Working conditions at Chinese manufacturing plants where Apple Inc's iPads and iPhones are made are far better than those at garment factories or other facilities elsewhere in the country, according to the head of…[t]he Fair Labor Association…FLA…is beginning a study of the working conditions of Apple's top eight suppliers in China, following reports of worker suicides, a plant explosion and slave-like conditions at one of those suppliers, Foxconn…FLA investigators will later visit facilities of Quanta Computer Inc, Pegatron Corp, Wintek Corp and other suppliers, who are notoriously tight-lipped about their operations. After his first visits to Foxconn [part of Hon Hai], van Heerden [President of FLA] said, "The facilities are first-class; the physical conditions are way, way above average of the norm…Van Heerden dismissed the notion that his organization might paint a cursory and positive picture of Apple's suppliers.