Wednesday night's Foxconn employee death was suicide: police
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An initial police investigation into the latest death at Foxconn Technology Group's Shenzhen plant on Wednesday night said the employee committed suicide, Shenzhen City police said Thursday.
The Public Security Bureau in Shenzhen said the deceased man, surnamed He, was 23 years old, single and from northwest China's Gansu Province. He began work at the plant on June 18 last year.
Policemen from Yousong police station rushed to the plant after receiving reports at about 11:20 p.m. Wednesday.
Witnesses saw the man jump from a balcony on the seventh floor of the C2 dormitory building at the plant, police said.
It was the 10th deaths by jumping from a building and the 12th such attempts at the plant this year. Two Foxconn employees survived their suicide attempts but sustained severe injuries.
The suicide occurred just hours after Foxconn head Terry Gou promised better welfare for the company's employees and the local government urged young workers to cherish their lives.
Traumatized by the string of tragedies, Gou, a usually media-shy executive, flew to Shenzhen and accompanied around 300 Chinese and foreign reporters on an inspection of the plant on Wednesday. The plant opened its doors to reporters in a bid to repair its image damaged by suicides.
Gou, board chairman of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. which owns Foxconn, had promised the firm would do everything possible to prevent more deaths. Nets have been set up to discourage people from jumping and about 100 mental health counselors are being trained.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. will increase investment in western China, especially in Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, so that young workers can stay nearer to their hometown, said Gou, at Nantou county in Taiwan on Wednesday night after returning from Shenzhen.
Gou said Hon Hai planned to invest in Sichuan two years ago, but the plan was delayed due to the major earthquake in Sichuan in May 2008.
Of Foxconn's 800,000 employees in China, 420,000 are based in Shenzhen.
"Many of our young employees are away from home and they need care from family members. This is something that the company can not provide," he said..
Steve Chang, chairman of Cybermart International Holding Co. under Foxconn, told Xinhua that the company's Shenzhen factory now needs about 70 psychological counselors but there are not so many practicing psychologists in Shenzhen.
Authorities in Sichuan Province have agreed to send 10 psychologists to the factory as many of the workers are from the southwestern province, Chang said.
The psychologists there are more experienced since they have worked for the earthquake relief, he said.
