Were there bathrooms in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory?
The workers, mostly women and young girls, were trapped inside because the factory owners had locked the exit doors to prevent them from leaving to go to the bathroom during their 12-hour shifts (there was no bathroom in the building).
What were the working conditions inside the Triangle Shirtwaist factory?
The factory normally employed about 500 workers, mostly young Italian and Jewish immigrant women and girls, who worked nine hours a day on weekdays plus seven hours on Saturdays, earning for their 52 hours of work between $7 and $12 a week, the equivalent of $191 to $327 a week in 2018 currency, or $3.67 to $6.29 per …
What is the average age of the workers at Triangle Shirtwaist factory?
Most of the Triangle workers, who ranged in age from 15 to 23, were Italian or European Jewish immigrants. Many of them spoke little English. Their average pay was $6 per week, and many worked six days a week in order to earn a little more money.
What was unsafe about the Triangle Shirtwaist factory?
The stairwells were poorly lit and hazardous. More egregious, it had no overhead sprinklers and only a single fire escape, which was neither durable nor big enough to accommodate all of the people working in the building in the event of a fire.
What was the aftermath of the Triangle factory fire?
Unfortunately, many remained trapped on the ninth floor; 146 victims perished. In its aftermath, the Triangle fire inspired a great campaign of workplace reform. About thirty separate laws were passed, including those regulating the minimum wage and working conditions.
What was the 1911 NY fire about?
On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City burned, killing 146 workers. The tragedy brought widespread attention to the dangerous sweatshop conditions of factories, and led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of workers.
Who is to blame for the Triangle fire?
In the end, no one truly bore sole responsibility for the deaths of 146 employees at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory. Isaac Harris and Max Blanck were acquitted for manslaughter and were later brought back to court for civil suits.
What does the word Shirtwaist mean?
: a woman’s tailored garment (such as a blouse or dress) with details copied from men’s shirts.
Why were the doors locked in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory?
Why were the doors locked at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory? Because the doors to the stairwells and exits were locked (a then-common practice to prevent workers from taking unauthorized breaks and to reduce theft), many of the workers who could not escape from the burning building jumped from the high windows.
What caused the disaster at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory?
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory burned down on Saturday, March 25, 1911. The fire happened at the Asch Building, at 23-29 Washington Place in the city of Manhattan. The fire started at around 4:40 pm. and is believed to be caused by an unextinguished match or cigarette in the scrap bin which held scraps from the clothing that piled up for months.
What happened at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company?
On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City. The 500 workers (who were mostly young women) located on the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors of the Asch building did everything they could to escape, but the poor conditions, locked doors, and faulty fire escape caused 146 to die in the fire.
How did the Triangle Shirtwaist fire get started?
At the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Manhattan, somewhere around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 25, 1911, a fire began on the eighth floor. What started the fire has never been determined, but theories include that a cigarette butt was thrown into one of the scrap bins or there was a spark from a machine or faulty electrical wiring.