Factory sees third day of mass fainting

Another 40 Tien Sung garment factory workers fainted on Monday after a mass fainting over the weekend, due to inhaling fumes caused by a fire in the ventilation system yesterday in Phnom Penh. Photo supplied

Factory sees third day of mass fainting

Phnom Penh Post | 21 March 2017

Nearly 40 more workers fainted at a garment factory in the capital’s Por Sen Chey district yesterday, after two other mass faintings on Friday and Saturday that were blamed on a malfunction in the ventilation system.

Sao Sarith, district deputy police chief, said the Tien Sung Garment workers had been sent to a referral hospital. “They were allowed to have a day to rest,” he said.

A fire inside the ventilation system at the factory last week led to a build-up of fumes, which caused 30 workers to faint on Friday and 10 more on Saturday. Sarith said the fumes are believed to be the cause for the new faintings as well.

Representatives for the factory did not return requests for comment yesterday as to why the ventilation system had not been fixed.

The National Social Security Fund said in a statement on Saturday that it had sent officials to the factory and demanded it improve its ventilation system but declined to comment yesterday.

The factory’s ownership is based in China and Hong Kong, per to the Garment Manufacturer’s Association in Cambodia website.