News by Khmer Times/Pav Suy and Igor Kossov

PHNOM PENH (Khmer Times) – A defective fire alarm at a Southland (Cambodia) Co. Ltd garment factory in Sangkat Chaom Chao led to a panic and a mass fainting episode at 7:30 a.m. Friday morning.

A factory manager said that only five or six workers fainted, but several employees speaking on the condition of anonymity said that between 15 and 20 people passed out, requiring medical attention. The others refused to continue working and went home for the day.

“The factory [was having] a fire alarm repaired, the fire alarm [started] ringing,” said the manager. “Until workers all calmed down, some workers were very afraid.”

(...)

read more: http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/12632/twenty-workers-faint-at-garment-factory/

Mass hysteria. I wonder how claustrophobic the working conditions are there.

Fear, shock cited in mass faintings

Wed, 1 July 2015

Mom Kunthear

More than 80 people in two garment factories – one in Phnom Penh, the other in Kandal province – fainted on the job yesterday.

Forty-six people fainted at Quint Major Industrial Co Ltd, just one day after an incident on Monday that saw about 50 workers faint at the same factory, said Cheav Bunrith, a spokesman for the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).

“At about 8:20am on Tuesday, 46 workers fainted because they still felt scared [from the previous day], and they are in poor health,” he said.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fear-shock-cited-mass-faintings

Word on the street..these ladies were working on custom made briefs for Shaquille O'Neal...when they passed out...

Garment workers faint after poisoning

Thu, 2 July 2015

Chhay Channyda

More than 60 garment workers fainted yesterday afternoon after a bout of food poisoning, police have said.

Chhom Troeun, deputy district police chief, said 64 Vonammy Garment factory workers in Takeo province’s Bati district had passed out after eating a batch of fermented shrimp known locally as pha’ak kampih.

“They were all female workers. They ate the pha’ak kampih and they got food poisoning and vomited,” he said.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/garment-workers-faint-after-poisoning

Four factories see 118 faintings

Fri, 3 July 2015

Chhay Channyda

More than 100 workers across four garment factories in Phnom Penh, Kandal and Takeo provinces fainted yesterday.

National Social Security Fund (NSSF) officials said 45 workers at C N Prosperous Garment (Cambodia) Co Ltd in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district fainted yesterday, after more than 90 workers there fainted on Tuesday.

But NSSF inspectors noted fans and proper ventilation at the factory, declaring it up to standard, NSSF spokesman Cheav Bunrith said yesterday.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/four-factories-see-118-faintings

Cambodia Union Warns About Fainting Garment Factory Workers

The president of one of Cambodia’s largest labor unions representing the apparel sector expressed concern on Thursday about the growing number of garment factory workers fainting from overwork and harsh factory conditions during the past few days.

Ath Thon, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union, an independent union affiliated with the Cambodian Labor Confederation (CLC), said at least 100 workers had fainted over the past four days due to lack of adequate food, physical exhaustion and exposure to chemical odors.

“The workers fainted due to their deteriorating health and work environment,” Ath Thon said. “But the most important reason is their low salary.”

The fainting occurred in garment factories in Kandal, Kampong Seau and Takeo provinces in the southern part of the country, where most of the garment factories are located, he said.

Besides the more than 100 who became seriously ill from factory work, hundreds of others reported not feeling well, he said.

Ath Thon urged the government to resolve the issue by improving the minimum wage so garment factory workers could buy enough food to eat. They currently are paid a minimum wage of U.S. $128 a month.

He also implored factories to improve their physical environments.

“The work environment is bad, workers don’t have enough oxygen to breathe,” he said.

He Lim, president of the Cambodian Union Federation, said at least 40 exhausted workers had fainted in another factory on Thursday after vomiting because they did not have enough oxygen.

At least 500 factory workers in 11 of Cambodia’s 24 provinces fainted between January and June 2015, a decrease from the 890 who passed out during the same period last year, according to Cambodia’s Ministry of Labor.

Last month, several thousand of workers had protested in front of the Ministry of Labor in the capital Phnom Penh to demand that the minimum wage be increased to U.S. $177 per month and their work conditions be improved.

The same day, Ath Thon led about 200 workers in petitioning parliament over union rights and a minimum wage increase, while a third protest of roughly 1,000 workers led by president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers Pao Sina made similar demands.

Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

source: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/union-warns-about-fainting-garment-factory-workers-07022015155840.html