A lingering odour in a Sixplus Industry garment factory is aggravating the already-fragile health of its workers, 100 of whom fainted last weekend, and has forced the factory to send many of them back to health centres.

Moeun Chanthy, head of the sewing section at Sixplus in Kandal province, said that over 50 workers who fainted on Saturday were sent back to health centres yesterday.

“They were ordered to rest for a day more, but they came back, so the factory checked their health and found out that their health was not good enough,” Chanthy said.

Overall, about 100 workers were sent to clinics yesterday.

Srin Phat, 33, who fainted on Monday and was sent for treatment yesterday, said the factory “smelled like insect pesticide or gas”.

“In short, it is a bad smell,” she said.

A report from the Free Trade Union says 1,113 workers in 17 factories in Phnom Penh alone have fainted this year.