April marked ten years from the Rana Plaza collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which killed 1,138 and injured thousands of others. Rana Plaza was a commercial building containing five clothing factories. Most of the people in the building at the time of the collapse were garment workers. The tragedy put health and safety regulations and labour laws on the world stage particularly in the fast fashion industry.
Beyond the immediate tragedy in the locality, it was a seismic event within the business and human rights field, accounting subsequently for many case studies, academic articles and reports. Its focus on the fast fashion industry, labour laws, and supply chains had the potential to make changes in the space. Ten years later, have these changes made any difference for victims and for safety in the industry more generally?