The recent string of suicides at Foxconn, the Chinese company that manufactures electronic devices for several major consumer electronics brands, has prompted Foxconn to open its doors to the press, while HP, Dell and Apple issued statements about the incidents.
Foxconn CEO Terry Guo gave a guided tour of Foxconn’s factory in Shenzhen to members of the press — showing off a swimming pool and workers’ facilities — in an attempt to prove that the conditions at its Shenzhen factories aren’t the cause for the suicides of nine Foxconn workers this year. “I have not slept well at all for the past month,” Guo told reporters. He also announced that Foxconn has 70 psychiatrists and 100 voluntary workers trained to help prevent suicide.
“We are saddened and upset by the recent suicides at Foxconn. We are in direct contact with Foxconn senior management and we believe they are taking this matter very seriously,” Apple said in a statement. Apple also started an independent evaluation of the steps Foxconn is taking “to address these tragic events.”
HP and Dell are also independently investigating the conditions in Foxconn factories. “We expect our suppliers to employ the same high standards we do in our own facilities. We enforce these standards through a variety of tools, including the Electronics Industry code of conduct, business reviews with suppliers, self-assessments and audits,” Dell said in a statement.
In an e-mail to BusinessWeek, HP said that it is investigating “the Foxconn practices that may be associated with these tragic events.”
The suicide rate at Foxconn, which employs some 400,000 workers in its Shenzhen factories, is still lower than the average yearly suicide rate in China, which is approximately 14 suicides per 100,000 people. A Hon Hai official said there have been nine suicides and two attempts at the China operations this year. However, four deaths occurred this month; if this sad trend continues, Foxconn will have a hard time explaining that it’s only a coincidence.
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