HAZARDS, NEGLIGENCE, AND ABUSE IN THE APPAREL MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY: LABOR CONDITIONS FROM 1910-2015 A thesis submitted to the College of the Arts of Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Emma Peterson May 2016 ii Thesis written by Emma Peterson B.S., Kent State University, 2014 M.A., Kent State University, 2016 Approved by ______________________________________ Nancy Stanforth, Ph.D., Advisor, Thesis Committee ______________________________________ Gargi Bhaduri, Ph.D., Member, Thesis Committee ______________________________________ William Perrine, M.A., Member, Thesis Committee ______________________________________ Denise Easterling, M.B.A. Member, Thesis Committee Accepted by ______________________________________ Catherine A. Leslie, Ph.D., Coordinator, Graduate Studies, Fashion School ______________________________________ Linda Hoeptner Poling, Ph.D., Coordinator, Graduate Studies, The School of Art ______________________________________ J.R. Campbell, M.F.A., Director, Fashion School ______________________________________ Christine Havice, Ph.D., Director, The School of Art ______________________________________ John R. Crawford-Spinelli, Ed.D., Dean, College of the Arts iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................v ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................1 1.1 Factory Incidents in History...........................................................................................1 1.1.1 New York Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire ..................................................1 1.1.2 Bangladesh Fires ............................................................................................2 1.1.3 Bangladesh Factory Collapse .........................................................................3 1.1.4 Foxconn Suicides ............................................................................................4 1.2 Problem Statement .........................................................................................................5 1.3 Purpose of Study ............................................................................................................5 1.4 Importance of Study .......................................................................................................6 1.5 Research Questions ........................................................................................................6 1.5.1 Statistics ..........................................................................................................7 1.5.2 Health and Working Conditions .....................................................................7 1.5.3 Companies and Costs ......................................................................................8 1.6 Definitions......................................................................................................................8 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................9 2.1 Industrialization .............................................................................................................9 2.2 Factory Conditions .......................................................................................................10 2.3 Physical and Psychological Impacts of Occupational Hazards ...................................12 2.3.1 Vulnerable Populations ................................................................................13 2.3.2 Suicides .........................................................................................................15 2.4 Strikes ..........................................................................................................................17 2.5 Labor Laws ..................................................................................................................19 2.5.1 Staging Inspections .......................................................................................20 2.5.2 Subcontracting and Homework.....................................................................21 III. METHODS ..............................................................................................................................23 3.1 Data Collection ............................................................................................................23 3.2 Data Analysis and Coding ...........................................................................................26 3.3 Limitations ...................................................................................................................27 3.4 Ethical Considerations .................................................................................................29 iv IV. RESULTS ................................................................................................................................31 4.1 Data Analysis ...............................................................................................................31 4.2 Major Themes and Patterns .........................................................................................33 4.2.1 Collapses .......................................................................................................33 4.2.2 Fires ..............................................................................................................35 4.2.3 Child Labor & Homework ............................................................................36 4.2.4 Other Hazards ...............................................................................................38 4.3 Research Questions ......................................................................................................39 4.3.1 Statistics ........................................................................................................39 4.3.2 Health and Working Conditions ...................................................................44 4.3.3 Companies and Costs ....................................................................................49 4.4 Summary ......................................................................................................................52 V. DISCUSSION ...........................................................................................................................54 5.1 Recommendations ........................................................................................................54 5.1.1 Infrastructure ................................................................................................54 5.1.2 Training.........................................................................................................56 5.2 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................58 5.3 Suggestions for Future Research and Action ...............................................................60 APPENDIX ....................................................................................................................................62 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................87 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure ........................................................................................................................................ Page 1. Data Search Results ...........................................................................................................31 2. Data Collection ..................................................................................................................32 3. Fires by Year ......................................................................................................................36 4. Fires by Decade..................................................................................................................36 5. Child Labor by Year ..........................................................................................................37 6. Child Labor by Decade ......................................................................................................37 7. Other Hazards by Year.......................................................................................................38 8. Other Hazards by Decade ..................................................................................................39 9. Incidents by Hazard Type ..................................................................................................40 10. Type of Incident by Year ...................................................................................................42 11. Type of Incident by Decade ...............................................................................................43 vi ABSTRACT This study was designed to identify apparel workplace hazards in factories all over the world. Identifying harmful conditions through qualitative content analysis using New York Times articles from the year 1910 until 2015 uncovered common themes in workplace hazards with the objective of ridding