Den sammenstyrtede tekstilfabrik i hovedstaden Dhaka, som nu menes at have kostet over 350 dødsofre, illustrerer nok engang, hvor lovløst og ureguleret verdens største beklædningsindustri opererer – med sultelønninger, børnearbejdere og stort set nul byggeregler og brandsikring.
Bangladesh’s clothes industry has created its own distinctive landscape on the northern edges of the capital Dhaka, writes BBC online Friday.
From the sprawl of one-room houses and shacks where workers live, scores of multi-storey factory blocks jut into the sky.
Clusters of steel-reinforcing rods poke from their rooftops – in the hope of adding yet another floor of sewing machines.
It is a sign of what critics say is a boom gone too far, in the desperation to feed the West’s appetite for bargain clothes.
The Rana Plaza which collapsed this week was another of these high-rise stitching stations, but everyone involved in the industry is in the frame now – because it has had plenty of warnings before.
It is less than six months since a devastating fire at a plant killed over 100 workers – Bangladesh’s last worst industrial accident.
And there’s a whole underworld to the garments industry largely untouched by any checks.
Dozens of sweatshop operations have sprouted up across Dhaka over the past decade trying to profit from the cheap clothes boom.
The BBC saw several back-street operations with few fire or other safety precautions and with people who were clearly children working on the shop-floor.
It is an open secret that many higher standard factories often sub-contract orders to these sweat-shops to keep costs down and meet customer’s deadlines.
Western buyers have been accused of turning a blind eye in the past, because of their interest in holding prices down.
The Bangladeshi government says it wants to improve conditions but worries about the knock-on consequences for the millions who now depend on the industry for jobs.
