Search Results (3)

The Rana Plaza building collapse occurred on 24 April 2013 in Savar, near the capital city of Bangladesh, killing more than 1130 garment workers and injured about 2500, mostly females. Those who survived face ongoing challenges, including socio-cultural constraints, economic hardship, post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), depression, and critical health issues, which may lead to suicidal ideation and death. The aim of this article is to explore why and how female garment workers who survived the Rana Plaza collapse are now at risk of suicide thoughts and behaviours, and suicide death. Unstructured face-to-face interviews were held from April to July 2018 with 11 female garment workers who survived the Rana Plaza building collapse. Interviews continued until data saturation was reached. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim while simultaneously being translated into English from Bengali/Bangla. Transcripts were coded and thematically analysed. The study found that all participants were living with multiple risk factors of suicidal ideation (including low socio-economic status, poverty, social stigma, psychological distress, and trauma) which the participants directly linked to the collapse of the Rana Plaza building. Our analysis uses the three-step theory of suicide (3ST, Klonsky & May, 2015) to understand female Rana Plaza survivors’ suicide risk. Female survivors’ overall vulnerability requires urgent attention while taking the socio-cultural setting of Bangladesh into account. In addition, a lifelong caring system (combining financial security and free healthcare) needs to be initiated to accommodate the female survivors with mainstream society to avoid possible future suicides. They require long-term social and economic security and psychological support. Full article

The readymade garment (RMG) sector is one of the main drivers of the Bangladesh economy with over 4 million employed. In the 2013 Rana Plaza accident aftermath, the implementation of workplace safety compliance (WSC) became imperative. The paper investigated the WSC initiatives implemented by the RMG sector to overcome safety challenges and their effectiveness for a safe and healthy workplace. We employed a multi-case study research strategy over three Bangladeshi garment manufacturers to resolve these queries. The result revealed that the manufacturers joined in the safety governance programs to protect workers’ health safety rights immediately after the accidents. They participated in inspections and remediations programs over structural, electrical, and fire protection as a priority. Moreover, several other human rights conventions, national labor laws and, buyer code of conduct were also adopted as regulatory and voluntary initiatives to settle workers’ health rights and social needs. The WSC enforcement empowered workers to bargain their rights toward a safe workplace and made them responsible for responding during an emergency. Finally, the paper argues that the WSC in the RMG sector nowadays covers a wide range of initiatives in three broad areas: physical environment safety, workers’ health issues, and workers’ rights. Full article

This study aims to identify the ongoing physical and psychological health vulnerabilities of the readymade garment (RMG) factory workers involved in the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013, along with their experiences within the current socioeconomic and political contexts of Bangladesh. Seventeen Rana Plaza survivors participated in unstructured, face-to-face, in-depth interviews. Interviews were thematically analyzed using Haddon’s matrix to examine pre-event, event, and post-event injury experiences. The collapse of the Rana Plaza building resulted in significant physical and emotional trauma for those who survived the event. The majority of the participants were forced to attend work on the day of the collapse. Participants reported physical health complaints related to bone injuries/fractures and amputation, severe headache, kidney problems, and functional difficulties. In addition to the reported physical health issues, the participants revealed psychological health issues including trauma, depression and suicidal ideation, sleep disorders, anxiety, and sudden anger. Participants described barriers to their potential for re-employment in the RMG sector and outlined their limited access to free healthcare for follow-up treatment. Those who survived the collapse of the Rana Plaza building continue to experience significant adverse physical and emotional outcomes related to the disaster. Yet, they have little recourse to ensure the availability of adequate health care and rehabilitation. Given the international reliance on the Bangladeshi RMG industry, continued pressure to ensure care is provided for these survivors, and to reduce the risk of future disasters, is necessary. Full article