The ceiling of a factory in Cambodia that makes shoes for the brand Asics collapsed early this morning, killing at least two workers. Nine more were injured—three of them seriously—when steel beams that supported a large concrete-floored area broke. The incident comes just weeks after a garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed, killing more than 1,100 workers making clothes for several Western brands.
For the last two decades, officials in Cambodia have consulted with international advisors to draft laws and regulations to ensure worker safety, though according to The New York Times, those rules often go unenforced. A spokeswoman for the Clean Clothes Campaign—a group that advocates for safe working conditions for international garment workers—told the NYT, “The shoe and garment industry is built upon huge profits and little concern for the well-being of their workers. It is inherently unsafe and dangerous to work in. As long as workers are marginalized and deprived of their basic rights, the situation will not improve” …
