Three contract workers died on Monday at a Tata Electronics factory in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, that makes components for the iPhone, Reuters reported.
The workers were doing maintenance at the site's wastewater treatment plant. They inhaled gas while inspecting a nano-filtration tank, part of that treatment system. Nalco Water operated the treatment plant, and a subcontractor employed the workers. Apple, Tata Electronics and state officials will each look into the incident, and Apple is sending a "team" to assist the investigation. The factory was closed for Diwali, so iPhone production was not affected.
The ownership details are the part worth reading closely. Tata Electronics owns the facility, Nalco Water ran the plant where the deaths happened, and a separate subcontractor employed the men. That is three companies before Apple enters the picture, and Apple is the only one of the four whose name sits on the product. The source does not say who held responsibility for safety procedures on the tank, or what the workers were told before they went in.
That gap is what the investigations will have to fill. Contract labor arrangements often spread day-to-day safety duties across several employers, and a single incident like this one can expose which of them held which duties. Three separate inquiries, one of them by the state, may not reach the same answer about where the line falls. Whether any findings become public is also unstated.