Shoaib Sheikh HIST 1312, Zimmer 9/29/2015 "Preventable Fires" A little over a hundred years ago, America suffered one of the most deadliest industrial accidents in the country's history. On March 25th, 1911, a fire ignited by a cigarette began on the eight floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. The fire spread to the entire building and eventually resulted in the death of 146 shirtwaist workers (mostly girls.) This tragedy exposed the horrible conditions in which these workers were forced to work and the disregard of the safety of the workers by the factory owners. The Triangle Fire proved to be a turning point in the lives of the "sweat workers" for being provided …show more content…
There was a great rise in the number of Europeans coming into the country for better lives and opportunities. These individuals were desperate for any source of income, anything that they could do to help themselves and their family survive. The factory owners took advantage of their situation which gave rise to "sweat shops" in which low paid immigrants, including women and children were made to work excessive hours in the most unsafe conditions. Much of the tragedy which took place could have been avoided, but many of the safety conditions at the building made it nearly impossible for them to do so. Even though efforts were made in the previous years to strike against the owners to provide better working conditions, these efforts did not help those individuals who worked at factories where the owners had refused to give into the demands of the works, one of which was the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. They had dreadful working conditions at the Triangle Shirtwaist where they ordered to lock the door so as to prevent any of the workers from stealing as well having an excessively small fire escape which did not even give these workers a chance to