Why is the clothing business still dangerous for workers?

When Rana Plaza collapsed 10 years ago, killing 1,134 workers and injuring thousands more in Bangladesh, it brought a terrifying spotlight on critical safety flaws in the fashion supply chain.

Since the disaster, hundreds of brands have signed a legal safety pact with unions to help improve conditions at thousands of factories in Bangladesh. But elsewhere, little has changed; The garment business is still dangerous for those on the factory floor.

According to news reports compiled by the labor advocacy group the Clean Clothes Campaign, 580 garment workers were injured last year, and another 64 died. In the first four months of 2023, 70 workers were injured and 22 died, the data said. For the most part, it’s not that garment manufacturing is inherently dangerous, but rather that safety flaws allow preventable accidents like fires and boiler explosions.

Security risks to the apparel sector in major manufacturing hubs such as Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are still considered the worst, said risk consultant Verisk Maplecroft.

Dangerous business

For years, brands have said they are committed to ensuring worker safety as fashion becomes faster and cheaper.

The result is a fragmented supply chain structure under constant pressure from intense price pressures. Many brands offer their products to manufacturers in several countries, which makes it more difficult to control safety standards. Subcontracting is common, adding another vague layer.

Efforts to address these challenges have largely depended on private auditing systems and voluntary codes of conduct developed in the wake of a series of sweatshop scandals in the 1990s. Labor groups say the model has little progress to show after more than 20 years in operation.

“Apparel brands can’t afford to police themselves when it comes to working conditions,” Teresa Haas, director of global strategy for Workers United in the United States, told Fashion Business in an email.

Even in countries considered risk-free, garment workers regularly face unsafe conditions, labor advocacy groups say.

In Los Angeles, where most of America’s garment factories are located, efforts by some factory owners to skirt new labor protections have made safety violations more likely in some cases, said Jonathan Coleman, communications director for the Garment Worker Center, an LA-based campaign group.

“It’s still common for garment workers to be forced to work in dangerous conditions,” Coleman said, citing reports of locked factory doors — a significant fire hazard — “when some factory owners tried to get underground.”

Change the model

For brands, failing to address fashion’s security gaps is becoming increasingly dangerous. New regulations in places like California and Germany have made brands more accountable for working conditions at their factories. Additional legislation is being developed in the EU and the US to require companies to monitor and address labor violations in their supply chains.

Even without further regulation, high-profile, social media-savvy activist campaigns are a growing reputational risk for companies that don’t act. For example, advocacy groups such as Fashion Revolution and Remake have targeted products that have not yet joined efforts to expand the international safety pact created after Rana Plaza.

Investors are also stepping up the pressure. Earlier this month, a coalition of 192 international investors representing $1.3 trillion in assets under management issued a statement calling on apparel brands to strengthen their human rights due diligence.

Beyond the ethical obligation that brands have to their employees, safety is a business issue, said the Rev. David Schilling, senior human rights adviser at Interheim’s Center for Corporate Responsibility, an investor coalition that led the call.

“There are big risks, not just fame,” he said. “Money is on the table.”