Tech firms to investigate Foxconn suicide factory

Foxconn employees work 12-hour shifts for little pay

Some of the biggest names in the IT industry are investigating procedures at a key Chinese supplier after a number of suicides by workers.

The Foxconn factory in Longhua in the southern Guangdong province, which makes iPods, iPads and iPhones among other devices, has seen 10 suicides this year.

The latest death happened just hours after Foxconn chief executive Terry Gou, one of Taiwan's most famous businessmen, had taken international media on a tour of the plant.

Gou said that the situation is so troubling it is stopping him sleeping, and that the company had taken action, including introducing counsellors, offering more leisure opportunities and installing nets outside the factory to catch jumpers.

"Although this seems like a dumb measure, at least it could save a life should anyone else fall," said Gou, according to a report on the BBC.

The plant has come under increasing scrutiny after the suicides, but claims that it receives 8,000 applications a day from people seeking employment.

Last month a journalist from Chinese newspaper Southern Weekend went undercover in the plant and found staff working 12-hour shifts in silence for little pay and virtually no privacy or leisure activities. Staff sign a voluntary pact to forgo overtime protections in a bid to earn more money.

Apple, HP and Dell have already said that they will investigate working conditions at the plant.

"Any reports of poor working conditions in Dell's supply chain are investigated and, if warranted, appropriate action is taken," Sharon Zhang, a spokeswoman for Dell, told Agence France-Presse.

"We expect our suppliers to employ the same high standards as we do in our own facilities."