Chennai,  The Foxconn company plant at Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, is likely to resume operations from January 12 with a small workforce.

The company which employs a 15,000 workforce will have a full-fledged operation in a phased manner and in all likelihood, only 100 workers will join duty during the first phase when it resumes operation on January 12.

The plant was shut down after food positioning was reported of about 100 women workers on December 18. It may be noted that Apple had put the plant on probation and Foxconn had apologised for the incident.

A spokesperson for Apple on Monday said: "For the past several weeks, teams from Apple, along with independent auditors have been working with Foxconn to ensure a comprehensive set of corrective actions are implemented in the offsite accommodations and dining rooms in at Sriperumbudur. Workers will start to return gradually as soon as we are certain that our standards are being met in every dormitory and dining area.

"Foxconn's Sriperumbudur facility is on probation and we will continue to monitor conditions very closely."

Foxconn in a statement on Monday said: "We have been working on a series of improvements to fix issues we found at the offsite dormitory facilities at Sriperumbudur and to enhance the services we provide to our employees. We have implemented a range of corrective actions to ensure that this cannot happen again and a rigorous monitoring system to ensure workers can raise any concerns that they may have including anonymously."

Tamil Nadu health and labour department officials were in touch with the Foxconn management and directed them that all safety measures are in place.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had informed the Legislative Assembly on January 7 that the Foxconn plant would open soon with 500 employees.