This time it isn't an employee falling off a roof or out of a window. This time, it's pesticide.
Foxconn, the world's largest manufacturer of electronics, is responsible for assembling the Xbox 360, the PS3, the Wii, the iPhone and more.
After 250 workers at the company's Chennai, India plant were hospitalized, Foxconn had no choice but to shut the facility down. Workers experienced what has been described as "sensations of giddiness and nausea". According to Foxconn, this "may have been caused by the routine spraying of pesticide at the production facility."
Out of the 250 hospitalized workers, 28 are still in the hospital. The plant is responsible for mobile phone parts.
This year, 11 Foxconn employees have committed suicide at the company's Shenzhen factory. Foxconn is raising employee wages by 70 percent to the equivalent of US$295 a month.
The salary increase will also apparently increase rates Foxconn charges its clients to produce their goods. To offset the increase, Foxconn is looking at increasing plant automation and relocating plants to China's interior, where wages are lower. Price increases could either increase prices for game consoles or lower profit margins for electronics companies.
AFP: Foxconn shuts India plant after workers hospitalised [AFP via The Register]