Bangladesh Building Collapse Essay Examples

The collapse of the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh is considered as the deadliest accident in the garment industry to ever occur. A total of 1,127 people were killed when the building collapsed. The committee that investigated the accident recommended life imprisonment for the people who owned the building. The collapse of the Rana Plaza had several causes that were attributed to errors and defects. Some of the causes for the collapse include using construction materials that were of poor quality; building Rana Plaza on a swampy ground; the use of heavy and vibrating equipment within the building; and the lack of an adequate regulatory system.
The committee carrying out the investigation discovered that part of the building was built on ground that had been a water body initially. That part of land had then being filled with a lot of garbage. The shallow waters on that land made it swampy. The construction materials that were used included cement and iron rods that were of very low quality. The owners of the building made mistakes by adding two more floors to the building instead of sticking to the six floors that had being permitted. The building had a total of eight floors instead of six. The owner then rented the floors of the building to garment factories. The building was not designed for industrial use; therefore, the heavy industrial machinery put a strain on the building and led to its collapse. The machinery also produced a lot of vibrations that weakened the building.
The lack of an adequate regulatory system was also seen as a cause for the collapse of the building. A good regulation system would have prevented the construction of a building that posed danger to the people within and around it. The collapse of the Rana Plaza led to the investigation of other buildings. The results showed that most buildings did not follow the construction requirements that would guarantee safety to the people operating in these buildings. The owners of such dangerous buildings were also arrested.