A fainted worker taken to hospital by a motorbike.
CAMBODIA: Puma investigates footwear workers' collapse
By: Joe Ayling
Just-style.com
13 April 2011
German sporting goods firm Puma has described a mass fainting by 101 workers at one of its footwear suppliers in Cambodia as "unprecedented," and told just-style.com it has launched an investigation to try to find out what happened.
Puma confirmed that the workers from the Heuy Chuen (Cambodia) Corp plant were sent to hospital in the early morning hours of both Saturday (9 April) and Sunday - but said the number affected was substantially less than the 800 initially reported by local press.
It added that all the workers were released from hospital within two to three hours after receiving a supply of drip-feeding in the hospital. It said initial reports diagnosed hypoglycaemia, the medical term for a lower than normal level of blood glucose.
The German firm said investigations are now underway "to verify whether non-compliance with Puma's Code of Conduct or potentially substandard working conditions such as overtime work or low-quality air through adhesives and chemicals had been the cause for the incident."
Puma's labour standards require adequate ventilation within the factory and the use of protective gear.
Regular factory audits - both by Puma auditors as well as random independent third party audits initiated by the Fair Labour Association - monitor health and safety provisions, as well as the control of chemicals used in the factories.
Initial reports provided by Heuy Chuen "indicate full compliance to the Puma restricted substances list and legal requirements," the sportswear firm said.
Factory conditions on the day of the incident were also assessed by a number of officials, including the Interior Security Department of the Ministry and local police, and found the site was adequately ventilated and that bowls of shoe glue were properly sealed. Drinking water has been sent away for analysis.
"We will release a final report of the investigations into this incident after the Cambodian New Year festive period," Puma said.
The company added that the incident is "unprecedented and has never occurred at any other supplier factory Puma collaborates with."
It also pledged to "continue to work with the factory and local authorities to take every precaution that compliance with our social and labour standards is ensured and workers' safety is paramount."
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By Prak Chan Thul
(Reuters) - Cambodian authorities began an investigation on Sunday into the mass fainting of about 800 workers at two garment factories, including one that produces footwear for German sporting goods group Puma .
About 300 workers at Huey Chuen (Cambodia) Corp Ltd on Saturday night suddenly fell sick, followed by another 500 on Sunday at Universal Apparel (Cambodia) Co Ltd, labour industry officials and workers said.
Huey Chuen supplies products to Puma.
Puma, quoting a local police report, said the number of Huey Chuen workers who fell sick was 101. Moeun Tola, head of the labour unit at the nonprofit Community Legal Education Center, put the figure at about 300 and said the discrepancy was due to large numbers of workers going home instead of to hospital.
"I was just feeling exhausted and dizzy," said Keopich Panha, a hospitalised 19-year-old shoe stitcher at Huey Chuen.
Phnom Penh Police Chief Touch Naruth told Reuters his officers and the Labour Ministry were investigating the factories, where workers such as Keopich Panha typically earn about $61 a month.
"It could have been the workers were too tired. We will also look at work environment issues and whether there was enough air or oxygen," he added. "We don't know the conclusion yet."
Worker Soeum Ny, 24, said the smell from materials used in the manufacturing of sport shoes may have made workers sick.
"We are used to it now. This affects our health but there is nothing we can do," she said.
Moeun Tola said mass fainting is a problem in Cambodia's textile industry because rules requiring factories to be monitored are not enforced.
"The government has to strictly monitor these factories," Moeun Tola said.
Garment manufacturing is Cambodia's third-biggest currency earner after agriculture and tourism. More than 210,000 textile workers went on strike last year over the government's attempt to regulate trade unions.
Cambodian factories produce clothes for many Western brands, including Gap Inc , Nike Inc and Inditex Group , the world's biggest clothing retailer and owner of Zara. (Editing by Jason Szep and Miral Fahmy)
13 April 2011
German sporting goods firm Puma has described a mass fainting by 101 workers at one of its footwear suppliers in Cambodia as "unprecedented," and told just-style.com it has launched an investigation to try to find out what happened.
Puma confirmed that the workers from the Heuy Chuen (Cambodia) Corp plant were sent to hospital in the early morning hours of both Saturday (9 April) and Sunday - but said the number affected was substantially less than the 800 initially reported by local press.
It added that all the workers were released from hospital within two to three hours after receiving a supply of drip-feeding in the hospital. It said initial reports diagnosed hypoglycaemia, the medical term for a lower than normal level of blood glucose.
The German firm said investigations are now underway "to verify whether non-compliance with Puma's Code of Conduct or potentially substandard working conditions such as overtime work or low-quality air through adhesives and chemicals had been the cause for the incident."
Puma's labour standards require adequate ventilation within the factory and the use of protective gear.
Regular factory audits - both by Puma auditors as well as random independent third party audits initiated by the Fair Labour Association - monitor health and safety provisions, as well as the control of chemicals used in the factories.
Initial reports provided by Heuy Chuen "indicate full compliance to the Puma restricted substances list and legal requirements," the sportswear firm said.
Factory conditions on the day of the incident were also assessed by a number of officials, including the Interior Security Department of the Ministry and local police, and found the site was adequately ventilated and that bowls of shoe glue were properly sealed. Drinking water has been sent away for analysis.
"We will release a final report of the investigations into this incident after the Cambodian New Year festive period," Puma said.
The company added that the incident is "unprecedented and has never occurred at any other supplier factory Puma collaborates with."
It also pledged to "continue to work with the factory and local authorities to take every precaution that compliance with our social and labour standards is ensured and workers' safety is paramount."
------------------------------------------
By Prak Chan Thul
(Reuters) - Cambodian authorities began an investigation on Sunday into the mass fainting of about 800 workers at two garment factories, including one that produces footwear for German sporting goods group Puma .
About 300 workers at Huey Chuen (Cambodia) Corp Ltd on Saturday night suddenly fell sick, followed by another 500 on Sunday at Universal Apparel (Cambodia) Co Ltd, labour industry officials and workers said.
Huey Chuen supplies products to Puma.
Puma, quoting a local police report, said the number of Huey Chuen workers who fell sick was 101. Moeun Tola, head of the labour unit at the nonprofit Community Legal Education Center, put the figure at about 300 and said the discrepancy was due to large numbers of workers going home instead of to hospital.
"I was just feeling exhausted and dizzy," said Keopich Panha, a hospitalised 19-year-old shoe stitcher at Huey Chuen.
Phnom Penh Police Chief Touch Naruth told Reuters his officers and the Labour Ministry were investigating the factories, where workers such as Keopich Panha typically earn about $61 a month.
"It could have been the workers were too tired. We will also look at work environment issues and whether there was enough air or oxygen," he added. "We don't know the conclusion yet."
Worker Soeum Ny, 24, said the smell from materials used in the manufacturing of sport shoes may have made workers sick.
"We are used to it now. This affects our health but there is nothing we can do," she said.
Moeun Tola said mass fainting is a problem in Cambodia's textile industry because rules requiring factories to be monitored are not enforced.
"The government has to strictly monitor these factories," Moeun Tola said.
Garment manufacturing is Cambodia's third-biggest currency earner after agriculture and tourism. More than 210,000 textile workers went on strike last year over the government's attempt to regulate trade unions.
Cambodian factories produce clothes for many Western brands, including Gap Inc , Nike Inc and Inditex Group , the world's biggest clothing retailer and owner of Zara. (Editing by Jason Szep and Miral Fahmy)
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