A local labour rights group wants retail giant Wal-Mart to investigate alleged unsafe conditions at mainland factories operated by its home appliance supplier where frequent industrial accidents have left many workers with severed hands and fingers.
The main causes of the injuries at Shenzhen-listed Elec-Tech International's factories are unsafe machines, inadequate training of workers, absence of protective equipment and pressure to work faster, according to a Hong Kong organisation called Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (Sacom).
An investigation by the group earlier this month found more than 60 workers had been disabled by injuries sustained in industrial accidents between July last year and June this year at Elec-Tech's main production facilities in Zhuhai.
'Wal-Mart, as a major client of Elec-Tech, has a responsibility to ensure safe and decent working conditions at its supplier,' Sacom spokeswoman Debby Chan Sze-wan said yesterday.
Chan described the industrial accidents as 'man-made tragedies' which could have been prevented.
No response was received from inquiries made to Wal-Mart in the United States and its mainland subsdiary's office in Shenzhen.
