What historical event is unknown, but had easily traceable effects? (1 Viewer)

[Ahsoka]

One I think of is the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. It was a fire that happened in a factory in NYC in 1911. There was a lot that happened prior that led up to this fire. Overall corruption in the garment industry ensured that precautions were never required to prevent fires. The factory was not equipped with sprinklers, believed to be on purpose, as it allowed the owners to purposely start fires in order to get money from insurance (that was pretty common back then). At the time of the fire, only 1 out of 4 elevators were operational, and the elevator held only 12 people, and also took a long time to go up and down. The factory had 2 stairways to the street, one which was locked, and one which had doors that only opened inwards. On that day, a fire began in a rag bin. The fire spread quickly. Originally they tried using a fire hose to put it out, but were unsuccessful because the hose was rusted shut. Some workers died from fire, smoke, heat, and obvious fire dangers. Others died after jumping out the windows or down the elevator shafts, in an attempt to escape the fire. In the end, 146 people died, with 600 workers present that day. While this event wasn’t the first time people pushed for regulations on companies to prevent such events, this tragedy did absolutely push governments and parties more towards requiring companies to implement safety precautions, particularly as this company one one of the vocal opponents to putting the regulations in place.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire - Significance, Causes | HISTORY

The Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire killed 146 in 1911.

www.history.com

 

[centen]

Oh, that's a good one! It's terrible how many regulations are the result of so much death, like good we learned our lesson, but sad that common sense regulations weren't in place already.

Here's one I learned about this week: in 1989, there was a collision on the river Thames in London, resulting in the sinking of the Marchioness and killing 51 people. After they did an analysis of why the death rate was so high, they installed four permanent search and rescue stations for the Thames, which as of 2019, have since saved 580 lives and helped just under 5,000 people. They've also installed grab chains on the bridge in the river, which you can still see today, so that people who are able to get to the coastline can use the grab chains to keep their head out of water while they wait for help.

 

[dark_tranquility]

M170 plane crash in question

 

[Ahsoka]

Oh, that's a good one! It's terrible how many regulations are the result of so much death, like good we learned our lesson, but sad that common sense regulations weren't in place already.

Here's one I learned about this week: in 1989, there was a collision on the river Thames in London, resulting in the sinking of the Marchioness and killing 51 people. After they did an analysis of why the death rate was so high, they installed four permanent search and rescue stations for the Thames, which as of 2019, have since saved 580 lives and helped just under 5,000 people. They've also installed grab chains on the bridge in the river, which you can still see today, so that people who are able to get to the coastline can use the grab chains to keep their head out of water while they wait for help.

I haven’t heard that one, but you’re definitely right about how deaths are often what cases these changes. It does suck even more though in cases where the deaths were preventable not just from the sense that they could have been thought of and implemented, but in the sense that some people before tried to oppose them. Another example I thought of that had similarities to yours would be the lifeboat situation on the Titanic, and while I do think it was an oversight to not include enough lifeboats, it did also seem less malicious than the factory fire one. Either way, it’s good if change happens, but of course bad if the change only gets implemented as a result of deaths.