Today, in 1910, exactly four months before the infamous Triangle fire, a fire occurred at a four-story garment factory in Newark, New Jersey. Twenty-five factory workers, mostly young women, died. Six of the workers burned to death, while 19 jumped to their deaths. The floors and stairs were wooden; the only door from which the women could flee was locked. New York City Fire Chief Croker warned: This city may have a fire as deadly as the one in Newark at any time. There are buildings in New York where the danger is every bit as great as in the building destroyed in Newark. A fire in the daytime would be accompanied by a terrible loss of life. The fire made national news. More than 100,000 people flocked to the scene the next day. But the blaze did not change the world. There was some effort at improving worker safety in New Jersey, but nothing monumental. A hurried coroner’s jury a month later deemed the fire the result of human error, ruling: “They died from misadventure and accident.” The Newark fire is a reminder how commonplace workplace death and injury were at the time — limbs torn off in railroad accidents, fires in jammed factories, gashes, burns, death. Twenty-six dead in Newark couldnt quite galvanize a movement for change the way 146 dead in New York at Triangle finally did. This is clipped from the 1990 video, OSHA at Work, from the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Posted on: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 11:51:02 +0000
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