“An explosion at a Shanghai supplier to Apple Inc. injured 61 workers after aluminum dust produced by polishing cases for iPads ignited, China Labor Watch said,” Mark Lee reports for Bloomberg.
“The cause of the Dec. 17 blast at Ri Teng Computer Accessory (Shanghai) Co., owned by Taipei-based Pegatron Corp., was similar to that of an accident at a Foxconn Technology Group facility in May, according to an e-mailed statement from China Labor Watch yesterday,” Lee reports. “Foxconn, the biggest contract manufacturer for Apple, said in May “combustible dust” probably caused the May 20 accident at its factory in Chengdu, China, when three workers died and 15 were injured”
Lee reports, “Pegatron said Dec. 18 that some employees injured in the explosion the previous day were hospitalized, without providing details about the accident.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Hon Hai restarts Foxconn iPad 2 factory following deadly dust explosion – June 2, 2011
China government urges greater attention to safety at Foxconn iPad factory – May 25, 2011
Apple investors brush off impact of China iPad 2 plant explosion – May 23, 2011
Inside Foxconn’s Chengdu Apple iPad 2 factory – May 21, 2011
Apple investigating to find cause of Foxconn factory explosion in China – May 20, 2011
‘Super-light dust’ blamed for explosion at Foxconn iPad 2 factory in Chengdu – May 20, 2011
Explosion rocks Foxconn iPad factory in Chengdu, China; 2 dead, 16 injured – May 20, 2011
Any chance that the manufacturers would figure this out and do something to prevent combustible aluminum dust from exploding when someone lights up a smoke? They say, live and learn… or history repeats itself.
They have. They use expensive filters to ventilate these dusty spaces, like factories everywhere. However, the Foxconn installation was faulty, and I would guess the same thing happened here.
All sorts of dust is explosive, sugar dust, saw dust, paper dust, and aluminum dust. They build these factories so fast, then they mis-install the filtration equipment. Stupid, especially after Foxconn just did it.
Not a chance. So what is left? Government regulation and oversight? Nahh, those are evil and unwanted.
It comes down to diligence and, unfortunately, in many places (especially foreign countries like China), a cost-benefit analysis. Sounds cold and cruel, but it is the way the world works.
At one time I worked in a grain & feed manufacturer. I have never seen as many fire extinguishers as I did at that place. Grain dust was everywhere, and with several parts of the building being 70′ to 80′ high (and all open) it was impossible to keep clean.
Grain dust explosions can be awesome in their fury.
I don’t know what the issues are with Foxconn and Pegatron, but its quite possible that keeping a super active facility like that properly cleaned is more difficult than we imagine, even for a US based firm.
The dust on a surface is not what I believe is explosive. It is the dust in the air.
Or… dare I say… dust in the wind?
What a contrast with factories under Jobs’ purview. In Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs”, he relates to his obsession with the factory layout, the color of the walls, the paint on the machinery. This was the case at NeXT, and at Apple after his return. He drove people nuts.
Under Tim Cook that’s all changed. Apple no longer manufacturers, rather it relies on overseas contract manufacturers. Cook gives them a lot of leeway. And what’s an occasional explosion when you’re shooting for 40% gross margins?
You’re a tool
That is hogwash man.
The move to China very much happened while Steve was running Apple. At the time I’m sure it was simply a matter of survival.
It is interesting to note that Steve has never been against using US Labor to build Apple hardware, in fact in the past that was all they used .. for years… He had an issue with finding qualified engineers to man the factories and as Apple has grown it became a bigger problem I’m sure.
According to the Wallstreet Journal Jobs told President Obama the following:
“Apple employs 700,000 factory workers in China because it can’t find the 30,000 engineers in the U.S. that it needs on site at its plants.”
Bullshit. Apple used the exact same factories under Steve Jobs. The fact is this was an accident, a very tragic accident, made even more so because it also happened just a few months ago. But mechanical parts fail, people make mistakes, and unfortunately the world isn’t perfect.
What needs to happen now is that Foxconn and Apple make sure the plant is properly repaired and inspected so that there aren’t any system failures again. Filtration systems need backups and warnings to avoid this happening again. Even with significant protective measures in place, there’s no way to every 100% prevent another similar accident.
Different Pegatron factory, but the problem may be that both factories were new, and built quickly. The Foxconn ventilation system was installed faulty, so the dust rather than being fully extracted was collecting in a duct, eventually leading to an explosion. I wouldn’t be surprised if a faulty installation happened also at Pegatron.
Couldn’t give a shit. Keep your asses to the grindstone and produce some product, or head back to the hinterlands.
I support this
And you’re a troll
From a 60 MINUTES story two years ago:
“Since 1980, there have been at least 350 such explosions in the U.S., killing 133 people and injuring hundreds more. There are at least 30,000 factories in the nation vulnerable to dust explosions, and yet, some top federal safety officials tell 60 Minutes the government agency whose job it is to protect workers is ignoring a tried-and-true way to prevent those explosions.”
If you do the math, the US has about a dozen such explosions a year, so it’s not just a Chinese or Apple phenomena.
Yup, it’s called adequate ventilation! Simple, easy.
Grain elevators explode frequently.
WHAT exactly is exploding?
We went through this after the first Foxconn explosion. It is ‘possible’ for aluminum dust to ignite, however it takes a very high temperature to cause it to happen. I can dig around through the old research if anyone cares.
My hypothesis: It is NOT the aluminum dust that is starting these fires. I suspect the aluminum would only burn after the initial fire had started. It is much more likely to be something organic (carbon containing) that is starting the fires.
In any case: CLEAR OUT THE DAMNED DUST! And NEVER allow dust clouds around sources of high heat or flame.
It’s Amazon sending their satanic Kindle kids to destroy the unbeatable competition.
In the 70s, I had a summer job making dynamite for CIL in Calgary. It was a great job. High pay, good hours, etc. And, of course, at 23 I was immortal. One of the experimental ‘safe’ explosives we worked on used a slurry of finely powdered Aluminum and a little “fertilizer”. Though it often worked perfectly, it was sometimes unreliable. However, it could only be set off with a blasting cap. Otherwise it was safe in the gel. The most dangerous state was when it was floating dust in the air. The ventilation system was constantly being checked and serviced.
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