with another, the Patriots are now operating both of them side by side. That essentially means there will be twice as much complexity in how the Patriots view previous plays than if they just chose one and went with it.</p>
<p>This is hardly a new problem. Way back in 1975, this was described in a <a href="http://www.generalsystemantics.com/SystemsBible.htm">leading work about systems engineering</a> with the phrase “the ghost of the old system continues to haunt the new.” In the early 1970s, this took the form of a <a href="http://www.datamath.org/Related/FaberCastel/TR1.htm">Faber-Castell TR1</a>, an early digital calculator that came with a slide rule attached to the back.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154596/original/image-20170127-30428-gvz6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154596/original/image-20170127-30428-gvz6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154596/original/image-20170127-30428-gvz6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154596/original/image-20170127-30428-gvz6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154596/original/image-20170127-30428-gvz6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154596/original/image-20170127-30428-gvz6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154596/original/image-20170127-30428-gvz6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154596/original/image-20170127-30428-gvz6gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Faber-Castell TR1 calculator, with accompanying slide rule.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://osgalleries.org/guide/fulldetails.cgi?match=7040">Oughtred Society</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Wider systems failures</h2>
<p>And yet the sort of failure Belichick suffered – when a complex interaction between humans and technology doesn’t work properly – typically doesn’t happen catastrophically at first. Belichick himself noted that there were problems <a href="http://mashable.com/2016/01/28/microsoft-surface-nfl-contract/">as far back as the preceding season</a>, long before the Bills game at which he finally ran out of patience. </p>
<p>A similar pattern, where <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_sdt=1,33&q=Trevor+Kletz&hl=en&as_vis=1">smaller failures develop into larger problems</a> over time, also <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/6596.html">occurs in many industrial accidents</a>.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most striking feature of major industrial accidents is that often they are preceded by near-misses. Treating those lesser incidents more seriously could prevent tragedies. One example is the <a href="https://apps.texastribune.org/blood-lessons/disaster/">2005 explosion at the Texas City refinery</a> then owned by BP, the result of an overfilled distillation tower. According to the Chemical Safety Board, <a href="http://www.csb.gov/bp-america-refinery-explosion/">similar overfills had occurred at least eight times</a> in the previous 10 years. If those earlier nonfatal incidents had been addressed, 15 people’s lives might have been saved.</p>
<h2>Time becomes crucial</h2>
<p>One final lesson Belichick’s actions shares with major industrial accidents is the significance of time. Most accidents could have been avoided if only a minor corrective action could have been taken a few minutes, or even seconds, before the incident.</p>
<p>On the sideline, the tablet-based system consumed too many Belichick-seconds, preventing his coaching staff from sending in the best play. Super Bowls are won and lost in less time. If new technology is brought in to allow teams to do new things, the designers of those systems must consider the importance of time. No matter how great a system is, if it doesn’t work in time, it might as well not work at all. And it will likely find itself tossed aside, as was broadcast on that Sunday afternoon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71779/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Carrier does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The problems that cause us to be so frustrated we contemplate throwing a computer can be much more serious than a multimillionaire football coach having a minor tantrum on a Sunday afternoon.John Carrier, Senior Lecturer of System Dynamics, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/646532016-10-27T01:40:21Z2016-10-27T01:40:21ZDeep underground, smartphones can save miners’ lives<p>American mining production <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/IPG21SQ">increased earlier this decade</a>, as industry sought to reduce its reliance on other countries for key minerals such as coal for energy and rare-earth metals for use in consumer electronics. But mining is dangerous – <a href="https://www.msha.gov/data-reports/statistics/mine-safety-and-health-glance">working underground carries risks</a> of explosions, fires, flooding and dangerous concentrations of poisonous gases.</p>
