Lack of Safety
It all started on the eight floor, where one worker smelled something burning and alerted the others. A telautograph and telephone were used to try and warn the ninth and tenth floor of the fire. Unfortunately, the message only got through to the tenth floor. Many of those who were on the tenth floor managed to escape through the roof, where law students assisted the panicked people onto the roof of the New York University that happened to be next store. As for those on the ninth floor, the majority ended up trapped, with no choice but to jump out of the windows. The fire fighters, however, did provide nets, but they were not strong enough to catch the falling bodies, and it eventually broke.
There were many factors that contributed to lack of lives that could have been saved the day of the fire. The lack of safety codes, for example, played a huge role in taking part of the danger that workers were faced with on a daily basis even before the fire occurred. Due to the lack of fire safety regulations, owners of factories, like the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory did not have to worry about safety. Essentially, the owners listened to the fire department's suggestions and were not breaking any laws.
The owners of the factory, who go by the names of Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, did not offer fire drills to the workers. Since there were no laws, which required fire drills and sprinklers, they didn't think it was necessary. There were overall many safety precautions that were ignored. For example:
- doors opened inward, rather than outward
- lack of doors, staircases and fire escapes
- overcrowded working spaces
- highly flammable materials and equipment