Earlier this week, Apple announced that it has asked the Fair Labor Association (FLA) to complete a thorough investigation of nearly all of its supplier facilities amidst reports that workers are under poor conditions. Apple believes that it is one of the few companies being transparent about the issues at facilities, and CEO Tim Cook reiterated this during a Q&A session at yesterday's Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference.

Reuters reports on the first impressions of the FLA, who state that Foxconn is "first-class." The FLA believes that conditions at the facility are much better than others in the industry.

After his first visits to Foxconn, van Heerden said, "The facilities are first-class; the physical conditions are way, way above average of the norm."

He spent the past several days visiting Foxconn plants to prepare for the study.

"I was very surprised when I walked onto the floor at Foxconn, how tranquil it is compared with a garment factory," he said. "So the problems are not the intensity and burnout and pressure-cooker environment you have in a garment factory. . It's more a function of monotony, of boredom, of alienation perhaps."