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Explosion at factory owned by Apple supplier Pegatron injures 61
CHINA
An explosion over the weekend at a facility owned by Apple supplier Pegatron injured 61, with 23 ending up in hospital. The incident again highlights concerns about safety at factories in China that produce many of the parts used in today's electronic devices.
According to Reuters, chief financial officer of Pegatron, Charles Lin, said that while there had been no fire at the metal casing factory belonging to Riteng Computer Accessory Company, the gas explosion had resulted in 23 workers requiring hospital treatment.
In May this year an explosion at a factory in Chengdu operated by Apple supplier Foxconn killed three people and injured 15. More recently, Catcher Technology was ordered to close a facility in China making cases for Mac notebooks because of pollution concerns.
Suicides allegedly brought on by harsh working conditions have also been a problem at some plants – in July a Foxconn employee fell to his death in mysterious circumstances at one of the companies dormitories in Shenzhen, southern China, while in May it was reported that the same company was getting its workers to sign a “no suicide” pledge following the deaths of 14 employees over the last couple of years.
