Cambodian garment workers in 'mass fainting' outbreak

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011...-mass-fainting

Cambodian garment workers in 'mass fainting' outbreak

Poor working conditions blamed after 300 workers fall ill at Phnom Penh factory, following earlier case involving 800 people

* Reuters
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 16 June 2011 13.19 BST

Three hundred garment workers have fallen ill this week at a factory in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh ? the latest outbreak of "mass fainting", blamed on poor working conditions in the country.

About 200 female garment workers at King Fashion Garment became sick on Wednesday afternoon, followed by another 100 people on Thursday morning, said the district police chief Born Sam Ath...

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Cambodian garment workers in 'mass fainting' outbreak

Also last year; http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...d.php?p=372442

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Cambodian garment workers in 'mass fainting' outbreak

Inside look at 'fainting' factory .Thursday, 28 July 2011 15:02 Don Weinland and Sim Virinea

After a three-day standstill at a Puma supplier, shoemakers returned this morning to the factory floors in Phnom Penh where 49 workers reportedly fell ill Monday morning.

Huey Chuen factory Assistant General Manager Zhang Hanchang ? who led reporters from The Post through the empty factory in Phnom Penh?s Chom Chao District earlier on Tuesday ? has insisted the medical emergency was unrelated to working conditions, which he said are on par with international standards.

A Fair Labor Association report made public this month said, however, that the factory?s conditions had been found to be substandard following a separate incident where more than 200 workers reportedly fainted in April.

?The [most recent health] problems had to do with the weather. Some of the workers may have caught a cold,? Zhang said on the factory?s second floor, where three employees reported feeling ?uncomfortable? on Monday morning.

Many Huey Chuen employees ride to and from work in the backs of uncovered trucks, often for long periods of time in the rain, Zhang said. This was a main contributor to Monday?s incident, he said.

?The weather these days is cool in the morning and hot in the afternoon. It?s easy to catch a cold in these conditions.?

Zhang?s account of Monday?s incident runs contrary to recent media reports, some of which claim factory workers collapsed on the production line.

...

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011072850686/National-news/inside-look-at-fainting-factory.html

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Cambodian garment workers in 'mass fainting' outbreak

Faintings a wake-up call .
Thursday, 22 September 2011 12:00 Tuomo Poutiainen .
Photo by: Heng Chivoan

Analysis
The recent group faintings in Cambodia?s garment factories act as a wake-up call for the industry to look at the health implications of fast growing industrial production and to improve the overall well-being of workers, in particular through broader social protection.

...


It is difficult to assign one single reason to the recent unsettling group fainting incidents. While an expert investigation (lead by the ILO with the support of other international organisations and buyers) continues, it is worth asking whether there may be a broader issue in the industry. In addition to individual contributing reasons ? such as heat, exposure to chemicals, mass hysteria, etc ? we must consider whether the group faintings are a symptom of something else.

...

In 2006, a report by the ILO with The World Bank and Care International found that fainting or feeling dizzy was the second most common cause of sick leave reported by workers, and the third most common cause according to managers.

It also found that workers in factories with canteens took 10 percent less sick leave and had a more balanced diet.
...

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011092251788/National-news/faintings-a-wake-up-call.html

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Cambodian garment workers in 'mass fainting' outbreak

Factory bows, but strike continues .Friday, 14 October 2011 12:03
Kim Yutthana

Workers striking for a second day at a garment factory in suburban Phnom Penh succeeded yesterday in having one of their eight demands met, as Taiwanese-owned Meroson Cambodia Co Ltd agreed to reinstate three employees allegedly fired for joining a union, a union official said yesterday.

...
Currently, before they can go to the toilet, all employees must write their name and company ID number on a form, along with the time they leave, Un Dara said. If they take longer than 10 minutes to return they receive a warning from managers that they will be fired if they do so twice more, he said.

Garment worker Yan Savet said the company deducted payment from bonuses if workers took longer than five minutes to go to the toilet. She also said that if workers were sick they were given a medical drip rather than allowed to go to a clinic. Working conditions like these were what prompted the strike, Yan Savet said. ?We could not stand it any longer. The factory uses workers like animals.?

...

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011101452131/National-news/factory-bows-but-strike-continues.html

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Cambodian garment workers in 'mass fainting' outbreak

Mass fainting follows use of insecticide .Tuesday, 25 October 2011 12:01 Phak Seangly and Kim Yuthana . .0Share
More than 100 workers collapsed at the Anful Garments Factory in Kampong Speu yesterday after the cloth they were working with was sprayed with insecticide on Sunday, a senior provincial health official said.

Or Vanthen, director of the Kampong Speu provincial health department, said 144 workers from the factory in Samrong Tong district?s Sambo commune were hospitalised but were not in danger and would be given a day off to rest.

?Those workers were not in serious condition. They were just having difficulty breathing and dizziness. Chemical substance was sprayed on the cloth to protect it from being destroyed by insects,? he said.

...

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011102552326/National-news/mass-fainting-follows-use-of-insecticide.html

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Cambodian garment workers in 'mass fainting' outbreak

False alarms trigger fainting .Khouth Sophakchakrya
Friday, 09 December 2011 .

Three false alarms at a garment factory triggered another mass fainting incident yesterday morning, sending 59 female staff, including one security guard, to hospitals and clinics, according to a statement from the Ministry of Labour.

