In today’s society, it is a common etiquette for businesses to keep their employees safe. In the book The Triangle Fire: A Brief History with Documents, A series of documents explain the disaster that happened at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City. The disaster became known around the country and started a revolution of safety hazards for work. The fire was significant because of the cause of the fire, the irresponsible employers, what the media wrote about it, and how the families of the deceased were compensated.
On March 25, 1911, a fire occurred at a shirt factory and climbed the 10 story building. The fire might have been caused by the “sparks from the motors” (242). There is no direct proof what might have caused the fire, but it is likely that the recent sparks ignited nearby cloth and spread throughout the building. Once the chaos was set, …show more content…
Martha Bensley Bruere managed to escape the flames and later stated the situation in her own point of view. Once the fire broke out, she “ran with about forty other girls to the Washington Place doors and found them locked…” (104). Her statement means that the women were unable to escape due to the doors being locked. This can only be an act by an irresponsible manager who did not care to save them; however, Blanck states “over and over… that he knew the doors into the hallway were always unlocked” (83). The two statements contradict each other, but it is likely that Blanck was lying otherwise there would not be so many victims that burned. After the fire, Bruere explained that she learned of the “small stairway to the roof…, but I have been unable to discover that any of the employees even knew of its existence” (104) The employers did not bother to explain that there were multiple ways in case of a fire, and escaped by themselves privately. The victims were sacrificed by the company’s negligence and were later aided by