<p>Mine accidents have <a href="http://www.wvminesafety.org/fatal97.htm">killed tens of thousands</a> of mine workers worldwide in just the past decade. Most of these accidents occurred in structurally diverse underground mines with extensive labyrinths of interconnected tunnels. As mining progresses, workers move machinery around, which creates a continually changing environment. This makes search and rescue efforts even more complicated than they might otherwise be.</p>
<p>To address these dangers, <a href="http://arlweb.msha.gov/MinerAct/MinerActSingleSource.asp">U.S. federal regulations</a> require mine operators to monitor levels of methane, carbon monoxide, smoke and oxygen – and to warn miners of possible danger due to air poisoning, flood, fire or explosions. In addition, mining companies must have accident-response plans that include systems with two key capabilities: enabling two-way communications between miners trapped underground and rescuers on the surface, and tracking individual miners so responders can know where they need to dig.</p>
<p>So far, efforts to design systems that are both reliable and resilient when disaster strikes have run into significant roadblocks. My research group’s work is aimed at enhancing commercially available smartphones and wireless network equipment with software and hardware innovations to create a system that is straightforward and relatively simple to operate.</p>
<h2>Existing connections</h2>
<p>The past decade has seen several efforts to develop monitoring and emergency communication systems, which generally can be classified into three types: through-the-wire, through-the-Earth and through-the-air. Each has different flaws that make them less than ideal options.</p>
<p>Wired systems use coaxial cables or optical fibers to connect monitoring and communications equipment throughout the mine and on the surface. But these are costly and vulnerable to damage from fires and tunnel collapses. Imagine, for example, if a wall collapse cut off a room from its connecting tunnels: Chances are the cable in those tunnels would be damaged too.</p>
<p>Systems that send signals through the Earth use large loop antennas to send low-frequency radio waves through dirt and rock. The signals can’t carry much information beyond simple texts or sensor readings, and the equipment is expensive and bulky. </p>
<p>Airwave setups use wireless links, like cordless phones or Wi-Fi signals, to span distances of 1,000 to 2,500 feet. But these have limitations too. They depend on wired base stations distributed throughout mines, which are very like the wired-only systems and have similar cost and connectivity problems. </p>
<h2>Tracking underground</h2>
<p>Because they have to track individual miners’ movements underground, all of these systems also require every worker to carry expensive custom sensing units. The costs involved have meant that so far, most mines today use equipment that provides the bare minimum amount of safety required. This includes manually tracking miners’ locations using two-way pagers or video surveillance.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’s easy to get lost in here.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sudeep Pasricha/Colorado State University</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If newer methods for tracking, sensing and communication could be developed, we could detect precursors to mishaps (such as noxious or combustible gas level concentrations in certain parts of a mine), and better aid rescue efforts in the aftermath of an accident. In my research, we’re trying to use regular consumer smartphones and smart wireless devices to solve these problems. This sort of system takes advantage of the facts that most people have phones with them all the time, and that modern smartphones have a wide range of sensors already built in.</p>
<p>Some prior work of mine found a way to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/CODESISSS.2015.7331366">use smartphones to navigate indoor spaces</a>. We started by measuring the strength of the Wi-Fi signals the phone was receiving to approximate the distance the phone was from known transmitter locations. We factored in measurements from the phone’s inertial sensors to determine speed and direction of movement. And we applied a mathematical technique called <a href="http://www.cs.unc.edu/%7Ewelch/kalman/">Kalman filtering</a> to determine other useful information from additional sensors – such as number of steps taken.</p>
<p>When all these data were processed by machine learning techniques, we could determine a user’s location within one to three meters, despite noisy or erroneous readings from Wi-Fi radios and inertial sensors. That was much better than prior methods for indoor location-sensing based on inertial sensor readings and fingerprinting. But these studies were done above ground.</p>
<p>Doing the same thing underground is much more difficult. Not only are Wi-Fi signals unavailable underground, but other wireless signals, such as those from cellphone towers, are also not present. Even what signals are there, from communications equipment in the mine, bounce off uneven surfaces, are absorbed by earthen walls and must pass equipment and other obstacles in tunnels of varying dimensions. These complexities make determining a specific location even harder for an electronic device.</p>
