Years After the Rana Plaza Tragedy, Too Many of Bangladesh’s Factories Are Still 'Death Traps'

The 2013 garment factory collapse at Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza, which killed at least 1,133 people, was seen around the world as a wake-up call. There already had been several deadly tragedies in the country’s massive and growing garment industry, such as the 2012 Tazreen Fashions fire, but the deaths at Rana Plaza were on a new scale.

Nobody could ignore the dire conditions that workers toiled in any longer, and international retailers scrambled to pledge their commitment to ensuring safety in their supply chains.