Risk vs. investment...semiconductor industry trade off

The semiconductor industry is a very profitable industry, but reduced cost is another reason to make the industry reach safety goals. The industry was regarded as clean and safe. But the recent fire losses and fatal accidents explored the industry need to pay more attention to risk control management. Based on the Factory Mutual System statistics, semiconductor industry suffers from major problems in fire, chemical spill and gas leakage issues. Total loss estimate is millions of dollars. The loss history gives us an idea that any minor cause can have severe impact on the fab operation. The warnings are revealed in the recent losses in science parks. This document is based on experience in the semiconductor industry as an ESH manager and Risk Engineering manager, providing discussion on protection of the facility and buildings starting from more basic rules, like local codes, to international standards, then to performance based study and also comparison between exposure and investment. We might think that more cost might arise in the operation. And some of the investment might offset the risk. This issue is the approach we need to evaluate.