<p>Moreover, sensors and smartphones used in mines must be particularly energy-efficient because recharging stations are scarce. And they must not use much power, to avoid igniting subsurface gases.</p>
<h2>A new approach</h2>
<p>Our research involves designing a wireless network made up of many low-cost stationary <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2012.09.091">Zigbee or Bluetooth sensors</a> deployed strategically around the mine, creating a web or mesh network that can connect with smartphones carried by the miners. We’ll design the exact location of the fixed sensors based on an <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2004.828457">analysis of how radio signals travel</a> in complex, changing and noisy <a href="http://inside.mines.edu/Mining-Edgar-Mine">underground mines</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A proposed system layout for underground mine monitoring, tracking and communication.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sudeep Pasricha/Colorado State University</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>We’re also working to design new software algorithms and filtering techniques that can work on smartphones. When connected to the wireless mesh network, they will be able to accurately and efficiently calculate location in mines, despite the highly unpredictable nature of wireless signals.</p>
<p>Our hope is that we’ll figure out how to build a combination cyber and physical system for monitoring, communication and tracking in underground mines under normal conditions. Such a setup would also be helpful in emergency response and rescue operations. This could not only improve the safety of <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CEU1021200001">hundreds of thousands of American miners</a>, but also offer new opportunities for communications and improving human safety in a variety of extreme environments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64653/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sudeep Pasricha receives funding from the National Science Foundation on themes related to what is described in this article.</span></em></p>Mine communications are complex, slow and unreliable. The solution to keeping miners safe, and rescuing them when disaster strikes, might just be in their hands already.Sudeep Pasricha, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science , Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/654212016-09-21T08:52:18Z2016-09-21T08:52:18ZIndustrial accidents in Bangladesh are another symptom of an unequal society<p>Bangladesh, <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/feastandfamine/2012/11/bangladesh">once dismissed as a “basket case”</a> for development, has made remarkable progress in many aspects of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11694599">human</a> and <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2013/06/20/bangladesh-reduced-number-of-poor-by-16-million-in-a-decade">economic development</a> in the last couple of decades. </p>
<p>The people of Bangladesh are a key element in this remarkable advancement. They work hard on scarce farming land, risk their lives in ready-made garment factories and other labour-intensive industries, and take on low-skilled jobs abroad to send money home.</p>
<p>But as well as being one of the key drivers for making Bangladesh an emerging success story, the general population is the group that often pay the heaviest price for development.</p>
<p>Death and destruction hit workers at factories in <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/the-rana-plaza-disaster">Rana Plaza in 2013</a> (official death toll: 1,126) and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25483685">Tazreen Fashion in 2012</a> (official death toll: 117). The latest addition to this grim list is <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/factory-boiler-blast-at-tampaco-foils-bangladesh-packaging-plant-kills-dozens/a-19541729">the explosion at a packaging factory Tampaco Foils</a> in September 2016, where the reported number of dead people was 34, with many others critically injured. </p>
<p>It seems that people die in large numbers in Bangladesh, especially in industrial accidents. Accidents do happen but when such a trend persists it is worth questioning the social structure behind it.</p>
<p>Any of these incidents, in an advanced democracy, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/27/south-korea-chung-hong-won-resigns-ferry-sinking">would have resulted in a major governmental shake up</a>. Sadly, in Bangladesh, this is not the case. Apart from a bit of rhetoric about investigations, a few messages of sympathy from political leaders, and <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/story/2013-10-08/bangladesh-dhaka-factory-collapse-compensation/">some compensation packages for victims’ families</a>, no meaningful changes follow. </p>
<p>This clearly highlights a significant lack of democratic accountability – and a poor state of national law and order. </p>
<p>Investigations into these accidents take years. Perpetrators are often never brought to justice and issues are swept under the carpet thanks to political patronage and high level connections <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/william-gomes/reason-and-responsibility-rana-plaza-collapse">between the worlds of business and politics</a>.</p>
