Thursday, May 16, 2013

Factory making Asics trainers collapses in Cambodia killing at least two and injuring seven

Collapse: About 50 workers were inside the factory, south of the capital Phnom Penh, when the ceiling caved in
Search: Cambodian rescue team and soldiers look for workers after a factory collapsed in Kampong Speu province
Comb: Rescuers combed through rubble for several hours and after clearing the site said that nobody else was trapped inside
Trade: The garment industry is Cambodia's biggest export earner
Chea Muny, chief of a trade union for factory workers, identified the factory as a Taiwanese-owned operation called Wing Star that produces Asics sneakers for the Japanese sportswear label
Production: The structure where the collapse occurred was mainly used as a storage warehouse for shoe-production equipment
1,127 people in the global garment industry's deadliest disaster
Business: In 2012, more than $4 billion worth of garment products were shipped to the United States and Europe
  • The ceiling collapsed on workers early this morning
  • Heavy iron equipment stored on floor above appeared to have cause collapse
  • Latest accident to spotlight lax safety conditions in garment industry

16 May 2013
By Jill Reilly
Daily Mail (UK)

The ceiling of a Cambodian factory that makes Asics sneakers collapsed on workers this morning, killing two people and injuring seven, in the latest accident to spotlight lax safety conditions in the global garment industry.

About 50 workers were inside the factory, south of the capital Phnom Penh, when the ceiling caved in, said police officer Khem Pannara.

He said heavy iron equipment stored on the floor above appeared to have caused the collapse.


Two bodies were pulled from the wreckage and seven people were injured, he said. Rescuers combed through rubble for several hours and after clearing the site said that nobody else was trapped inside.

'We were working normally and suddenly several pieces of brick and iron started falling on us,' said an injured 25-year-old Kong Thary, crying on the telephone as she recounted the scene from a nearby clinic.

Chea Muny, chief of a trade union for factory workers, identified the factory as a Taiwanese-owned operation called Wing Star that produces Asics sneakers for the Japanese sportswear label. He said shoes made at the factory were imported to the United States and Europe.

The factory complex, which opened about a year ago, consists of several buildings.

The structure where the collapse occurred was mainly used as a storage warehouse for shoe-production equipment but had a small work area where people were gathered when the collapse occurred, Chea Muny said.

The garment industry is Cambodia's biggest export earner.

In 2012, more than $4 billion worth of products were shipped to the United States and Europe.

About 500,000 people work in more than 500 garment and shoe factories throughout the country.

The accident comes about three weeks after a building collapse in Bangladesh that killed 1,127 people in the global garment industry's deadliest disaster. Bangladesh is the third-biggest exporter of clothes in the world, after China and Italy.

'This shows that the problem is not only isolated to Bangladesh, and that companies (elsewhere) are trying to drive prices down by taking shortcuts on workers' safety,' said Phil Robertson of Human Rights.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

all I can say is good engineering! most case like this is bldg was being built by carpentry practice.

Anonymous said...

That is the standard construction in the developing countries, no wonder. It will collapse more when those building in Cambodia more than 20 years of ages. No one punished, good for those.dict.cc
In Germany or France, those engineers will forbidden from their job as engineers.

Anonymous said...

The owner of the factory is responsible for the collapse and the workers death and injuries. If they blame the contractor, they can go after the contractor in a separate case. The gov't is trying to score by stepping to pay for compensation before the national election. The gov't's job is to keep things in order and to make sure everyone is treated fairly.

Anonymous said...

នៅ​ពេល​នោះក្នុង​សាលា​ប្រជុំមាន​​បុរស​ម្នាក់ដែល​មាន​វិញ្ញាណល្អ​នៅ​ក្នុង​ខ្លួន ស្រែក​ឡើង​ថា៖ កក្តាន់! កក្តាន់!