The first alarm went off about 7:40am in a sewing section, causing workers to rush out of the Sportex Industry factory in the capital?s Russei Keo district, garment-maker Shout Dara said.

She said a manager had instructed workers to return to the factory moments later, telling them there had been no fire. Just after they had returned to their work stations, however, the alarm went off again.

Workers rushed out of the two-floor complex a second time, but returned to their work stations after managers ordered them to do so a second time, she said.

A few minutes after they returned, the alarm rang a third time and this triggered the fainting, Shout Dara said.

About 100 of the 1,400 employees at the Taiwanese-owned factory, which makes sportswear for Adidas, fainted, workers said. Fifty-nine were sent to hospitals and clinics, the statement from the labour ministry said.

...

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011120953262/National-news/false-alarms-trigger-fainting.html

[Pathfinder]

Re: Cambodian garment workers in 'mass fainting' outbreak

Cambodian workers hold 'people's tribunal' to look at factory conditions

H&M and Gap criticised for not agreeing to attend hearing next week investigating pay, working hours and 'mass faintings'

Sarah Butler
guardian.co.uk, <TIME datetime="2012-02-02T13:44EST" pubdate>Thursday 2 February 2012 13.44 EST</TIME>

Workers in Cambodia will hold a "people's tribunal" next week to investigate pay and conditions at factories working for fashion brands including H&M and Gap.

An international panel of judges will hear evidence from workers, factories and multinational brands including Puma and Adidas. H&M said it would not attend but would supply information about how it was addressing wages at its suppliers' factories in the country.

The two-day hearing aims to raise awareness of low pay and long working hours that workers say are partly responsible for a series of "mass faintings" involving hundreds of workers at factories supplying H&M, Gap and sports brands.

Up to 300 workers will give evidence about the fainting incidents and about living conditions resulting from low wages.

The minimum wage in Cambodia is the equivalent of just $66 (?42) a month, a level that human rights groups say is almost half that required to meet basic needs.

Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Coalition for Apparel Workers Democratic Unions, said: "Because the workers get low wages they try to work 10 to 13 hours a day to get the money they need for their family."

He said workers needed a basic wage equivalent to at least $100 (?63) a month to get by without putting their health in danger. "Workers are fainting because of long working hours and the environment in the factory," he said.

Fumes from chemicals, poor ventilation, malnutrition and even "mass hysteria" have all been blamed for making workers ill.

A report by the International Labour Organisation said at least 11 garment factories experienced fainting incidents and more than 1,500 workers fainted or collapsed during working hours last year.

More...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/02/cambodian-workers-peoples-tribunal-factory?newsfeed=true

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Cambodian garment workers in 'mass fainting' outbreak

Mass factory fainting
Sen David
Thursday, 05 April 2012

107 workers at the Sabrina Garment factory in Kampong Speu?s Sambo commune were sent to hospital after becoming dizzy and fainting late yesterday morning.

Choek Borin, the Labour Department?s Kampong Speu bureau chief, said that 107 factory workers fainted, with nearly 60 sent to the provincial federal hospital.

He said that after investigations by officials, it is believed the faintings were caused by a poisonous chemical used to manufacture gloves in another section of the factory building.

Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union, traveled to the scene and said that a few workers fainted in the factory after 9am. Two hours later, there was a mass fainting on the factory grounds which affected nearly 100 Sabrina Garment employees.
...

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012040555443/National-news/mass-factory-fainting.html

ProMED comment;
[The newswire above reports a mass fainting incident at the Sabrina Garment factory in Kampong Speu's Sambo commune in Cambodia. It is reported that 107 workers fainted; of these, about 60 workers were sent to the provincial federal hospital. Symptoms were dizziness and breathing difficulty. The investigation results showed the possibility that a poisonous chemical used to manufacture gloves in another section of the factory building caused this fainting.

In 2012, several incidents of mass fainting have been reported in Cambodian garment factories. Poor ventilation, hot weather, exhaustion from excessive hours, or exposure to dangerous chemicals have been blamed for the faintings (see prior PRO/MBDS postings listed below).

PRO/MBDS would appreciate receiving more information from reliable sources on the investigation and the chemical responsible of the fainting cases above.

For a map of Cambodia with provinces, see http://ephotopix.com/image/asia/camb...ovince_map.gif. For the interactive HealthMap/ProMED-mail map with links to other recent PRO/MBDS and ProMED-mail postings on Cambodia and neighboring countries, see http://healthmap.org/r/27HW. - Mod.SCM]

http://beta.promedmail.org/direct.php?id=20120406.0781

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Cambodian garment workers in 'mass fainting' outbreak

Another mass fainting, more fingers pointed
Thursday, 23 August 2012 Mom Kunthear

The second mass fainting in a month at Kampong Chhnang?s M&V garment factory, a supplier for global retailer H&M, saw 23 women taken to hospital yesterday, bringing the total number of affected workers in August to 67.

Noun Sam Ol, president of the Free Trade Union at M&V, said yesterday that the women, who were sent home to recover after their hospital visit, had been working multiple overtime shifts, leaving some feeling weak later in the day.

?There were two instances of fainting this month in M&V, because employees have been working harder and their health is not good,? she said.
...

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012082358238/National-news/another-mass-fainting-more-fingers-pointed.html