A few bad apples

03/01/1998

A few bad apples

Last SEMICON West, I talked with a mainstream TV reporter in the press room. This intrepid newshound had heard that dangerous chemicals were used in the manufacture of semiconductors, and wanted to know whether safety and the environment were some of the big stories of the show. I stated that such issues were resolved many years ago, and that the industry as it stands in the US is extremely safe and conscientious.

On January 13 and 14 of this year, USA Today ran a series of articles under the banner heading, "Dirty secrets: The dark side of a clean industry." This distressing series, with a large skull and crossbones imposed on the image of a bondpad mask, implies that the entire US chip industry is rife with danger. The truth is not nearly so exciting and is not likely to inspire lurid headlines. The truth is that the US semiconductor industry does an excellent job of maintaining safety.

To be sure, there are many toxic, carcinogenic, and otherwise unsafe chemicals in routine use in fabs. If one searches carefully, instances of worker exposures and releases into the environment can be found in the record of the last decades.

The series stated that "ten percent of the industry`s plants failed to properly train and inform workers of chemical hazards." This sounds like a very serious problem, but the same paragraph acknowledges that the average for all manufacturing industries in the nation is about twice as bad!

While we must continue to aim for perfection in managing worker safety, we must also recognize that the vast majority of US fabs are probably as close to safe as they can be. US Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that the semiconductor industry is one of the safest in the country, with worker injury and illness rates only a third as high as the average for all manufacturers. The industry should be applauded, not assaulted.

The articles report that US semiconductor companies employ 265,000 people worldwide. Out of that number, the series` authors found only a handful of dramatic safety incidents to report. The articles also spotlight the industry`s allegedly deplorable environmental record, citing examples of toxic releases.

However, the only serious long-term releases found were trichloroethylene leaks into aquifers at the IBM San Jose and Motorola Phoenix sites. These US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund sites are continuing concerns for local communities, but they are exceptions, not the rule.

The authors even seem to disagree with themselves by writing in another part of the series, "More than 50 other US industries released more pollutants to the air, land, water, and public wastewater treatment facilities than did the semiconductor industry in 1995, the latest year for which EPA data is available, an analysis shows."

I am in no way advocating safety complacency. What I am suggesting is that a very few bad apples have left a lingering foul smell in an otherwise clean industry. After 40 years of IC production, almost all US companies do an admirable job of ensuring worker and environmental safety.

Economical, high-volume semiconductor production requires the use of many complex chemicals. No OSHA standards exist for some new compounds that must be used. Fortunately, the right combination of training and equipment can thoroughly minimize risks.

Pasquale Pistorio, president and CEO of SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, stated in his recent Industry Insights article ("Environmental responsibility and sustainable development," SST, Dec. 1997, p. 152), "Environmentally friendly technologies and processes are also leading-edge ones that are more efficient and less costly in the long run."

USA Today could have published a balanced series of articles. Instead, the paper printed sensational tales of risk without providing proper context. Our industry deserves better.n