Apple doctors: Pegatron worker death not due to working conditions

Pegatron's iPhone factory

(Credit:Jay Greene/CNET)

A 15-year-old factory worker in a Pegatron facility in Shanghai died recently of pneumonia. And according to Apple's medical experts, conditions in the Pegatron facility had nothing to do with it.

Apple last month sent medical experts to the Pegatron facility in Shanghai to determine whether the worker's death had anything to do with the working conditions at the factory where iPhones and iPad Minis are built. The pneumonia, the medical experts determined, did not relate to work in the factory or the production of Apple products.

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"Last month we sent independent medical experts from the U.S. and China to conduct an investigation of the (Pegatron) factory," Apple said in a statement on Thursday, which was first obtained by Reuters. "While they have found no evidence of any link to working conditions there, we realize that is of little comfort to the families who have lost their loved one."

For several years now, Apple has been in the middle of a debate over working conditions in China, one effect of which was that Foxconn, one of its largest suppliers, was directed to improve conditions for its workers. Apple has been pressing to clear up any issues with working conditions in its facilities, and noted on Thursday that it has a team on the ground "working with Pegatron at their facility to ensure that conditions meet our high standards."

Topics: Apple Corporate Tags: Pegatron, Apple

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