EU Business School BCO121: Rana Plaza Disaster Case Study Analysis

This case study analyzes the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which resulted in the collapse of an eight-story garment factory, causing over 1,100 fatalities and numerous injuries. The analysis identifies the building's structural failures, including substandard construction, unauthorized additions, and the use of a filled-in pond as the building's foundation as primary causes. The study examines the responsibilities of various stakeholders, including the government, factory owners, managers, buyers, suppliers, constructors, and architects. It also explores the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the lack of effective CSR strategies, which contributed to the disaster. The paper suggests an accommodative CSR approach to improve worker safety and prevent future tragedies, highlighting the importance of transparency, communication, and a strong legal framework. The analysis concludes by acknowledging the weaknesses in implementing such strategies, particularly the financial constraints and the ineffective government regulations in Bangladesh.

Running head: RANA PLAZA DISASTER CASE STUDY
RANA PLAZA DISASTER CASE STUDY
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

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Question 1:
In the year 2013, a garment factory in Dhaka named Rana Plaza collapsed which was
stated as a structural failure. This structural failure caused an eight- story building to collapse and
took lives of around 1,134 people. Around 2,500 people were injured in the incident but they
were able to get out from the building alive. This incident was considered to be one of the
deadliest accidents that occurred due to structural failure in the history of modern human (A
summary of Primark’s Rana Plaza response, 2015). The causes that led to such a disaster was
directly because of building problems; after proper enquiry it was found that the building of
Rana Plaza was built on a filled- in pond that compromised the integrity of the structure. One of
the other causes was that the building was converted from commercial utilization to industrial
utilization. There were also three floors that were additionally built and it did not abide by the
instructions provided in the original permit (Sinkovics, Hoque and Sinkovics 2016). The building
also used substandard construction material that resulted in overloading of the structure of
building and it was further aggravated by the vibrations created from generators.
The consequences of the disaster were immediately seen after the occurrence of the
incident. With death of around one thousand people, the Capital Development Authority filed a
case against the five garment factories which operated inside the building and the owner of the
building as well. All the five owners of the garment factories inside Rana Plaza were ordered to
be arrested and one among them fled (Barua and Ansary 2017). This incident also highlighted
the poor labor conditions that the Bangladeshi workers faced especially in the sector of ready-
made garments. It was revealed that all the workers in Bangladesh are exposed to unsafe work

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environment and high- risk accidents in workplace, deaths and occurrence of occupational
diseases is a frequent thing (The Rana Plaza Accident and its aftermath, 2020).
Question 2:
There were various stakeholders involved with Rana Plaza building and were responsible
for its collapse. First stakeholder who was primarily involved and is responsible for the
occurrence of such a disaster is the Bangladesh government; they failed to protect the citizens of
Bangladesh from such a tragedy and all the tragedies that occurred after or before the disaster of
Rana Plaza (Chowdhury 2017). It was found that the building was already marked and declared
unsafe by one of the engineers; however, an official of the local government declared the
building safe stating that it was pending some other inspection. As a result, the government was
unable to implement a comprehensive and a coordinated control of this factory; moreover, none
of the organizations took the responsibility of investigating whether the factory building had
adequate resources. It is also unfortunate that the government had purposefully suppressed all the
efforts that were undertaken by the labor unions in order to reveal the poor safety conditions in
all the garment factories situated in Bangladesh.
Other important stakeholders who were responsible for the cause of the incident included
the five garment factory owners who had their shops operating in the building and forced their
workers to go and work in that unsafe work environment even after it was declared that the
building was unsafe (Boudreau, Makioka and Tanaka 2015). They also continued all kinds of
dubious business practices within the building. The managers are also hugely responsible for
allowing the workers and forcing them to complete the work within the deadline. The buyers are
also partially responsible for the incident because if not for their high demand for fast fashion

