Apple: Foxconn "saved lives" with suicide prevention

Apple on Wednesday praised the Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn electronics to establish a service center 24 hours a day, installing grids on buildings and other measures that have "definitely saved lives" after a spate of suicides at manufacturing facilities in China last year.

Foxconn, which assembles iPhones, iPods and other gadgets for Apple, came under scrutiny last year after a series of suicide attempts are at least 13 at its production plants in China, many of which occurred in a sprawling complex in Shenzhen.

The company was pilloried in average over allegations of poor working conditions and poor management.

Apple has reportedly not these issues in its Apple supplier responsibility report, published Wednesday in 2011. The company requires its manufacturing partners to live up to the specific rules of conduct and regularly investigates and publishes an annual report on its findings.

The company sent COO Tim Cook and other executives at Apple Shenzhen Foxconn factory in June last year to better understand the conditions of the site and see what Foxconn has been put in place to prevent more suicides. Apple has also established a team of experts in prevention work with Foxconn suicide and provide guidance for further improvements.

"The team praised Foxconn to act quickly on several fronts simultaneously. [and] found that response Foxconn's definitely had saved his life, "said Apple in the report.

The team also suggested several areas for improvement, such as improved training for hotline staff and advisors of the center of care, and to improve the monitoring to ensure effectiveness, the report said. Apple has also noted that Foxconn is expanding manufacturing operations in other parts of China so its workers can live closer to home. Foxconn said workers want to live closer to home instead to travel long distances to live and work in its factories.

Foxconn's contract electronics manufacturer in the world, and size often puts it in the spotlight. In addition to Apple products, Assembles the Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, PC for Hewlett-Packard and Dell and Nokia phones.

The company has implemented several measures in place to prevent suicides last year, including pay raises for employees throughout China, calling Buddhist monks and psychiatrists to provide advice and more. Also strongly defended her behaviour.

Despite the media frenzy around the issue of suicide, blaming Foxconn is a complex issue. The national suicide rate in China is 15.05 per 100,000 people, according to a study in November 2008, published in the medical journal The Lancet. Foxconn employs over 540,000 workers in China and only 10 of the 13 attempts suicide at its facilities in China last year they managed. Although tragic, the figure is far below the national average.

Foxconn is the trade name of Hon Hai Precision industry, which manages a number of companies under the umbrella of Foxconn technology group.

Apple cited problems with suppliers in the annual report.

WinTek, a Taiwan company that produces the screens for Apple products, caught the attention of global workers were appalled when 137, through the use of a chemical, n-hexane, last year. Apple prompted the company to stop using chemical and to implement a better system of ventilation.

Apple censored a number of companies in matters ranging from breaches of safety and health requirements for the use of underage workers, unpaid correctly and the use of hazardous materials or materials originating from regions of conflict last year.

The U.S. electronics giant led installations in audits of 127 world last year, revealing 37 violations serious enough to justify an end to their business relationship.

After further investigation and discussions with management at these facilities, Apple completed its business with three companies; one for using underage workers, another for counterfeiting of payrolls and one for corruption, according to the report.