<p>Understandably, delays in justice also prompt fears of denial of justice. It remains to be seen how long it will take to investigate what happened at Tampaco Foils and whether anyone will be held accountable. The owners of Tazreen fashion were only formally indicted and ordered to stand trial for negligence <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/03/bangladesh-court-indicts-factory-owners-over-deadly-2012-fire">after nearly three years</a> (the case is still continuing).</p>
<h2>The Bangladesh paradox</h2>
<p>Power, money, and political connections can offer a form of indemnity for some. High profile cases in other crimes such as murder in which perpetrators remain at large or are yet to be brought to justice also loom in the public consciousness for their connection to power or wealth. As a consequence, a <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-bangladesh-descending-into-lawlessness-49086">sense of lawlessness is growing in Bangladesh</a>. </p>
<p>Ordinary people seem to accept that fairness in trials and justice for them are highly unlikely. In fact, the state of disillusionment in the justice system is so high, that some people don’t even want the pretence of justice to play a role in their tragedies. One university professor, the father of a murdered publisher, <a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/country/i-don%E2%80%99t-want-justice-either-banya-165577">recently declared</a>: “I don’t want justice”. This is a shocking development for any society in the 21st century.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138468/original/image-20160920-11090-19sg12r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138468/original/image-20160920-11090-19sg12r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138468/original/image-20160920-11090-19sg12r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138468/original/image-20160920-11090-19sg12r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138468/original/image-20160920-11090-19sg12r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138468/original/image-20160920-11090-19sg12r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138468/original/image-20160920-11090-19sg12r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Bustling Dhaka.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-234276292/stock-photo-dhaka-bangladesh-february-21-residents-cross-buriganga-river-in-dhaka-bangladesh-thousands-of-people-in-the-overpopulated-capital-have-to-use-ferry-boats-every-day.html?src=ma5tV4NzMnvbuyTuKe4Bmg-1-52">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The Bangladesh paradox, in which its visible successes exist so visibly next to its social failures, <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2016/06/24/the-bangladesh-paradox-in-what-ways-has-social-progress-been-achieved-despite-poor-governance-and-high-corruption/">deserves to be analysed</a>. While the country is definitely making great progresses in some areas, it is also true that there is a democratic deficit, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/07/bangladesh-basket-case-kissinger">politics is dysfunctional</a>, corruption is rife, and public accountability is low. Nepotism and political allegiance matter more than anyone’s capability and merit. </p>
<p>Tragic accidents in labour-intensive industries do not lead to positive changes because power, money and political connections <a href="https://theconversation.com/push-to-curb-activists-may-add-to-sweatshop-workers-struggle-25903">suppress opinions and oppress the victims</a>. The poor continue to die in their hundreds and thousands, and suffer ill treatment and a lack of job security. This subjects them to further poverty and <a href="https://theconversation.com/life-more-tragic-than-death-who-remembers-rana-plaza-18222">a precarious future</a>. </p>
<p>The apparent inevitability of major accidents is embedded in an emerging social structure that protects the elites, and pays little attention to the safety and lives of the poor. Social justice does not exist.</p>
<p>And when social justice does not exist, it is sometimes replaced with a cold and hostile environment which can breed even more lawlessness and violence. In light of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/01/dhaka-bangladesh-restaurant-attack-hostages">recent terrorist activities</a> in the country (in which the <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bangladesh-isis-dhaka-bombing-evidence-denial/">government has denied any international involvement</a>), one also wonders whether home grown radical terror groups are just the latest destructive force borne out of the current socio-political state of the country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65421/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Palash Kamruzzaman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The people responsible for the country’s successes are the victims of its political failures.Palash Kamruzzaman, Fellow, International Development, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.