Continuing the spate of mass faintings at Phnom Penh garment factories, 24 workers fainted at the Heart Enterprise factory on Friday, prompting the factory to shut down for the second time in a week, officials said. The Dangkao district garment factory had reopened on Friday following its closure on Thursday in the aftermath of the collapse of 20 women on Tuesday and 30 on Wednesday.
The plant had only just reopened when the latest group of women fainted, said Pok Vanthat, deputy director of the Labor Ministry’s medical unit.“We ordered the company closed, so it will close from Friday and will open again on Monday,” he said.
“We recommended the company remove messy stuff from the air system, open windows and prepare the company’s working environment.” He said his department would check the factory for compliance with the order before reopening, and doctors would be sent to the factory to provide support.
Ath Thon, president of the Cambodian Labor Confederation, said the mass faintings seen in the past few months were due to chemical odors as well as malnutrition among workers. “The chemical element of the factory’s clothes is one factor that caused fainting,” he said. “[And] workers health is weak because they have a low income. If we don’t have a prevention policy, they will die,” he added.
