One Hundred Years Later: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

One hundred years ago, the horrific fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City claimed the lives of many. This pivotal event was both a supreme tragedy and also one that paved the way through a safe working environment for factory workers. While there is no factory that is completely safe, things are a bit more fluid then they were at that time in many places.

One hundred years after this event where many lost their lives, many of the same lessons still apply. The reasons why there needs to be safety procedures to be followed to the absolute letter. Reasons why there are codes for such things. There are a number of things that were learned from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.

Fire escapes were something that were around before this for instance, but they were not as sturdy. There was one fire escape in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and it was very run down and rendered unusuable within a short amount of time. Those people would not have been able to escape even if it had not broken down, due to the simple fact that it was a small and cramped area.

Safety regulations are a must in any place, never mind a factory. Accidents happen and when the absolute worst happens, there will be bodies going in every which direction and it is going to be rather difficult to maintain order. Thankfully regulations imposed over the past hundred years, have lessened the possibility of a grand tragedy on the scale of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 to happen again.

The deaths of many paved the way for slightly better working conditions over the years. Nothing will be ever perfect, but this great tragedy opened up the eyes of many. It is always a shame that it does sometimes take a horrific tragedy, to wake up and smell that something needs to be done. That really does seem to be one of the failings of humanity, unfortunately. We tend to often times not take notice of things, until some tragedy really takes us by the throat.

On March 25th 1911, the lives of one hundred and forty six workers perished. Most jarring of all were the fact that the supervisors decided to save their own skin, without a care to the workers. While there have been times where bosses tend to look down on their employees, at least there would be nothing so horrific that crucial exits to escape through fires would be locked down. On that date, on March 25th 1911, many perished in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.

On March 25th 2011, we live in an entirely different world. There is still the potential for disaster, for great tragedy, but we are hopefully much smarter and know what we must do these days. Safety regulations have been imposed. Companies are pretty much forced to follow them but suffer the consequences. Most of this was brought upon due to the tragic events of a hundred years ago of this day.