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#Post#: 184--------------------------------------------------
THE 1911 TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST COMPANY FIRE THAT CHANGED THE LAWS
By: wolfie Date: February 21, 2011, 11:55 am
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Leap for Life, Leap of Death
275 girls started to collect their belongings as they were
leaving work at 4:45 PM on Saturday. Within twenty minutes some
of girls' charred bodies were lined up along the East Side of
Greene Street. Those girls who flung themselves from the ninth
floor were merely covered with tarpaulins where they hit the
concrete. The Bellevue morgue was overrun with bodies and a
makeshift morgue was set up on the adjoining pier on the East
River. Hundred's of parents and family members came to identify
their lost loved ones. 146 employees of the Triangle Shirtwaist
Company were dead the night of March 25, 1911. The horror of
their deaths led to numerous changes in occupational safety
standards that currently ensure the safety of workers today.
At the time of the fire the only safety measures available for
the workers were 27 buckets of water and a fire escape that
would collapse when people tried to use them. Most of the doors
were locked and those that were not locked only opened inwards
and were effectively held shut by the onrush of workers escaping
the fire. As the clothing materials feed the fire workers tried
to escape anyway they could. 25 passengers flung themselves down
the elevator shaft trying to escape the fire. Their bodies
rained blood and coins down onto the employees who made it into
the elevator cars. Engine Company 72 and 33 were the first on
the scene. To add to the already bleak situation the water
streams from their hoses could only reach the 7th floor. Their
ladders could only reach between the 6th and 7th floor. 19
bodies were found charred against the locked doors. 25 bodies
were found huddled in a cloakroom. These deaths, although
horrible, was not what changed the feelings toward government
regulation. Upon finding that they could not use the doors to
escape and the fire burning at their clothes and hair, the girls
of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, aged mostly between 13 and
23 years of age, jumped 9 stories to their death. One after
another the girls jumped to their deaths on the concrete over
one hundred of feet below. Sometimes the girls jumped three and
four at a time. On lookers watched in horror as body after body
fell to the earth. "Thud -- dead; thud -- dead; thud -- dead;
thud -- dead. Sixty-two thud -- deads. I call them that, because
the sound and the thought of death came to me each time, at the
same instant," said United Press reporter William Shephard. The
bodies of teenage girls lined the street below. Blankets that
would-be rescuers used ripped at the weight and the speed the
bodies were falling. Fire Department blankets were ripped when
multiple girls tried to jump into the same blanket. Some girls
tried to jump to the ladders that could not reach the ninth
floor. None reached the ladders. The fire escape in the rear of
the building collapsed and trapped the employees even more.
Many people were outraged at the tragedy. The Triangle
Shirtwaist Fire helped to solidify support for workers' unions
like the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. The
owners, Isaac Harris and Max Blanck, were tried for manslaughter
but were acquitted in 1914. Though most people were disgusted
with what had happened, there were no regulations in effect that
would have saved lives.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911 still remains one of the
most vivid and horrid tragedies that changed American Labor
Unions and labor laws. The fire had come only five years after
Upton Sinclair published his book The Jungle, which detailed the
plight of the workers at a meat packer's plant. But instead of
reforming the working conditions most people wanted to reform
the health and safety regulations on food. The tragic death of
146 girls, whose average age was 19, was needed before the
politicians and the people saw for the need to regulate safety
in the workplace.
Pauline Cuoio Pepe was a nineteen-year-old sewing machine
operator and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. "It was all nice
young Jewish girls who were engaged to be married. You should
see the diamonds and everything. Those were the ones who threw
themselves from the window," Pepe told a Manhattan historian.
"What the hell did they close the door for? What did the think
we were going out with? What are we gonna do, steal a
shirtwaist? Who the heck wanted a shirtwaist?" asked Pepe. The
New York legislature created a commission called The Factory
Commission of 1911. Senator Robert F. Wagner, Alfred E. Smith
and Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of
Labor, headed the commission. One of the most significant
results of this commission was the creation of the Fire
Prevention division as part of the Fire Department. Restrictions
were made to prevent fires from happening and to prevent the
blockage of escape routes.
Pauline Cuoio Pepe recounted that the workers didn't even use
the regular doors to leave the factory. "...we never went out
the front door. We always went one by one out the back. There
was a man there searching, because the people were afraid we
would take something, so that door was always locked." Even the
doors that were not locked were of no use to the workers. The
doors in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory only opened inward.
When the girls tried to escape through the doors, the girls in
front could not open the doors because of all of the girls
pushing from behind. If the door opened outward, the onrush of
girls would have opened the door. The factories would be
required to make all doors open outward in factories. At the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, some of the doors were locked.
Usually the doors were locked so that clothing could not be
stolen through unwatched doors. When the girls tried to escape
through the locked doors, the fire consumed them. All doors were
to remain unlocked during business hours in accordance with new
regulations. Sprinkler systems must be installed if a company
employs more than 25 people above ground level. The girls of the
Triangle Shirtwaist Company only had 27 buckets of water to save
themselves from the fire. Today there are many laws that govern
the condition of workplaces. Among those regulations are
implemented to let people out during a fire. Multiple fire
exits, unblocked fire doors, and clear pathways to exits are all
required. Firefighting equipment must be maintained in the
building. Fire sprinklers for higher floors and portable fire
extinguishers. Education for employees is a must. All employees
are to be trained on the proper use of a fire extinguisher as
well as escape routes and fire drills. Emergency evacuation
plans are also required in writing and posted. Written fire
prevention plans must also be available. All areas that are fire
hazards or that contain equipment of chemicals that could start
fires must be maintained and controlled and all times. The
United States Department of Labor classified this set of
standards as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) standards.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911 would change the regulation
by government of business. Before the fire government had mostly
stayed away from business feeling it had no power to legislate
it. After the fire government could not avoid instituting laws
to protect the workers. Once the New York legislature enacted
safety laws, other states in the US followed suit. Workers also
began to look toward unions to voice their concerns over safety
and pay. Samuel Gompers of the AFL had won a lot of trust and
admiration by sitting in on The Factory Commission of 1911. The
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union also won support
and led a march of 100,000 to tell the New York legislature to
move into action. Unfortunately not everyone had learned their
history. March 25, 1990, on the 79th anniversary of the Triangle
Shirtwaist Fire, the Happy Land Social Club fire in the Bronx,
New York killed 87 people. Most of the people killed were not
workers but customers. There was no sprinkler system, fire
alarms, nor exits. The windows had iron bars on them leaving
only one door to escape the inferno. On September 3, 1991 in
Hamlet North Carolina 25 workers died at a poultry factory. The
exits were ill marked, blocked or padlocked. The doors were
padlocked to prevent theft. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire remains
as a turning point in US history. Countless state and federal
laws were enacted because of this incident. Unions gained
numerous new workers who wanted someone to fight for their
safety. Now employers in the US have a clear set of guidelines
that they need to follow to ensure the safety of their
employees.
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