Cambodian workers in garment factories supplying some of the biggest sportswear brands in the world suffer from repeated fainting due to poor work conditions. According to the investigation carried out by The Observer in collaboration with Danwatch, a Danish investigative media group, more than 500 female workers in four Cambodian factories have been hospitalised over the past year. The factories involved supply Nike, Puma, Asics, and VF Corporation, and the episodes took place between November and March. The two media outlets interviewed workers as well as unions, doctors, charities and government officials in the country's garment industry. They found out that the women who fainted worked 10 hours per day, six days a week, at temperatures in the factories hitting nearly 37 °C. In the most serious episode, 360 workers collapsed in one three-day period alone in November. Some of the interviewees during part of the investigation also mentioned the cases of 28 people fainting as they rushed to escape a fire at a factory supplying Nike, while 150 workers collapsed in a Puma factory in March while trying to escape from a furnace fire that spread black, thick smoke. Unlike in Vietnam, where factory temperatures must not exceed 32 °C, there are no set limits for Cambodian factories, although employers must install fans and air conditioning in case temperatures reach a “very high level” of heat. Garment manufacturing in Cambodia is an industry worth $7 billion, and it employs more than 600,000 factory workers, mostly women. The sports brands involved in the incidents said they had investigated the episodes and taken action to tackle the issue.

Topics