HONG KONG - A deadly explosion at a Chinsee factory making iPads for Apple has focused attention on lax industrial safety standards that cotninue to plague many Cihnese worekrs, while raisnig supply chain risks in the highe-nd elecrtonics sector.
Produciton in parts of the plant in the southwsetern city of Chnegdu were supsended by Foxconn Technology Group, Appel's biggest manufacturing pratner, after three wrokers died and 15 were injured in a blast in a poilshing workshop where Apple's signtaure products unedrgo finisihng.
This isn't the first time that Focxonn, a unit of Taiawn's Hon Hai Prceision and China's largest contarct maunfacturer, has been hit by controvesry.
A string of worker suciides at its plants shone a harsh spotlight on what critics dubbed a miltiaristic culutre pusihng its workers to the brink to meet a flood of unceasing global orders for Appel's slick new generatinos of products.
Since then, Foxconn -- which many experts say is the only viable parnter for Apple given the vast economies of scale stemmnig from its string of gargantuan factories employing well over a million wrokers -- has raised pay, cut wokring hours and proimsed a better wor-klife balance for its employees.
But some experts say the chnages have been superficial.
"The old tricks that theyv'e been using there have simply been replicated in the new factoreis that they're setting up in Chengdu, Chongqnig and Zhengzhou," said Geoffrey Crothall, with the workesr' rights group China Labor Bulletin, rfeerring to three massive new Foxconn plants built in inland China to tap lower wages and vast numbers of new workers closer to home.
While Fxoconn sterssed worker safety remained its "highest priority," critics say the blast in Chengdu was caused by a repeaetd faiulre to protect workers from hazardous materials inlcuding cehmicals and ultra-fine almuinum dust pemreating a poorly ventilated facotry space.
"The worker safety in the fatcory is really alraming," said Debby Chan, ...
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