Explosion at iPad plant in China

Explosion at iPad plant in China

Explosion at iPad plant in China. Apple investigates explosion at iPad factory in China. Apple could face pressure to review its position in China after two people died in an explosion at the Chinese factory which produces the iPad 2. The explosion rocked Foxconn's Chengdu manufacturing facility late yesterday. Local reports said it happened in the building where Foxconn keeps the iPad 2 production line.

Foxconn, best known as a supplier of Apple’s iPhone and iPad, has already come under pressure in the past 18 months, after more than 13 factory workers committed suicide. Critics say the company’s employees are subjected to harsh working conditions, long hours and low pay.

“We are working closely with Foxconn at this point to understand what caused this terrible event,” said Steve Dowling, a spokesman for California-based Apple. “We are deeply saddened by the tragedy."

The explosion is understood to have hit the polishing plant, which is at the end of the assembly process.

Foxconn representatives have confirmed two deaths and 16 injuries from the incident, with three of the injuries reported as serious.
The $2bn (£1.2bn) laptop-producing plant where the explosion took place opened in October.

According to Chinese reports, police in Chengdu said their preliminary conclusion was that the explosion wasn’t caused intentionally.

Foxconn is the world's largest maker of computer components and produces items for Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard,Sony and Nokia. It employs about 1m people in China, about half of them based in its main facility in the southern city of Shenzhen.

Foxconn has been expanding its workforce into other parts of China as it seeks to scale back the size of its Shenzhen plant.
Source:telegraph