UMC pays special attention to its
emergency fire response and prevention measures, as its procedures
completely differ from traditional fire control measures. This is
due to the unique properties found in a semiconductor fab, which include
complex gas and water piping, chemical transmission, and the airtight
environment of the cleanroom.
UMC Fire Brigade
UMC
established a hi-tech fire brigade in April 1994, becoming the
only corporation in Taiwan's electronics industry to own its
own fire department. The fire brigade is under the jurisdiction
of the GRM&ESH Division and consists of 118 members, including
10 full-time employees and 108 voluntary firefighters. The majority
of the members have master degrees. This is the highest quality
rescue team in Taiwan.
Voluntary fire fighters come from the ESH departments of all
fabs, the Facility Engineering Department and the Equipment
Resource Department. Employees from the Equipment Resource Department
account for 40% of the voluntary fire fighters, and are the
strength of the team. Voluntary fire fighters dedicate themselves
to their daily work, but during emergencies they can rapidly
mobilize for action.
Training for Professional Skills
All the fire fighters are required to undergo a strict training routine.
In addition to the required 88 hours of professional rescue training,
UMC also conducts scheduled training once a month for all voluntary
fire fighters to ensure that their rescue skills and safety knowledge
are maintained at the highest standard. In addition, for emergency
response Teams (ERT) in each fab, UMC regularly conducts training
such as commander, rescue team, logistics team and report system training,
and comprehensive training for fire, gas leak and chemical disasters.
This training helps ERT members familiarize themselves with the emergency
response flows and the proper use of related equipment, and to further
help them understand their roles during emergency response. UMC hopes
to further solidify its emergency response capability through these
training and drill efforts.
To equip each employee with fire-fighting knowledge and skills and
to minimize the response time to accidents, UMC conducts periodic
fire drills, fire extinguisher training and evacuation drills to ensure
each UMC employee has fundamental fire control knowledge and response
skills. For example, each of UMC's 13,000 employees has received 2
to 4 hours of fire drills.
Advanced Rescue Equipment
The
UMC fire brigade is among one of the top fire brigades in Taiwan
in terms of its equipment and training.The UMC fire brigade
is equipped with thermal vision helmets, which enable fire fighters
to rapidly search for and extinguish the source of fire in a
smoked-filled room. Moreover, UMC also adopts an internally
developed mobile spray sprinkler system in its cleanrooms and
high-risk areas. This system possesses several advantages such
as zero pollution, conservative water use, portability, etc.
The patented system is the first in Taiwan to adopt spray sprinklers
in its use. UMC's high performance chemical fire fighting truck
is equipped with leading-edge rescue equipment to quickly and
effectively respond to accidents and perform rescues. It also
serves as the mobile command center. UMC's fire brigade owns
state-of-the-art rescue equipment such as high temperature chemical
protection suits, lifesaving devices, flame detectors, cylinder
gas leakage treatment trucks, sealing equipment for liquid chemical
leaks, and others.
Social Responsibility of UMC Fire
Brigade
In
addition to internal training and education, UMC offers large
scale external training and rescue services. UMC assisted in
rescue operations for major disasters in Taiwan, including emergency
situations at the Taiwan Power Company Long-Song substation,
WSMC, XAC Automation Corp., Powerchip Semiconductor Corp., Fu-Guo
Chemical, Lite-On IT corporation, Motech and UTAC. Fires in
the hi-tech industry invariably face highly complex circumstances
that involve chemicals, special gasses and airtight clean rooms.
Therefore, UMC's fire brigade sends its members abroad to receive
additional specialized rescue training in the United States,
Austria and Singapore. UMC also cooperates with several local
fire bureaus for on-site training, practice on training equipment,
instructor training and rescue skills. In addition to aiming
for a "zero-accident" goal, UMC hopes to improve overall
social awareness on safety and accident-prevention.
UMC Fire Brigade was chosen by the
Environmental Protection Administration as the designated support
unit for toxic/chemical accidents. UMC believes that the efforts spent
in emergency response will reassure our customers and shareholders
of our commitment to safety and productivity.
