As the factory fainting tally for the year continued to escalate this week, the Ministry of Labour yesterday announced a committee to investigate workplace conditions and determine the cause behind workers blacking out on the job.

Leng Tong, director of the ministry’s Occupational Health and Safety Department, said the government has preliminarily concluded workers are fainting because of “over-time, working environment, the weather, etc, and not because of chemicals in the factory.”

The new interministerial committee will more conclusively determine the reason, Tong said yesterday during a workshop for the 2014-2018 strategic plan for workplace health and safety. Tong added that the ministry implemented 80 per cent of its previous strategic plan.

Over 1,100 workers in Phnom Penh alone have fainted this year, according to the Free Trade Union, which continued to call for stronger inspections and better conditions yesterday.