The founding of ASSP is anchored to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City, which took the lives of 146 garment workers on March 25, 1911. A few months after the tragedy, the United Association of Casualty Inspectors, now known as ASSP, was formed.
The Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition has created a memorial at the original site in Manhattan that will be dedicated Oct. 11 at 10:30 a.m. ASSP President Jim Thornton will be among the speakers at the event.
The project recognizes the nation’s legacy of reform and honors those who died. The main body of the stainless-steel memorial is on a corner of the Brown Building, resembling a ribbon that descends from the 9th floor where most deaths occurred. It evokes the appearance of mourning ribbons draped on buildings in times of public grief. Twelve feet above the sidewalk, the memorial splits horizontally to flank the building’s facades, where the names and ages of the victims are stenciled into the ribbon and appear in a reflective panel that runs below it.
ASSP contributed $32,519.11 to the memorial’s construction, stringing together the seven digits of the fire’s date (3/25/1911) to emphasize the significant moment in U.S. history. The ASSP Foundation donated an additional $25,000 to the project.