The Rana Plaza factory disaster in April 2013, which resulted in the death of a large number of factory workers and injured many more in Bangladesh's ready‐made garment industry, highlighted the sustained failure of the government of Bangladesh to address safety in the workplace. In the wake of the tragedy two significant transnational governance initiatives emerged — the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (hereafter the Accord) and the Alliance for Bangladesh Workers’ Safety (hereafter the Alliance). For the first time, different key stakeholders worked together to address fire, electrical and structural safety of factory buildings. This study analyses the perceptions of factory managers in Bangladesh regarding the Accord and Alliance agreements. The article argues that although there have been significant breakthroughs in terms of developing a culture of safety adhered to by the government and entrepreneurs, the suppliers have encountered difficulties in implementing these initiatives. The limited support from buyers has posed a major challenge for the sustainability of these two multi‐stakeholder agreements.

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In 2013, the Rana Plaza disaster highlighted the highly exploitative conditions of the global garment supply chain centred on Bangladesh. Global lead firms and other stakeholders responded by reforming the labour governance system comprising public and private regulations. How can the effects of this new multi-level governance system on worker outcomes (wages, working conditions and workers’ rights) be conceptualized and explained? Using an inter-disciplinary framework integrating an industrial relations/sociology perspective and a global production network approach, we show how workplace relations (structural and relational workplace characteristics) mediate the relationship between the labour governance system and worker outcomes. A mixed methods research design that includes a factory management survey and case studies enables us to identify and analyse two predominant types of workplace labour regimes associated with different patterns of worker outcomes (procedural and substantive employment conditions). Referred to as the hardship and sweatshop regimes, respectively, these differ in the extent to which workers are exploited. With the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, we discuss the possibility that modern slavery, the worst form of worker exploitation, is emerging. The paper concludes by briefly considering several research and practical implications of our analysis.

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In the field of additive manufacturing process, laser cladding is widely considered due to its cost effectiveness, small localized heat generation, and full fusion to metals. Introducing nanoparticles with cladding metals produces metal matrix nanocomposites, which in turn improves the material characteristics of the clad layer. The governing equations that control the fluid flow are standard incompressible Navier–Stokes and heat diffusion equation, whereas the Euler–Lagrange approach has been considered for particle tracking. The mathematical formulation for solidification is adopted based on enthalpy porosity method. Liquid titanium has been considered as the initial condition where particle distribution has been assumed uniform throughout the geometry. A numerical model implemented in a commercial software based on control volume method has been developed, which allows to simulate the fluid flow during solidification as well as tracking nanoparticles during this process. A detailed parametric study has been conducted by changing the Marangoni number, convection heat transfer coefficient, constant temperature below the melting point of titanium, and insulated boundary conditions to analyze the behavior of the nanoparticle movement. The influence of increase in Marangoni number results in a higher concentration of nanoparticles in some portions of the geometry and lack of nanoparticles in rest of the geometry. The high concentration of nanoparticles decreases with a decrease in Marangoni number. Furthermore, an increase in the rate of solidification time limits the nanoparticle movement from its original position which results in different distribution patterns with respect to the solidification time.