A fire broke out at another Foxconn plant on Tuesday evening, this time at a facility that assembles Sony consumer electronics.
According to various media reports, thick, black smoke began billowing out of the Yantai Foxconn plant in Shandong province, an hour south of Beijing, and the second biggest plant in China operated by Taiwanese parent company Hon Hai. Scroll down for a video captured by Sina.com.
No casualties have been reported so far. A Hon Hai spokesman told Reuters that the fire was sparked by electrical cables on the roof. Hong Kong blog MICGadget said 80,000 workers were employed at the Yantai plant, which primarily assembles PCs, Sony laptops, computer components, and printers.
Foxconn is also Apple's key manufacturing partner, but its Apple iPhones and iPads are assembled at plants in Shenzhen and Chengdu.
The fire was first spotted by a microblogger at Chinese Internet portal Sina.com and picked up by Sina's news service. Coincidentally the day before, Chinese officials ordered police to engage more in "public security microblogging" but only through government-monitored channels.
In the last 12 months, Foxconn's reputation has taken a nosedive thanks to reports of explosions, worker suicides, and alleged slave-like working conditions. In May it briefly shut down operations after a deadly explosion in Chengdu, prompting Foxconn and its partners to pledge to make a number of reforms at the manufacturer's facilities. A recent report from watchdog group Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM), however, found that most employees are working long hours for little pay, battling exposure to dust and harmful chemicals, and undergoing "military style" training sessions.
For more, see Foxconn Factories: How Bad Is It?