One of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) sites in Hsinchu County has been ordered to suspend power distribution work and propose an improvement plan after a worker was electrocuted to death last week.
TSMC yesterday said that the incident occurred on Friday afternoon at the unfinished Fab 20 site in the Baoshan (寶山) area of Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區).
A contract worker was electrocuted while working on an office power distribution project at the site, the company said.
Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters
The worker was sent to hospital by an ambulance stationed at the factory, but was pronounced dead after resuscitation efforts failed, it said.
The Hsinchu Science Park Bureau, which manages high-tech sites including TSMC’s Fab 20, said that it notified the Ministry of Labor and dispatched personnel to inspect the worksite on the day the incident happened.
The bureau then ordered TSMC to suspend work in the indoor power distribution area and propose a safety improvement plan. Work can only resume once it has conducted inspections after receiving TSMC’s new safety plan, the bureau said.
TSMC said that it would cooperate with the authorities’ investigation, but did not indicate when the work improvement plan would be submitted.
TSMC, the nation’s most valuable company by market capitalization, operates multiple manufacturing facilities across Taiwan that produce many of the world’s most advanced microchips.
The Fab 20 site in Hsinchu Science Park is expected to use 2-nanometer technology when production begins next year. Another production facility for 2-nanometer products is under construction in Kaohsiung.
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