INDUSTRY NEWS

U.S. labor survey gives chipmakers high safety marks; critic doubts study's validity

A U.S. government survey determined that semiconductor industry workers were among the nation's safest employees in 1999. The results of the annual study released last December by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed the semiconductor industry had one of the lowest rates of workplace injuries and illnesses among U.S. industries in the bureau's study.

The BLS survey of 208 durable-goods manufacturing industries said the U.S. microchip industry experienced its lowest rate of work-related injuries and illnesses ever recorded. The rate was 2.2 cases per 100 full-time workers. That statistic placed the industry second only to manufacturers of telephone and telegraph apparatuses for the year.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the San Jose–based trade group representing more than 90% of U.S. chip production, issued a press release touting the survey results. The association said the high ranking is a testimonial to the industry's efforts to ensure a healthy and safe workplace. According to SIA, chipmakers have consistently ranked in the top 5% of U.S. manufacturing industries in health and safety since the BLS began the survey in 1972. SIA attributes its safety record to practices such as continuous monitoring of chemical exposure and the exchange of safety, health, and environmental information "through various national and international organizations."

Some critics of the industry, however, contend that the BLS survey results are misleading because of the semiconductor industry's traditionally low rate of occupational injuries. Watchdog groups such as the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition assert that combining the illness and injury rates does not take into account the long-term effects of exposure to the levels of highly toxic chemicals used in fab cleanrooms.

"The recent BLS data are not unexpected," asserts Joseph LaDou, md, chief of occupational and environmental medicine at UC San Francisco. "Typically, occupational injuries in all industries are six or seven times more common than occupational illnesses. An industry can double its rate of illness, but the increase will go unnoticed if the sum of the injuries and illnesses remains low."

LaDou says it's true the semiconductor industry has a low workplace injury rate, but, he asserts, that fact "is not surprising given that less than 25% of employees are production workers and that it is a very light manufacturing industry."

LaDou, who has provided data based on his work at UCSF to the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, asserts that microchip manufacturing has twice the incidence rate of occupational illnesses "of any other manufacturing industry, even chemical and pesticide manufacturing. The rate of occupational illness related to exposure to hazardous and allergenic materials is even higher. If 80–90% of workers were production workersóas is the case with other manufacturing industriesóthese incidence rates would be even higher."

SIA understandably takes issue with such accusations. "I think the BLS report is another piece of legitimate data that supports our safety record," responds Molly Marr, SIA's director of communications. "Other groups out there may think differently. They have other concerns and allegations, but we have yet to find legitimate scientific data to back up their allegations. Until that happens, of course, we're going to release information that supports our industry and the efforts we've made to keep it a very safe place to work."

Responding to the charge that the types of data in the BLS study are misleading, Marr says, "I think you can look at any other type of numbers and interpret them in different ways. This [survey] is something that all manufacturing industries by law have to fill out. We obviously take it very seriously, and by law we definitely record and report everything that goes on in our manufacturing facilities."

Marr points out that "long-term injuries and illnesses...have always been difficult to pin down." She emphasizes that "SIA has taken these concerns and allegations very seriously and has commissioned an advisory committee to look into them." Established at the beginning of 2000, the panel of health, environmental, and occupational experts will conduct a study to determine the potential cancer risks for workers in U.S. chip plants.

The industry began to phase out the use of ethylene-based glycol ethers after an SIA-backed study by UC Davis in 1989 concluded that the compounds may pose risks to women's reproductive health. SIA called that study the largest epidemiological study ever performed by private industry. Critics such as LaDou, however, claim that the lack of a follow-up survey to determine whether the compound was the sole cause of the health problems is troubling.

SIA has consistently maintained that there is no credible evidence that fab workers face an increased risk of cancer from working in cleanrooms. The panel will examine existing data on cancer risk in order to determine whether the industry should examine the health issue further. Marr says the independent panel of experts will issue its report in February 2002. "We look forward to seeing their recommendations."

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