A coalition of Chinese environmental groups has ranked Apple as the worst multinational offender of occupational safety regulations, putting a damper on Apple's stellar performance in China as reported on Tuesday.
Today the Institute of Environmental and Public Affairs, a Beijing-based environmental NGO, released a damning 26-page report called "The Other Side of Apple" (in Chinese) which documents cases when Apple's mainland suppliers violated environmental and health protections. While calling out 29 multinational companies, like HP, BP, and Toshiba, Apple is allegedly the worst of the batch.
Most of the cases documented have been widely reported, such as the string of suicides at infamous Apple supplier Foxconn last year. Other alleged violations include hexane poisoning at a subsidiary plant of Taiwanese component maker, Wintek, which sent 49 people to the hospital, the Financial Times writes. At Dafu Computers, a subsidiary of Taiwan Mobile, female workers were allegedly humiliated when forced to remove their belts for security checks, the Wall Street Journal notes.
The timing of the report coincides with Apple's heady earnings report on Tuesday, which boasted an aggressive China strategy after launching retail stores, an e-store, and App Store in the country.
But according to authors of the report, it came at the expense of worker safety, "While Apple's been busy updating their sales records, its employees have been enduring poisonous chemicals, with their rights and dignity being seriously trespassed on and the surrounding areas and environment being polluted by dirty water and emissions," the WSJ gleaned.
Many people attribute Apple's success to its "secret" culture, the report said, but a "secret" culture simply means the lack of transparency or corporate social responsibility.
Quoting Apple's Supplier Responsibility Progress Report 2010 (PDF), an Apple spokeswoman said, "Apple is committed to ensuring the highest standards of social responsibility throughout our supply base. The companies we do business with must provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made."
Apple's supply-chain auditing program includes audits of suppliers' suppliers, and another audit to double-check corrections.