“Retailers and suppliers should use this tragedy as a catalyst to more fully identify and understand their operational and supply chain risk exposures, reform and strengthen workforce safety practices, and improve supply chain and reputational risk resiliency,” adds Gillis.

The collapse of Rana Plaza, an eight-story building, was the worst manufacturing accident in South Asian history and worst industrial catastrophe in South Asian history since 1984, when a toxic gas leak at the Union Carbide India factory killed 3,800 people.

There was ample warning that the building was unsafe: local police allegedly voiced their concerns to the building owner, engineer Adbur Razzak cautioned that the building was dangerous, and cracks were seen extending across the complex's exterior walls the day prior to the tragedy.

Although shops and a bank in teh building were evacuated after the cracks were discovered, factory workers were ordered to work the next day or risk losing their jobs–a practice not uncommon in Bangladesh, the world's eighth-ranked country for worst industrial working conditions.

Many of the world's largest suppliers and retailers have received negative attention regarding their sourcing of textile goods.

It is essential for retailers, says Gillis, to have visibility into their supplier's workplace safety records and know their continuity plans to respond to adverse events and natural disasters.

She says, “A comprehensive enterprise risk management process should provide the necessary analysis and visibility to these risks, and provide important insight into strategic and business decisions. While ERM will not mitigate the risks themselves, it will increase organizational awareness of them and provide a framework to make risk-aware decisions and may also allow more effective mitigation of potential impacts.”

In addition to carefully considering their approach to reputational risk, crisis management, and supply chain resiliency, Marsh recommends that retailers focus on improving compliance efforts and transparency by further standardizing factory audit processes for and contract language with suppliers, including frequent unannounced inspections, greater worker engagement in factory audits, and stricter penalty clauses for failure to meet workplace safety requirements.

Primark, along with H&M and the owner of the Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein brands, has entered a legal fire-security plan created by international and South Asian unions. The plan, financed in part with the retailers' funds, will create an inspection facility to oversee factories with the power to shutter perilous facilities as well as retrofit factories with safety features.