Today, Apple announced that it has requested the Fair Labor Association (FLA) to inspect Apple’s final assembly suppliers, including Foxconn factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China. FLA president Auret van Heerden and a number of other top inspectors began their investigation this morning in Foxconn City, a facility in Shenzhen.

“We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment, which is why we’ve asked the FLA to independently assess the performance of our largest suppliers,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The inspections now underway are unprecedented in the electronics industry, both in scale and scope, and we appreciate the FLA agreeing to take the unusual step of identifying the factories in their reports.”

Apple says that the FLA team will conduct interviews with employees, asking them about living conditions, compensation, work hours, and communication with management. "The FLA’s team will inspect manufacturing areas, dormitories and other facilities, and will conduct an extensive review of documents related to procedures at all stages of employment."

The Cupertino-based company also says that it has granted the FLA "unrestricted access" to all of its facilities in order to conduct a thorough investigation. Quanta and Pegatron facilities will be inspected later this Spring and when everything is completed, over 90% of Apple's facilities will have been checked.

This comes just a few weeks after Apple released its Supplier Responsibility Progress Report for 2012, which focuses on giving the industry an update on working conditions inside facilities.