Factory collapse kills seven

From an ANROAV report, 20 February 2002, Bangkok Post, 6 February 2002

In the small hours of 1 February, a reinforced concrete platform in a factory owned by Delta Electronics (Thailand), a Thailand-Taiwanese joint venture employing 15,000 workers in seven factories.

This factory at Bang Pu industrial estate in Samut Prakan province 25 miles south of Bankok, caved in under the weight of 16 heavy-duty air conditioners, killing seven women workers, and injuring 57. Each air conditioner weighed over 600 kilogrammes.

All five of Delta’s factories in Bang Pu closed down while officials conducted safety checks.

By mid-February the factories began working normally, despite misgivings of workers who have worries about safety in the factories.

The injured and relatives of the dead received compensation from Social Security under the Labour Law:
1. 2,000 baht paid immediately to injured
2. 35,000 baht from the Workmen’s (it is time this official sexist language was amended) Compensation fund for the injured, 5,000 baht special treatment, and a pension worth 60 percent of injured worker’s wage for one year
3. Funeral – 16,800 baht per death (US$1.00 = 43.2 baht)
4. 60 percent of deceased’s wages paid monthly for eight years
5. The Department of Public Welfare pays 37,000 baht if deceased was head of the family
6. Delta Electronics pays 50,000 – 100,000 baht for each dead person, and 30,000 – 50,000 for each injured person.

The Bangkok Post said that Kwanthawee Kulsomboon, a Chien Thai (1992) Co Ltd engineer responsible for factory construction, and Ung Kuang Ming, Delta’s Taiwanese chief executive, surrendered to police on 5 February. However they both denied charges of carelessness resulting in death and injury to others, and violation of the Building Control Act.