Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Case Study

In one of the darkest moments of America’s industrial history, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City burns down, on this day in 1911. The tragedy led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of factory workers. The Triangle Waist Company factory occupied the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors of the 10-story Asch Building on the northwest corner of Greene Street and Washington Place, just east of Washington Square Park, in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. The factory produced women's blouses, known as "shirtwaists." The factory normally employed about 500 workers, mostly young immigrant women, who worked nine hours a day.

Causes of the accident: A fire flared up in a scrap bin under one of the cutter's tables at the northeast corner of the

Terrified employees crowded onto the single exterior fire escape, which city officials had allowed Asch to erect instead of the required third staircase. It was a flimsy and poorly anchored iron structure which may have been broken before the fire. It soon twisted and collapsed from the heat and overload, spilling about 20 victims nearly 100 feet (30 m) to their deaths on the concrete. A large crowd of bystanders gathered on the street, witnessing 62 people jumping or falling to their deaths from the burning building.

There are many damages that result from this accident because its deadliest industrial disaster that happened in 1911 .The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers (123 women and 23 men) who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths. Within approximately three minutes the building burned so the fire was very fast and dangerous. A large crowd of bystanders gathered on the street, witnessing 62 people jumping or falling to their deaths from the burning