By Chris Chang, posted Dec 19, 2011 at 1:58 AM, 1,199 views,

Apple Supplier Pegatron Factory Explodes, May Affect iPad 2 Supply (video)

Before the year of 2011 ends, another Chinese plant explodes and according to Reuters, the explosion had injured 61 workers, and caused “some” damage to the plant’s machinery for producing iPad 2 back panels.

The explosion, which happened at the plant belonging to Riteng Computer Accessory Co, in Shanghai’s Songjiang industrial park around 3:40pm local time, had not caused a fire, but 23 of the injured workers with burns needed to be hospitalized. Fortunately, none had life-threatening injuries. Here’s what one of the workers said about the explosion:

“I heard “Dong!”, it was a loud explosion,”

According to Shanghai city government, the explosion occurred at a workshop on the fourth floor of the facility. And Pegatron Chief Financial Officer Charles Lin told Reuters that the factory has not started operations yet. Part of the facility is still under pre-operation inspection and part is running trial production. The cause of the explosion is unknown, but city officials were predicting that the explosion had been caused by combustible dust in an air duct, just like the explosion at Foxconn’s facility in Chengdu. Here’s what Riteng factory manager said to the local media:

“We’ve already took the precautions that we should take, and we’ve followed the safe work policies and procedures. For the cause of the explosion, we will cooperate fully with that investigation.”

What’s more, Pegatron said in a statement that there was some damage to machinery but it could make adjustments to the facility to minimize the impact on operations and revenue. The resumption of operations would depend on the government’s decision, and an investigation report by the Shanghai city government was expected later on Monday.

So, this explosion is the latest in a series of incidents that have spotlighted safety concerns at factories in China. In May, an explosion at Foxconn’s iPad polishing facility in Chengdu killed three and injured 15. In October, a MacBook casing supplier for Apple, was ordered to close a plant because of complaints about pollution. In November, Apple was accused in a report by some China environmental protection groups of causing pollution to China. Well, we are sure these things likely happens at a LOT more factories in China, but we only hear about Apple’s factory because it’s… well it’s Apple. It gets more publicity because of it.

Source: Sina (1), (2) via Reuters