Triangle Fire

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was an event that held relevance in American history. On March, 25, 1911 at approximately 4:40 PM a fire broke out in the company’s factory in New York City which was the deadliest industrial disaster. 147 workers died in that incident, they either died from the fire or Jumped from the window. It was considered the most tragic fire incident in New York City. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies’ Garment workers’ Union, which fought for better and safer working conditions for sweatshop workers in that industry” (Wikipedia) To a large extent, the Triangle Shirtwaist fire brought about many strikes and was a disaster that still lives among us (affecting us nowadays). This disaster then again lives with us for good. It will remind us for whom we have neglected upon.

This way we can support the working world, as we will get the same sociability from them and others by cooperating. The fire that occurred was in many ways a disaster. However many people throughout the world especially workers), are thankful that it led to realizing the lives of the poor workers throughout the country. The fire occurred due to the poor and unsafe working condition in the factory. The Shirtwaist Factory was located on the Asch Building in Manhattan. The working area was crowded with young workers.

There were about 500 workers on the top three floors. On the ninth floor, there were approximately 288 machines and 308 employers. The machines took up a lot of space in the room, so they were all close to each other. The investigation reported that the greatest umber of death occurred on the ninth floor. Also, the area was unclean due to the fact that it is a garment factory which there was pieces of cloth scattered on the floor. some workers had no time to escape. Also, the doors were locked to prevent the workers from stealing and leaving early.

In my opinion, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory lacked of safety and cleaning environment. This was hundreds years ago, that’s why it lacked of firefighting equipment because back in the day, things were different. Thus, all factories lacked of safety conditions. However, the fire marshal concluded hat cigarettes caused the fire. They could be wrong. This incident happened on a pay day where they were about to leave. What if someone deliberately set the fire to the factory? The pay rates were very low and they worked very long which I think they hated it.

The owners, Blanck and Harris were not found guilty. “l believed that the door was locked at the time of the fire. But we couldn’t find them guilty unless we believed they knew the door was locked. ” I would have to say that the verdict on this particular case was a poor one, because the managers and owners were careless. USA lost 146 lives, because the managers and owners were lazy, a factory was burned down. Thus, the owners were only concerned about their well-being; USA suffered one of the worst factory fires of all time.

Actually, it was the worst. In my opinion, the owners should have been guilty as charged, and should have been sentenced to Jail for a very long time, and perhaps death sentence. By looking at the list of victims, why would they hire teenager girls to work at an unsafe factory? Here is some list of victims who were identified: “Bellota, Vincenza, 16, asphyxiation/burns, Brodsky, Ida, 6 (Identified by her cousin), Maltese, Rosia, 14, asphyxiation/burns. Identified by her father (Wikipedia) it is wrong to hire girls at age of 14-16 to work long hours.

The fire could have been prevented with the knowledge and procedures we use today. Like a fire alarm in the factory or firefighting equipment to stop the fire. Also, enough exit doors because having one exit door is not good because people will be pushing, etc. to get out. They should have made the room bigger so that it wont be crowded with workers. It is hard to keep an eye on workers if it is crowded, so a bigger room with ewer workers would have been better.

Because of this incident, the safety standards have changed significantly such as better firefighting equipment, fire alarm, and helicopter. Now there are more exit doors which can only be used as an emergency and if you intend to go through that door, the fire alarm will turn on. All factories are safe, thus, now there’s a trainer to teach new hired on how to be safe, etc. All factories are very strict, so there are usually 2-3 supervisors watching the workers. The owners of the company are responsible for the workers, especially a physical Job.