for Sunday Herald, 24 August 2003
Scotland's high-tech microelectronics companies have broken safety rules far more often than companies in England and Wales, an investigation by the Sunday Herald has revealed.
Four Scottish semiconductor manufacturers were guilty of 28 breaches of the regulations meant to protect the health and safety of workers. This compares to just two breaches by one manufacturer south of the border.
The breaches were found by inspectors from the government's watchdog, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). They include failing to control workers' exposure to toxic fumes from acids and cancer-causing chemicals, as well as inadequate maintenance and training.
The revelations have been greeted with anger by trade unionists, who accuse semiconductor companies of having a "grim" safety record. "Workers involuntarily breath contaminated air, which, like asbestos, could give them diseases in later life," said Jim McCourt, a campaigner on behalf of semiconductor workers.
"I find it deeply disturbing that every time regulators look for problems in this industry, they find them. It is an industry which risks workers' lives for profit in pursuit of production at all costs."
The HSE launched a special inspection of the whole semiconductor industry after it found raised cancer rates amongst women who worked at the National Semiconductor plant at Greenock. It served 12 legal notices forcing other companies in Scotland to remedy the breaches inspectors found, but only issued two notices in England.
The worst offender was Semefab Scotland in Glenrothes which received six legal notices for 16 breaches of health and safety regulations in April last year. It was immediately prohibited from siting two pumps driven by electric motors in a store containing highly flammable wastes.
The company was also told that ventilation systems to control exposure to sulphuric, hydrofluoric and nitric acid fumes were not properly alarmed or managed. Workers' potential exposure to kao wool, which causes cancer, was "not adequately controlled" and no radiological protection adviser had been appointed to oversee the safety of an x-ray machine.
Motorola in East Kilbride was served four enforcement notices by the HSE for ten breaches of health and safety rules in March last year. The potential exposure of employees to arsenic dust was inadequately controlled, as was exposure to a cancer-causing substance known as fibrefax.
The company was also accused of "inadequate health and safety training" and of failing to properly vent hydrofluoric and sulphuric acid fumes. "They have also failed to ensure that the (ventilation) systems are maintained in an efficient state and effective working order," the HSE said.
One improvement notice was served on Raytheon Systems in Glenrothes in April last year, and another on Agilent Technologies in South Queensferry last September. Filtronic Comtek in Bradford received two notices following a spillage of the poison, cyanide.
The HSE has not taken enforcement action against National Semiconductor, but it published a study of cancer rates amongst workers at the company's Greenock plant in December 2001. It concluded that the rate of lung cancer amongst female employees was two or three times as many as expected.
There were also excesses of stomach and breast cancers amongst women. "The results reinforce the concerns that prompted the investigation and raise the possibility of a work related cause for some of these cancers," the HSE said.
Jim McCourt pointed out that the HSE had only begun investigating the industry after health concerns were raised by the Greenock National Semiconductor workers in 1998. The workers formed an action group called Phase Two, of which McCourt is the spokesman.
"For years there has been regulatory collusion between the HSE and the semiconductor industry. And now they have discovered numerous breaches of the rules meant to protect the health of workers, particularly in Scottish plants, " he said.
"People may have been exposed to cancer-causing toxins, acids, fumes and other risks because employers haven't obeyed the rules. The cosy notion of 'self-regulation' and HSE's old 'hands-off' approach has obviously not worked."
Ian Tasker, assistant secretary for health and safety with the Scottish Trades Union Congress, also expressed concern at the number of enforcement notices served on semiconductor companies in Scotland. He pointed out that many of the companies were anti-union and did not have unionised workforces.
"In industries where trade union safety reps are in operation, staff are less likely to be made ill or suffer injury because of their work. In a unionised workplace we would expect the issues that caused notices to be served to be brought to the attention of managers as part of the normal democratic process," he said.
The semiconductor companies accepted the HSE's findings, but pointed out that they had made all the improvements that inspectors had required. "We cooperated fully and expeditiously in carrying out the required changes to our work practices," said the managing director of Semefab Scotland, Allan James.
A spokeswoman for Motorola added: "The improvements implemented by Motorola exceed the compliance levels sought by the HSE notices and have since been acknowledged by the HSE as industry benchmark levels. The health and safety of its employees are of paramount importance to Motorola and the company maintains a close working relationship with the HSE."
Scottish plants were also defended by the UK industry's trade association based in Livingston, the National Microelectronic Institute. "We know from our internal benchmarking that Scottish semiconductor sites compare well with those in other parts of the country on health and safety policy and implementation," said the institute's acting chief executive, Derek Boyd.
Privately, some industry figures claim that HSE inspectors in Scotland were "more rigorous" than their counterparts in the south. The HSE accepts that there were "difficulties" and "some variation" in the resources available to inspectors in different parts of the country.
But the HSE stressed that it was essential for all employers, including the semiconductor industry, to give the highest priority to health and safety legislation. "Failure to comply with the law can result in death, serious injury or long-term ill health to employees," an HSE spokesman told the Sunday Herald.
The companies that broke health and safety rules
The government's Health and Safety Executive inspected 22 semiconductor companies in 2002, 15 in England and Wales and seven in Scotland. It served 12 legal enforcement notices on four Scottish companies and two notices on one English company. Altogether, there were 30 breaches of health and safety regulations, 28 of them by companies in Scotland.
company / breaches of health and safety regulations / legal notices served by Health and Safety Executive
Semefab Scotland, Glenrothes / 16 / 6
Motorola, East Kilbride / 10 / 4
Raytheon, Glenrothes / 1 / 1
Agilent Technologies, South Queensferry / 1 / 1
Filtronic Comtek, Bradford / 2 / 2
TOTALS/ 30 / 14
Source: Health and Safety Executive
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