WORKING FOR A HEALTHY FUTURE

INSTITUTE OF OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE . Edinburgh . UK www.iom-world.org

Current Trends and an Exploration of the Future of the Regulatory Framework Impacting Exposure Assessment in the Semiconductor Industry in the UK

John W Cherrie

Summary…

• Health and safety has a low priority with the UK government

• Inspection of the industry • New guidance on good control practice• New general initiatives in Europe• Shift working

A war on health and safety

• David Cameron is ”…waging war against the excessive health and safety culture that has become an albatross around the neck of British businesses.”

• And he wants to “…to kill off the health and safety culture for good. I want 2012 to go down in history not just as …the year we get a lot of this pointless time-wasting out of the British economy and British life once and for all.”

HSE inspections…

• Twenty five semiconductor manufacture sites were inspected between February and May 2002• Standards were comparable to other manufacturing sectors• Companies with high levels of compliance had effective

systems to manage health and safety

• March and September 2009 there were 17 medium/large sized semiconductor companies inspected• Little had changes since the previous inspection visits• Report published… w

ww.hse.gov.uk/engineering/semiconductor-manufacturers-report.pdf

Conclusions/recommendations…

• Improved technology has reduced likelihood of exposure to hazardous substances

• Senior management commitment sometimes needs to be translated into effective control

• Need more focus on exposure of maintenance, cleaning etc.• ‘Compliance monitoring’ of high hazard situations, was weak

at several sites• Poor use of occupational health services• Few companies had satisfactory auditing• High level, corporate oversight was often largely

concentrated on safety rather than health

COSHH Essentials

• HSEs way to work with industry to raise standards• MC0 - Advice for managers• MC1 - Wet etch processing• MC2 - Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) • MC3 - Dry etch processing• MC4 - Molecular beam epitaxy• MC5 - Photolithography processing• MC6 - Ion implantation

• Available at…www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/mcseries.htm

HSEs view…

• Following the 2009 report, industry accepted the recommendations and agreed to work towards their implementation

• HSE will continue to work with this industry through the Microelectronics Joint Working Group to influence their activity and monitor implementation

• The assessment of cancer burden in Britain does not highlight risks in the semiconductor industry

New general requirements

• A new European Directive covering all musculoskeletal disorders/ergonomic risks

• EMF Directive• ‘New Directive with revised exposure limits and partial

exemptions’

• Proposed amendment to the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive

• A new EU Occupational Safety and Health Strategy• More focus on diseases rather than accidents, particularly

carcinogens

Shift working…

• Shift working involving night work needs careful management

Hansen J, Stevens RG. Case-control study of shift-work and breast cancer risk in Danish nurses: Impact of shift systems. Eur J Cancer. 2011 Aug. 16. 1–8.