BEIJING (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) -- The tenth employee of the year jumped to his death at an electronics factory in southern China, hours after the conglomerate's chairman visited the plant to try to stem a rash of suicides there.

The latest suicide at Foxconn Technology in Shenzhen was a 23-year-old man who died late Wednesday, China's official Xinhua news agency said, citing police. Witnesses said they saw him jump from a seventh-storey balcony of a dormitory.

Twelve similar falls have occurred at Foxconn in 2010. Two of those employees survived.

There was also a suicide attempt on Thursday when a 25-year-old employee cut his veins in a Foxconn dormitory. The man survived after receiving hospital treatment.

The latest death came after Terry Kuo, chairman of Taiwan's Hon Hai Group, which owns Foxconn, visited the sprawling factory with reporters on Wednesday to combat charges that poor working conditions and mistreatment of workers there were leading to the suicides.

He announced that the company would implement new policies to try to prevent further suicides.

Kuo on Thursday returned to China after the latest suicide, turning around almost immediately after his arrival back in Taiwan.

Foxconn, the world's largest contract maker of electronics, produces computers, mobile phones and gaming consoles for firms such as Apple Inc, Sony Corp, Dell Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co (H-P) and Nokia Corp.

According to some media reports, those clients are now putting pressure on the company to improve its working conditions.

In a statement to Bloomberg news Apple said it was "saddened and upset by the recent suicides at Foxconn."

The world's number one tech company said it was "deeply committed" to ensuring safe conditions and was in direct contact with Foxconn on the matter.

Dell said it expected to its suppliers to follow its own high standards which it monitored via self-assesments and audits while H-P said that it was investigating "the Foxconn practices that may be associated with these tragic events."

About 420,000 people work at the plant, and most live in dormitories in the factory grounds. Some have complained on the internet of long working hours, almost daily overtime, low pay, beatings and verbal abuse by their Taiwan supervisors. Foxconn and Hon Hai officials, including Kuo, have denied abuse of workers with Kuo saying the factory "is not a sweatshop."

Kuo on Wednesday expressed his sorrow over the suicides and announced measures to prevent more, including installing nets around buildings, bringing in psychiatrists and training employees to be counsellors for their fellow workers.

Experts said the potential causes for the spate of suicides were work pressure, lack of a social network for the uprooted migrant workers and personal isolation.

The Chinese government expressed its concern and stressed employers' obligations to look after their workers.

Copyright 2010 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH