2013年11大商业丑闻

孟加拉服装厂塌楼致千人死亡

这是成衣行业史上最严重的一次事故。或许有人会以为这样的事故只应该发生在1813年，而不是两百年后的今天。去年四月，孟加拉一家工厂倒塌，造成1,100名工人死亡。这场灾难本来是完全可以避免的——这家工厂的老板违反了建筑规范，却对工厂不安全的持续警告置之不理。为了降低成本，许多西方服装公司依赖孟加拉的廉价劳动力（和低于标准的工作条件与设施），此次事故也促使他们对这种做法进行反思。孟加拉是仅次于中国的世界第二大服装出口国。

Bangladesh factory collapse

The deadliest accident in the history of the garment industry -- something you would have expected in 1813 rather than 2013 -- killed 1,100 workers in Bangladesh last April, after the factory in which they worked collapsed. The disaster was entirely preventable -- the owner had violated building code and failed to heed repeated warnings that it was unsafe -- and the incident prompted a rethink among Western clothing companies that rely on the cheap labor (and substandard conditions and facilities) in Bangladesh, the second-largest exporter of clothing behind China, to keep their costs low.