TWELVE YEARS HAVE PASSED since the Rana Plaza building collapsed in Savar, Bangladesh. It happened on April 24, 2013, one of the deadliest factory disasters the world has ever seen. An eight storey building with five garment factories came crashing down that day, extinguishing 1,134 lives and leaving more than 2,500 injured and disabled indelibly for life in ways more than one. Certain pain, certain trauma can not be forgotten.
The collapse was not merely of a building but a symbol of the systemic repression of the global fast fashion industry built on the back of deficit labour law regimes in third world countries.
We know today that the building that collapsed had big cracks, but workers were still forced to go inside. They were told they would lose their pay if they stayed home. Just hours later, the building crashed, trapping thousands under the rubble. Some were rescued after many hours, even days. Many others never came out alive.
ActionAid, Bangladesh reports that over half of the survivors are still unemployed. Almost 90 percent have not had a job for more than five years. Most live in abject poverty suffering from long-term pain, affected mobility, and serious mental health problems.
After the tragedy, some safety rules were made stronger in the garment industry. On May 15, 2013, the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (‘Bangladesh Accord’) was signed, a five year independent, legally binding agreement between retailers, global brands and trade unions to uphold safety and health standards in Bangladesh’s Ready Made Garment industry. After the Bangladesh Accord expired in 2018, a successor Accord agreement was extended till 2021, and in 2021, it became the International Accord. In December 2022, the Accord was expanded to Pakistan. As of 10 April 2025, 260 brands had signed the International Accord, including the Adidas Group, Benetton and Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M). The RMG Sustainability Council (RSC), a private national tripartite initiative, now checks factory safety.
