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In the last three decades, the apparel sector has become the primary growth engine of the Bangladesh economy. However, during this period, the sector has also witnessed a spate of apparel factory accidents some of which were catastrophic. Evidently, such accidents are much less frequent in countries that compete with Bangladesh in the global apparel market. Accidents in the supply chain are costly for all concerned: foreign buyers, buying agents, apparel workers, factory owners, and source country. The factors that cause the accidents and determine their effect merit systematic investigation. This study examines the relationship between the intensity of factory accidents and a set of predictors in the context of the apparel sector of Bangladesh. The intensity of an accident is measured by the injuries and fatalities resulting from it. The predictors include the characteristics of the accidents and factories where the accidents occurred. The sample consists of 264 accidents taking place from 1990 to 2016, mostly involving fires, building collapses, explosions, and fire panics. The accident list is assembled  by searching the archieved version of a number of on-line newspapers published from Bangladesh. The datbase is constructed by coding the information published in newspaper reports on each accident events. The results show that the predictors explain a great deal of the variations in the two dependent measures. The limitations of the study are noted and the implications of the results for both policy and actions are offered.

Factory Accidents, Supply Chain, Accidents in the Apparel Supply Chain