On March 25, 1911, on three floors of the Asch Building in Manhattan, young immigrant women from across Europe were making clothing for the Triangle Waist Company. On that fateful day a fire broke out. There was no time to escape, and really nowhere to escape to. There was only one fire escape, and it collapsed. Doors were locked to prevent theft and unauthorized breaks. They also opened the wrong way, and many of the young women were trampled trying to escape. Long tables and machinery blocked escape routes for many of the workers. There was no sprinkler system, and there were no fire extinguishers. Fire department ladders were not long enough to reach the eighth, ninth, and 10th floors.
That day saw the deaths of 123 young women and 23 men. The youngest victim was 14 years old.
In 1906, Upton Sinclair wrote a novel titled The Jungle. It told the story of Jurgis Rudkis, an immigrant trying to find his way and support his family in his new country. This book tells a tale of food poisoning, work accidents, unsafe and unsanitary practices in the meat-packing industry, and the exploitation of immigrant workers who came to America for a better life, only to find that they are surrounded by employers that treat them as if they are expendable and con men who want to take what little money they have.
What do the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and The Jungle have in common?
Both of them led to government regulations. The Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 led to the creation of what we know today as the Food and Drug Administration. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire led to many of the fire regulations we take for granted today. That is why doors open out into stairwells, and it’s why we have fire extinguishers, fire alarms, and sprinklers. If you ever went outside your grade school for a fire drill, then you participated in one of the regulations created out of that fatal fire.
This past week, the current temporary resident of the White House signed four bills into law that would nullify “job-killing” regulations.
This is a term that should not exist.
from Daily Kos http://ift.tt/2oqHBRm
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