Delta Electronics Thailand (Bang Pu, Thailand), a majority-owned subsidiary of Delta Electronics Inc. (Taiwan), has been ordered by the Taiwanese government to suspend operations at all its factories in Thailand after the collapse of a three-story plant in the Bang Pu industrial park 20 miles east of Bangkok. The plant roof of the Bang Pu electronics plant collapsed February 1, 2002, at 4:00 a.m., killing at least seven people working the night shift and injuring 57 others. Delta’s five factories at Bang Pu employ 14,000 people, mostly women, who work in around-the-clock shifts. About 100 women were working when the roof caved in, and three are still missing, according to government officials.
The roof of the 48,400sq-ft building apparently cracked and tore apart beneath the weight of about 30 tons of air-conditioning equipment. Hundreds of rescue workers and police burrowed into the rubble as morning shift workers arrived to discover many of their colleagues trapped under ceiling mortar, iron beams and shattered air-conditioning equipment. Industry Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit has ordered Delta Electronics Thailand to halt operations at its four other factories while authorities investigate and check the safety at the other plants that are in the same complex, which were built to the same design.
