Last year I missed the opportunity to write a post commemorating
the 100th anniversary of the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory that occurred on March 25, 1911. I didn’t want to let
another year pass without writing about it because of its
importance in workplace safety and labor history. The Triangle
Waist Company was owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris and
manufactured shirtwaists. Most of the company’s employees were
young, immigrant women; and like many manufacturing concerns of
the day, working conditions were not ideal and the space was
cramped. When the Shirtwaist fire broke out on the 8th floor,
many workers found exiting their floor, as well as the building
itself, almost impossible. Many doors were locked, some were
impassable because they were already blocked by the fire itself,
and the few exits that were available quickly became impassable
once the fire spread. To make matters worse, when the fire
department arrived, they had a difficult time rescuing people
because their ladders couldn’t