Apple iPhone producer Foxconn has been hit by another major accident resulting in a fire and explosion in one of their factories in the Chinese city of Yantai in Shandong province.
From early reports it is suggested that the fire begun the in the finishing area where phones are sprayed and was caused by “improper operation of workmanship on color spraying”.
This is not the first time that Foxconn has hit the headlines about its safety record. There has also been a spate of worker suicides – all blamed on the harsh working conditions at their plants.
Last May, a factory in Chengdu, which made PC’s, laptops and printers also caught ablaze killing several workers.
Fortunately this latest incident didn’t cause any injuries to the 80,000 strong workforce
Safety and working conditions have always plagued Apple and Foxconn over the last 2 years.
In 2010, a spate of suicides of suicides at the company’s factory led to questions about the worker’s welfare.
Its even got to the point that the company started making workers sign non-suicide agreements – Foxconn has made improvements with wage increases and other measures.
But it just doesn’t seem to be getting much better – factor in the West’s insatiable desire for iPhone’s and iPad’s; workers are being worked too hard to try keep up with demand and corners are obviously being cut in safety and other areas.
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