CAMBODIA: Hundreds faint at H&M garment supplier

28 October 2011
Author: Petah Marian
Just Style

More than 200 Cambodian workers have fainted this week at a factory producing clothing for fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB.

According to Reuters, some 236 staff collapsed on Monday and Thursday at Anful Garments Factory in Kampong Speu province.

Provincial police chief Keo Pisey told Reuters that the factory had been using chemicals to prevent cockroaches from eating garments.

This is the most recent in a series of reported mass faintings that has taken place in Cambodian garment factories this year.

A spokesperson for H&M told just-style today (28 October) that it takes the "incidents that have happened at Anful Garment Factory very seriously" and "the workers' well-being is of importance to us, and we are concerned about the current situation."

The spokesperson said the retailer took immediate action, and has since talked to workers, the factory union, factory management and doctors. It seems to be "a case of mass sickness, rather than mass fainting, since workers reported to have felt weak, dizzy and nauseous".

The brand is working with factory management to avoid future occurrences, and has closed the factory until 1 November.

"When returning to work [this] coming Tuesday, doctors will be present to check up on the workers. In addition, we are currently following up with factory management on how to avoid future incidents," the spokesperson said.

Last month the International Labour Organisation’s Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) programme launched an investigation into recent instances of group faintings in Cambodian garment factories.

The collaborative commitment with international clothing brands sourcing from the country will support and resource technical research to look into the cause of the faintings.

Out of about 300 exporting garment factories in Cambodia, there had been about 10 reported incidents of fainting in 2011 so far - excluding the latest one this week.