This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/world/asia/cambodia-factory-ceiling-collapse.html

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 4 Version 5
Ceiling Collapse at Shoe Factory in Cambodia Kills 2 Ceiling Collapse at Shoe Factory in Cambodia Kills 2
(about 3 hours later)
TREAM TBAL, Cambodia — A raised storage area collapsed Thursday morning at a footwear factory in this Cambodian village, killing at least two workers and underlining global worries about factory safety in poor countries. TREAM TBAL, Cambodia — A raised storage area collapsed Thursday morning at a footwear factory in this Cambodian village, killing at least two workers, injuring a dozen more and underlining global worries about factory safety in poor countries.
Workers employed by the factory, which is about an hour’s drive outside the captial, Phnom Penh, described a scene of panic. “I don’t remember anything at all,” said Hey Sokheng, a 19-year-old factory worker who looked dazed in her hospital bed in Phnom Penh, the capital. “When I woke up, I was being dragged out of the rubble by someone.”
“People were screaming, ‘Get out! Get out!’ ” said Thinna Makara, a 40-year-old woman who sews the fabrics for sneakers in the factory. Multinational clothing retailers have been considering Cambodia as one of several countries that could be alternatives to Bangladesh for manufacturing after the disaster three weeks ago at the garment factory complex there that killed at least 1,127 people. The collapse and the grueling search for survivors prompted an international outcry for retailers to assume more responsibility for the safety of workers at their suppliers.
Ken Loo, the secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said that steel beams supporting the concrete floor of the storage area at mezzanine height between two buildings had given way. The accident at the sneaker factory in Tream Tbal, which is about an hour’s drive southwest of Phnom Penh, is a reminder that workplace accidents and shoddy construction are not confined to Bangladesh, worker advocates say.
In addition to the two known deaths, nine workers were injured by falling concrete, three of them severely, Mr. Loo said. “The shoe and garment industry is built upon huge profits and little concern for the well being of their workers,'’ said Tessel Pauli, a spokeswoman for the Clean Clothes Campaign, an anti-sweatshop group based in Amsterdam. ‘'It is inherently unsafe and dangerous to work in. As long as workers are marginalized and deprived of their basic rights, the situation will not improve.'’
One of the injured workers, Jonh Sokpheak, 29, said the structure above him collapsed without warning. A report by Better Factories Cambodia, a program of the International Labor Organization, highlighted concerns about workplace safety last month, including “a worrying increase in fire safety violations.”
“I feel like I’ve been reincarnated — I didn’t think I would survive,” Mr. Jonh said from his hospital bed in Phnom Penh. “The concrete ceiling fell all around me. I crawled and crawled and then made it outside.” Bradley Gordon, an American lawyer based in Phnom Penh, said that Cambodia had strong laws on safety and other issues, drafted partly with help from international advisers, but that regulatory enforcement was often weak.
Mr. Jonh and other survivors said the death toll could have been much higher if the collapse, which occurred around 7 a.m., had happened later, when more workers are usually in the area. The precise cause of the ceiling collapse Thursday was not immediately known. Ken Loo, the secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said that steel beams holding up a concrete-floored storage area at mezzanine height between two buildings had given way.
Though it affected only a small area of a large plant, the accident in Cambodia attracted attention in the wake of the collapse of a garment factory complex in Bangladesh 22 days ago. That disaster killed at least 1,127 people and prompted calls for multinational retailers to assume more responsibility for the safety of workers at the companies that supply them with garments. One of the workers injured in the collapsed, Jonh Sokpheak, 29, said the mezzanine was “overloaded” with materials for sneakers.
Workers at the plant here said they were making shoes for Asics, based in Kobe, Japan. Naomichi Hatori, a spokesman for Asics, confirmed that the factory, called Wing Star Shoes, made sports shoes for the company. Mr. Hatori said that Asics "offered its deepest sympathies" to the victims and their families, and that the company would consider measures to improve safety at its overseas suppliers. Mr. Sokpheak said he avoided more serious injury because when the ceiling collapsed he fell under a table.
He could not immediately say to which countries the shoes made there were shipped, nor whether the plant also made shoes for other brands. The Asics brand is popular with runners and has been particularly successful in the Unted States, where it emphasizes corporate responsibility. “I feel like I’ve been reincarnated — I didn’t think I would survive,” he said from his hospital bed. “I crawled and crawled and then made it outside.”
The plant’s employees have been asked to report to work as usual on Monday, according to Komean Keang, a seamstress who was attending a wake on Thursday night for one of the workers who was killed, Ream Sa Roeun. Other workers described a scene of panic.
Mr. Sa Roeun’s family was given compensation of $5,000 by the company, family members said. Entry-level workers at the factory, built on a former rice paddy, are paid around $75 a month, the minimum wage in Cambodia. Employees said that about 8,000 people work there. “People were screaming, ‘Get out! Get out!'” said Thinna Makara, a 40-year-old woman who sews fabrics for sneakers.
Bradley Gordon, an American lawyer based in Phnom Penh, said that Cambodia has strong laws on safety and other issues, drafted partly with help from international advisers, but that regulatory enforcement is often weak. Building collapses have been rare, in part because Cambodia has relatively few old factories; most have been built in the last 10 years. Workers at the factory, called Wing Star Shoes, were making shoes for Asics, an athletic shoe company based in Kobe, Japan, said a company spokesman, Naomichi Hatori. He could not immediately say which market the shoes were shipped to, or whether the plant also made shoes for other brands.

Keith Bradsher reported from Hong Kong and Thomas Fuller from Tream Tbal, Cambodia. Hiroko Tabuchi contributed reporting from Tokyo.

Mr. Hatori said that Asics ‘'offered its deepest sympathies'’ to the victims and their families and that the company would consider measures to revamp safety measures at its overseas suppliers.
Popular with runners, Asics has been particularly successful in the United States, where it emphasizes corporate responsibility.
The factory, which opened about 18 months ago and was built on top of former rice paddies, employs about 8,000 people, workers say.
Employees have been asked to report to work on Monday, according to Komean Keang, a seamstress who on Thursday night was attending the wake of one of the workers killed, Ream Sa Roeun.
Mr. Sa Roeun’s mother was inconsolable and had not eaten all day, family members said. She was given compensation of $5,000 by the company.
Entry-level workers at the factory are paid around $75 a month, Cambodia’s minimum wage.
“It’s not enough, especially when your children get sick,” Ms. Makara, the seamstress, said. Workers have gone on strike three times since September, she said, and each time factory managers agreed to a monthly raise of $5.
Ms. Makara’s sister, Melia, a foreman at the factory, said seamstresses sew about 450 pairs of sneakers in a typical day, including overtime.
Melia Makara, 26, said she was not afraid to return to work because the collapse occurred in a part of the factory far from where she works. Thursday’s collapse was the first fatal accident she had witnessed in four years working in the shoe industry, she said.
Until asked about it, Ms. Melia was not aware of the factory collapse in Bangladesh.
Some workers said they were eager to return to work.
“Rice farming cannot support my family,” Mr. Sokpheak said. “I want to go back to work at the factory.”

Thomas Fuller reported from Tream Tbal, Cambodia, and Keith Bradsher from Hong Kong. Poypiti Amatatham contributed reporting from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Hiroko Tabuchi from Tokyo.