Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Tuesday that it has imposed several new requirements on a Chinese supplier of small home appliances such as toasters and coffee makers after a workers’ rights group documented multiple cases of severed hands or fingers at one of the company’s factories.
Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, based in Hong Kong, said in a report that it found more than 60 cases of workers at a factory in Zhuhai who underwent disability assessment from July 2009 to June 2010.
Kevin Gardner, senior director, international corporate affairs, at Wal-Mart, said the retailer’s own investigation identified 55 cases of worker injuries at the plant over the past 12 months when it conducted unannounced audits on Aug. 18 and Aug. 24. As a result, half of the factory’s metal stamping machines were idled until they can be replaced, repaired or equipped with safety futures, Gardner said in an e-mail.
“We will also evaluate the supplier’s other factories to ensure that no similar concerns exist,” Gardner wrote.
He said the workers’ rights group, which goes by the acronym SACOM, has been “very helpful” in Wal-Mart’s efforts to improve safety at the plant.
Based on its interviews with workers, SACOM said in its report, none reported receiving any workplace safety training. They learned how to do their jobs by observing others, the report said, and began operating the machines on their own after a week.
The machines lack infrared sensors that would halt operations if a hand or other object is detected, according to the report.
In an effort to counter lawsuits over job injuries, the report says, Elec-Tech imposes fines on injured workers for “mistakes of production.”
Gardner said Wal-Mart required the company to obtain an evaluation from China’s Environment Health & Safety Academy before putting the machines back into use. Wal-Mart also will evaluate Elec-Tech’s other factories, he said.
Based on visits with some injured workers, Gardner said, they are now receiving compensation that they were denied before SACOM’s report.
Wal-Mart is working to establish a local independent hotline, in addition to the retailer’s ethics hotline, forworkers to flag dangerous factory conditions without risking retaliation, he said.
In addition to unsafe working conditions, SACOM’s report said workers reported being required to work up to 134 hours a month, in violation of China’s labor laws.
Wal-Mart shares closed down 18 cents at $51.86 in trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares have treaded between $47.77 and $56.27 over the past year.
Business, Pages 23 on 09/08/2010