Sustainability at Holland America Line Case Study

More importantly, they have particular interests. The building owner, Sohel Rana, was interested in providing space for the apparel manufacturers. It is unfortunate that he paid no attention to the safety of the property users despite the fact that he was well-informed about the possible dangers posed by the building. The factory owners were interested in securing space to construct their production factories. The factory owners also saw an opportunity in the cheap and available labour in the area, as well as cheap rental fees. The government has the responsibility to ensure enforcement of the policies, which seems that it overlooked them for the sake of protecting the business of its allies (Lawrence & Weber, 2017). The government is also an interested party because it lost a source of revenue and job opportunities for its citizens.

The government is partly to blame for the disaster as the law enforcement agency for ensuring the safety of its citizens. The architects and the construction engineers are major stakeholders in the case of Rana Plaza. The architect never bothered to know the purpose of the building while designing it and therefore the building was a failure. They had an obligation to ensure that the building stands strong and safe. The Bangladeshi government, as a major stakeholder in the case, failed terribly and can be held responsible for the collapse of the Rana Plaza. As indicated in exhibit 1, the government has a responsibility to ensure the safety of its citizens whereby it did not do its job (Lawrence & Weber, 2017). The government should have ensured all buildings were safe, including Rana Plaza, for occupation through its agencies.

However, the government turned a blind eye on the case of Rana Plaza. The factory owners should always emphasize on establishing their businesses in a safe environment to avoid tragedies (Chand, 2014). They need to carry out private assessment of buildings and the environment within which they intend to establish their businesses. Workers have to value their lives more than just jobs. It is important that the workers’ unions seek legal redress whenever situations posing danger to their members arise in workplaces and bar any worker from attending work until the necessary safety measures are put in place. The retailers and customers of the factory owners should come up with policies to encourage responsible and sustainable operations within the supply chain. Despite the fact that the industry and factory owner have had great influence on the political landscape of the country, it would be necessary to draw a line between their influence and the powers of the government (Chand, 2014).

This is the only way the government will be able to avoid compromising the safety of its citizens. The reluctance of the government on matters of worker protection has contributed largely to forced labour among the employees. There are a number of strategies that can be used to prevent worker abuse by contractors in such a complex supply chain (Lawrence & Weber, 2017). The first strategy is to ensure that all workers are members of workers unions. A company will apply a certain corporate strategy in order to protect the company’s interests and also protect its economic development interests. Stakeholders may influence the actions taken by a company quite significantly. Exhibit 1: Roles of government as corporate stakeholder 1. Laws and regulation development 2. Law enforcement 3.