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Another worker death at iPhone firm Foxconn

BBC Published May 25, 2010 Reviewed Jul 3, 2026 ✓ Reviewed by citations.press editors
Citation-ready fact
The Foxconn factory in Shenzhen employs more than 400,000 workers.
more than 400000 workers · factory workers
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Citation-ready fact
Nine people have died after falling off buildings at the Foxconn factory this year.
9 deaths · people who fell off buildings
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Citation-ready fact
Two people were seriously injured after falling off buildings at the Foxconn factory this year.
2 injuries · people seriously injured
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Foxconn is building 3-meter-high fences to prevent people from jumping off dormitories.
3 m · fence height
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Citation-ready fact
Foxconn stopped a further 30 people from attempting to jump off high buildings in a three-week period earlier this year.
30 prevented attempts · people attempting to jump off high buildings
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In China a factory worker has died after falling from a high building, the latest in a string of such deaths at the same plant.

The man, who was 19, was employed by Foxconn, a Taiwanese firm also known as Honhai.

The firm makes mobile phones, games consoles and computers for companies like Apple, Hewlett Packard and Sony.

Nine people have died after falling off buildings at the factory this year. Two others were seriously injured.

Police are not saying yet whether this was a suicide attempt, a suspicious death or an accident.

It happened just one day after Foxconn started playing music to workers on the assembly line to try to ease the pressure on them.

Before this latest incident the company's founder had denied he worked his staff too hard.

But he had promised a plan to improve working conditions within a month.

Some analysts believe the factory is dealing with a suicide cluster - once the notion of suicide spreads among a group of young people it is hard to reverse.

Others point out that the plant is huge; 420,000 people are employed there.

In a population that size the number of apparent suicides seen so far this year is in line with what might be expected.

But the company has admitted it stopped a further 30 people trying to throw themselves off high buildings in a three-week period earlier this year.

That is why one reason it is started to recruit singers, dancers and gym trainers to help off duty staff relax and it says it will employ more psychiatrists too.

It has brought in Buddhist monks to try to rid the plant of evil spirits and it is also building 3m-high fences to try to stop people jumping off the dormitories.

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