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clothing in low cost, the workers might not have been forced this brutally to enter such an unsafe
location. The suppliers, who supplied some substandard material for construction of the building,
are also highly involved with the collapse of Rana Plaza. The constructors are another
stakeholder who built the Plaza with such materials and ignored the upcoming consequence that
might occur in the future. The architect, who designed the addition of three floors, ignored the
fact that the original permit disallowed any such addition.
Question 3:
CSR or Corporate Social Responsibility is a crucial part that guides how companies
should do business. According to ample researches done before, it is observed that companies
that comply with the guidelines provided by CSR have the tendency to experience enhancement
and improvements in their quality, efficiency as well as the effectiveness of the employees.
However, for the company to attain its intended aims, it has to incorporate CSR strategies into its
key operating areas (Chowdhury 2017). Most importantly, CSR also provides occupational
safety which helps in retaining employees as well as giving them a sense of security enhances
their effectiveness. The situation of Rana Plaza had weak CSR strategies which is why the
condition of the workers was so worse. It is the aim of occupational safety measures for
improvement to attain a state of equilibrium between man, working environment and machine so
that all these factors can operate in the company unitedly. This is where the Rana Plaza building
lacked in; they did not have any such CSR approach that would maintain equilibrium within all
the three factors mentioned above.
The approach that should have been taken for the case of Rana Plaza in terms of
Corporate Social Responsibility should have been such that it would have avoided the

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occurrence of such a disaster (Siddiqi 2015). According to me, the CSR approach should have
been Accommodative approach. In accordance to this approach, the companies and their
managers tend to behave legally and also abide by the ethics so that they can balance the
interests of diverse stakeholders as per their needs. Such approach would ensure that developing,
maintaining and implementing the rules for safety is clearly recognized by everyone, especially
the workers; it should also ensure that the workers know how the rules are entitled to their
commitment and how they are allowed to voice their opinions (Manik and Yardley 2013).
Accommodative approach would emphasize that all the incidents and the issues which
are related to the safety at work must be recorded an enquired with the view to eliminate or
mitigate the impact of the problems. Strategies under this approach would have aims to train the
workers; it would also be kept in mind that the workers are included when the decisions about
health and safety are being undertaken. The approach would also ensure that any kind of social
threat or psychological threat at the work environment would be eliminated in order to reduce the
stress of the workers and their health -related issues. All of the above steps can be undertaken for
the scenario of Rana Plaza; but there are certain weaknesses which mitigates the effectivity of
the strategy. First of all, there is the lack of communication in between the general public and the
company and also between the workers and the company. There is also negligible transparency
among the companies, hence making the CSR approach vague. The most crucial factor is money
which is also a weakness for the strategy (Reinecke and Donaghey 2015). The CSR approach
mentioned above would require some expenses that might not be possible for the company to
pay. The CSR approach also requires a proper and consistent framework of legislation; but the
government of Bangladesh is ineffective in this area, thus making the lives of the workers much
worse than anywhere else in the world.

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References:
Barua, U. and Ansary, M.A., 2017. Workplace safety in Bangladesh ready-made garment sector:
3 years after the Rana Plaza collapse. International Journal of Occupational Safety and
Ergonomics, 23(4), pp.578-583.
Boudreau, L., Makioka, R. and Tanaka, M., 2015. The impact of the rana plaza collapse on
global retailers. URL: https://goo. gl/b7CRTH.
Chowdhury, R., 2017. Rana Plaza fieldwork and academic anxiety: Some reflections. Journal of
Management Studies, 54(7), pp.1111-1117.
Chowdhury, R., 2017. The Rana Plaza disaster and the complicit behavior of elite
NGOs. Organization, 24(6), pp.938-949.
Manik, J.A., Yardley, J. and DHAKA, B., 2013. Building collapse in Bangladesh leaves scores
dead. The New York Times, 24.
Reinecke, J. and Donaghey, J., 2015. The ‘Accord for Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh’in
response to the Rana Plaza disaster. In Global Governance of Labour Rights. Edward Elgar
Publishing.
Siddiqi, D.M., 2015. Starving for justice: Bangladeshi garment workers in a ‘post-Rana
Plaza’world. International Labor and Working-Class History, 87, pp.165-173.

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Sinkovics, N., Hoque, S.F. and Sinkovics, R.R., 2016. Rana Plaza collapse aftermath: are CSR
compliance and auditing pressures effective?. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability
Journal, 29(4), pp.617-649.
www.ilo.org/. 2020. The Rana Plaza Accident And Its Aftermath. [online] Available at:
<https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/geip/WCMS_614394/lang--en/index.htm> [Accessed 16
March 2020].
www.primark.com/. 2015. A Summary Of Primark’S Rana Plaza Response. [online] Available
at: <https://www.primark.com/en/our-ethics/newsroom/a-summary-of-primarks-rana-plaza-
response/a/f398084d-20ac-4720-8457-c9f8e0b8ad1a> [Accessed 16 March 2020].