Women working in Cambodian sportswear factories supplying some of the world’s best-known brands are suffering mass faintings, the Observer can reveal.
Over five months, more than 500 workers in four factories supplying to Nike, Puma, Asics and VF Corporation, were hospitalised. The worst episode involved 360 workers who collapsed over three consecutive days.
The incidents, part of a widespread pattern of faintings that has dogged Cambodia’s 600,000-strong, mostly female garment workforce for years, were confirmed by the brands.
Workers said they feared for their lives in one incident where 28 people collapsed rushing to escape a fire at a factory supplying Nike. Another spoke of panic after thick smoke seeped into a factory supplying Puma.
Th Observer and Danwatch, a Danish investigative media group, interviewed workers, unions, doctors, charities and government officials in Cambodia’s garment industry, which was worth $5.7bn (£4.5bn) in 2015.
On the outskirts of Phnom Penh, at a factory supplying sportswear for Puma, 150 workers passed out in March after thick smoke seeped across the factory floor. Samnang*, 28, was unconscious for two hours.
“I heard the explosion. Smoke came into the factory. Workers were afraid and panicked. I ran to the gate to get out. It was locked but I ran to the manager’s door,” she said. “More and more workers came behind. Other workers could not run to get out and I heard they started fainting.”
Kim So Thet, president of the Coaliton of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union, has asked the factory to set up a cooling system. “It was very hot, in the dry season” So Thet said. “The combination of the fire in the generator – which smells like a poison – and the heat, makes the workers sick.”
Puma said their investigation found no reports of an explosion. Factory temperatures were 31C (88F), said the company, but temperatures of 35C were “possible”. Puma said a generator malfunction produced the smoke and workers exited through the fire exit.
Workers who collapse report feeling exhausted and hungry during 10-hour shifts, with an hour’s break for lunch, over a six day week. Excessive heat was an issue in three factories, with temperatures of 37C recorded. Short-term contracts, typically three months long, were common for workers in three of the factories. Unions claim such contracts are a key source of stress and exhaustion to workers, making them feel obliged to agree to overtime.
Episodes of mass collapses bring factories to a standstill and cost “hundreds of thousands” of dollars in lost productivity, according to the Garment Makers’ Association of Cambodia. The minimum monthly wage in Cambodia is $153. Two hours’ overtime a day boosts it to $190-240, depending on the factory. Wages vary, but none of the four pay the “living wage”, which in Cambodia is $393, according to the workers’ rights alliance Asia Floor Wage.
Last November, a factory supplying shoes for Asics in Kampong Speu province had to close temporarily when 360 workers passed out over three days. “Mass panic” ensued when one woman suffered a seizure in a factory where temperatures were later found to be reaching 37C, said Norn Sophea, who represents the Collective Union of Movement of Workers.
“Certain departments have small fans to cool the area, but in others, the fans are only designed to remove dust from the factory. So it gets very hot,” said Sophea.
Three months later, 28 workers collapsed, this time at a factory supplying Nike, after a fire caused by a faulty electrical connection. Ponlok*, 30, said she feared for her life.
“We heard the alarm. Through the windows we saw workers running,” she said. “I was scared. I felt panic. Sometimes irons explode. It makes the garment workers easily afraid. Sometimes there are explosions when they connect electricity. It happens randomly.”
Unlike neighbouring Vietnam, where the factory temperatures must not exceed 32C, Cambodia sets no limit. Instead, a series of ministerial regulations or prakas come into force if temperatures reach a “very high level” causing difficulties for workers. In such circumstances, employers must take remedial action by installing fans or air conditioning.
At hospital, dizzy, weak or unconscious workers are put on an IV drip with glucose, said doctors.
Independent studies suggest a third of garment workers are underweight. Poor ventilation and chemicals inside and outside factories contribute, while workers at provincial factories can face exhausting commutes, standing for up to two hours in trucks.
Cheav Bunrith, director of the Cambodian labour ministry’s national social security fund, insists faintings have decreased, falling from 1,800 in 2015, to 1,160 last year. He said this was the result of educating workers on nutrition and free treatment for sufferers, but added that factories could improve. “The cooling systems need to be set up appropriate to the size of the factory and a safe electrical system has to be set up,” said Bunrith.
Rights groups and unions say fault also lies with the commonplace short-term contract, and have urged brands to lobby for better contracts and to invest more in Cambodian factories.
Bent Gehrt, south-east Asia field director for the Workers Rights Consortium, which monitors factories making apparel for US universities, said: “There is no proper investment in an adequate working environment and no investment in the living wage. If workers are fainting, it should be a clear indication that you need to do something more drastic.”
Short-term contracts were a “root cause” of job insecurity, meaning people cannot refuse overtime, even when tired, added Gehrt. He said: “Workers across the board say if you don’t do overtime, you won’t get your contract renewed.”
Robert Bartholomew, a medical sociologist who has studied mass faintings, compares episodes in Cambodia with similar outbreaks in 19th-century Britain, when people worked long hours in unsafe conditions. He described it as a form of “subconscious political resistance”.
“The reason for these outbreaks is not so much physical, but psychological – in the form of mass psychogenic illness,” said Bartholomew. “Providing some workers with better nutrition is all well and good, but there needs to be sweeping reforms in the areas of long hours, stressful conditions and poor wages.”
Contacted by the Observer and Danwatch, Puma, VF Corporation, Nike and Asics said they had investigated the episodes, which took place between November 2016 to March 2017.
A Nike spokesman said action had been taken to prevent fires, and fire drills increased. The company also installed cooling systems and air conditioning after an audit found temperatures above Nike’s code of conduct limits of between 27-30C. “We take the issue of fainting seriously, as it can be both a social response and an indication of issues within a factory that may require corrective action. Therefore, we’ve continued to review the incident from February 2017 to more deeply understand the factory’s adherence to the Nike Code of Conduct and Code Leadership Standards.” Nike does not use short-term contracts.
A spokesman for Puma said the firm had made recommendations, including providing energy bars and medical checks, maintenance of the ventilation system, and a worker management committee. Puma is now replacing short-term contracts for workers with more than two years’ service.
The company said it was engaging with Better Factories Cambodia (BFC), a partnership between the UN’s labour organisation and the International Finance Corporation. “The causes for mass faintings seem to be multiple and often complex,” said the spokesman. “Only when there is a collaborative approach between the brands, factories, the workers and the government will the situation improve.”
Asics also works with BFC. “Workers’ fainting appear to be a complex situation, caused by a number of different factors,” a statement read. “The factory, alongside Asics and BFC, will address specific measures, with a focus on workers’ awareness and health and safety training, as well as including an improved air ventilation system.”
A VF spokesman said it worked with 1,000 supplier factories internationally: “These business relationships are governed by a set of global compliance principles that guide our factory audit procedures and act as a set of requirements that all factories must follow. Our teams work hard to make certain that working conditions in our contract supplier factories, including temperature or working breaks, are followed per local laws and regulations.”
