Two Irish Engineers and Bangladesh's Deadliest Disaster
When Rana Plaza collapsed in Bangladesh killing over 1,200 garment workers in April 2013, two Irish engineers found themselves at the centre of literally redefining global worker safety standards. Aidan Madden from Arup and Colm Quinn, now Head of Operations for the International Accord, reveal how they developed "optimal ignorance" methodology assessing 2,500+ factories at unprecedented scale, why poor concrete quality and overdevelopment caused the tragedy, and how training local engineers to think about existing buildings (not blank-sheet designs) represents a universal engineering challenge. From paper-based inspections to iPad workflows managing 140,000 safety findings, discover the technical rigour behind transparent remediation programmes that fundamentally changed how engineers approach ethical practice in global supply chains. THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUTHow Rana Plaza's catastrophic collapse in April 2013 killed over 1,200 people from overdevelopment. Why Arup developed "optimal ignorance" methodology focusing exclusively on critical life-safety elements How the International Accord inspected over 2,000 Bangladesh factories identifying 140,000 individual health and safety findings, with 115,000 subsequently corrected Why training local engineers to assess existing buildings represents a universal engineering problem requiring mindset shifts beyond Asia-specific contextsHow digital workflows transformed paper-based inspections into scalable remediation programmes GUEST DETAILSAidan Madden is a Chartered Civil/Structural Engineer with over twenty years' experience at global firm Arup, leading complex, impactful projects worldwide. Following the catastrophic Rana Plaza collapse in 2013, Aidan became a pivotal member of Arup's leadership team developing and implementing structural safety assessment methodology for the original Bangladesh Accord. This monumental effort required creating standardised yet highly rigorous technical frameworks to rapidly assess structural integrity of over 2,500 garment factories—demanding first-principles engineering judgement at unprecedented speed and scale. His work proved instrumental in identifying and remediating high-risk structural, electrical and fire hazards, effectively codifying ethical engineering practice for an entire global industry. For his extraordinary contribution to safety and social responsibility through engineering, Aidan received the prestigious Engineers Ireland International Engineer of the Year Award.Colm Quinn is Head of Operations for the International Accord, a legally binding agreement focused on securing safe and healthy garment and textile industries worldwide. Leading implementation and operational rollout of Accord programmes across multiple countries including Pakistan expansion, Colm manages technical capacity-building initiatives training local engineers—structural, fire and electrical specialists—on rigorous safety standards necessary for factory inspections and remediation. Bringing strong high-level engineering foundations from previous work as Associate at global engineering firm Arup, Colm's career trajectory represents the crucial shift from developing pioneering safety frameworks to successfully scaling and sustaining them across global industries. His operational leadership ensures that technical rigour developed in Bangladesh translates effectively to new markets whilst empowering local engineering teams.Connect with the guests:Aidan Madden LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aidan-madden-91ab3a23Colm Quinn LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/colm-g-quinnInternational Accord: internationalaccord.orgArup: arup.comMORE INFORMATIONLooking for ways to explore or advance a career in the field of engineering? Visit Engineers Ireland to learn more about the many programs and resources on offer. https://www.engineersireland.ie/  Engineers Journal AMPLIFIED is produced by DustPod.io for Engineers Ireland.QUOTESThe fundamental problem was that a building which was designed to be a five story building, and by the time it collapsed in April of 2013 it was a nine storey building. So it had been overdeveloped. They had put on additional floors beyond what it had been designed for. You have a building which is heavier than it's supposed to be, and with concrete which is weaker than it should have been. - Aidan MaddenThere's kind of a bit of an art and a bit of science to this. We need to spend the time that we need to do the assessment, but we have to be able to do it at scale. A colleague of mine had a great phrase which we reused today: optimal ignorance. It's like, what do you really, really need to know to allow you to define the actions, to define the meaningful things that will happen after your visit to make those buildings safer. - Aidan MaddenThe programme is quite unique in that it's dealing with existing buildings. There's no code that I know where existing buildings are front and foremost. This is a problem not just in Asia. Engineers need to be retrained or refocused to deal with existing buildings. It's not a Bangladesh problem. It's not a Pakistan problem, it's an engineering problem - Colm QuinnThe Accord, combined with the RSC in Bangladesh, inspected over 2,000 factories and have identified over 140,000 individual health and safety findings, and of those, over 115,000 have been corrected. - Colm QuinnKEYWORDS#RanaPlaza #workersafety #InternationalAccord #structuralengineering #ethicalengineering
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