Italian fashion retailer Benetton Group will double the amount of compensation paid to Rana Plaza Trust Fund. The retailer has been under pressure to increase its payment in the run-up to the second anniversary of the disaster, in which 1,138 workers died and thousands more were injured.

Benetton’s additional payment of $1.1 million adds to a previous payment of $5,00,000. It was one of 29 brands connected to companies operating in the Rana Plaza building.

Benetton was one of the first signatories of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety, which has improved factory safety in Bangladesh in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster. Now, in addition to applying the Accord globally, the company plans to work with its suppliers to raise workers’ living standards.

The Rana Plaza building collapse in April 2013 shocked the world. There were stories of people amputating their own limbs in order to be freed from the rubble and survive. At least 29 global brands had orders with at least one of the five garment factories in the Rana Plaza building.

N Brown Group, VF Corporation and The Gap have also made contributions as brands who source from Bangladesh but have not had a sourcing relationship with Rana Plaza.

www.benetton.com/