14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has involved itself in the investigation of suicides at Foxconn (Hon Hai), the company’s manufacturing partner responsible for producing the popular iPhone and now the iPad as well. The Chinese manufacturing facility has made headlines on numerous accounts concerning worker suicides, one of which involved the loss of a prototype iPhone unit.
"We're in direct contact with Foxconn senior management and we believe they are taking this matter very seriously," Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman, said, according to Bloomberg. "A team from Apple is independently evaluating the steps they are taking to address these tragic events and we will continue our ongoing inspections of the facilities where our products are made." The spokesman reportedly added that, "[Apple is] saddened and upset by the recent suicides at Foxconn."
The report mentions that Foxonn has tallied some nine suicides and two attempted suicides this year alone, events that inevitably caused an outrage over whether the companies are treating their employees well. In response to the outcry caused by these tragic events, Foxconn has reportedly moved to open its factory to the media, aiming to show that there’s nothing to hide about the working conditions on its assembly lines.
Some speculate that the number of suicides experienced at Foxconn is not out of the ordinary. Statistics would indicate that suicide rates in the general population in China compare well with the approximately 400,000 workers Foxconn's manufacturing complex employs. While Foxconn reportedly downplayed allegations that its facilities were regarded as sweatshops, the company also said it had hired counselors and that it made efforts to assist employees, the report says.
In what may be considered related news, Wintek, the provider of touch panels for Apple’s iPhone and iPad, recently announced through the Taiwan Stock Exchange that its workers had stopped using “n-hexane,” a chemical substance proved to cause nerve damage and paralysis in humans. The move came as a response to reports that 44 workers of Wintek's plant in Suzhou, China, planned to sue the company.