Eliminating Hazards Top Priority In Motorola
Motorola Malaysia recently won the US Department of State Award 2000 for corporate excellence in recognition of its good citizenship, innovation and exemplary international business practices.  AboutSafety.com
reporter Zoe Phoon finds out more from its Staff Safety Engineer T.F.
Wong.
Mr.T.F Wong, Staff Safety
Engineer (Environment, Safety and Industrial Hygiene), Microcontroller
Technologies Group, Motorola Malaysia.
AboutSafety/Zoe Phoon: Motorola Malaysia recently won the US Department of State Award 2000 for corporate excellence that includes recognition for its environmental health and safety practices. Please elaborate on these environmental health and safety practices.
T.F. Wong: The award was presented to Motorola on Dec 19, 2000 at the State Department, USA. It gave recognition to Motorola's increasingly sophisticated corporate presence in Malaysia. This includes the following: - Motorola's SEI (Software Engineering Institute)-accredited software R&D facility
- College/university and industrial training institution collaboration programs
- Technical training and management programs facilitating skills transfers to Malaysian-owned companies
- Emphasis on a strong local supplier base
- Leadership in safety, health and environmental practices including the Green Malaysia and Design for the Environment programs
- Involvement in community programs to expand educational opportunities
- Communications equipment and training during the 1997 haze crisis and the Nipah virus outbreak
ZP: Why do you think such practices are an important, or even a vital, aspect of Motorola's business in Malaysia?  TFW: As human resource was and always will be Motorola's key asset in the pursuit of manufacturing excellence, occupational safety and health (OSH) programs are implemented to safeguard our human resource (employees). It is to ensure respect of employees, providing a conducive work environment and achieving high moral for a high productive workforce.
As for the community and neighbours, we have continuously demonstrated environmental improvement - for example, the water conservation program. It is a million-ringgit investment considering the water cost in Malaysia. All these improvement efforts in safety, health and the environment are for the benefit of Malaysians. ZP: Are such practices a standard requirement for all Motorola plants outside of the US? TFW: Motorola Corporate has embarked on the multi-site ISO 14001 accreditation which is a comprehensive review including extensive auditing of our environmental health and safety management system. Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) has recommended Motorola, Incorporated for multi-site registration to the ISO 14001 standard. This accomplishment will not only conform Motorola sites to ISO 14001 elements that are related mainly to environmental programs but also covers the health and safety elements. It is currently the universal standard of all Motorola sites, and it has saved the corporation millions of dollars in ISO 14001 registration while simultaneously minimizing disruption to our business operations. ZP: So far, how much has Motorola Malaysia spent on putting in place these environmental health and safety practices? Do you think the money has been well spent, and why? TFW: The plant has 11 staff in the ESIH department which is responsible for environmental, health and safety programs and operates a million-ringgit water treatment plant with a sophisticated online monitoring system. Besides the direct implication on human values and respect of the people in terms of EHS programs, like reducing injury/illness trend and promoting/enhancing employees' awareness of EHS, it also brings out Motorola as a responsible corporate citizen. ZP: How does the company deal with scheduled wastes? TFW: We have a water treatment system which annually semi-treats heavy metals prior to shipment to Kualiti Alam (KA) for final treatment. We also collect all contaminated rags (usually solvents/oils/silver paste), spent oils/solvents and unused mold compounds to be recycled by approved recycling companies or by KA. ZP: Motorola Malaysia has also played a big role in occupational safety and health, and has won the Malaysian Society for Occupational Safety and Health's Gold Award for four consecutive years. How did the company do that?  TFW: MSOSH gold awards are given to members of MSOSH as a recognition of their continuous efforts in reducing the accident trend. It is translated to all Motorolans at all levels of the workforce, i.e. it is what we want to achieve and where we are heading. Incidentally, one of Motorola's seven objectives in its EHS policy is ZERO accident. There are more to achieve in our pursuit of the best-in-class manufacturing facility.
ZP: Motorola Malaysia has been here for 27 years, starting out as a feeder plant in Selangor and Penang to become world-class manufacturing centers of excellence. What have been the major changes/improvements in managing worker safety and health, and the environment? TFW: We had put many EHS programs in place during the 27 years since our establishment in Malaysia but many of the programs in those years were very specific-base, meaning they were driven by Corporate US-based intent. There were no methods or approaches to check for adequacy (relevant), versions and consistencies. It was not based on any methodology or system. But all that had changed. As I have mentioned earlier, we introduced the EHS management system that is registered on par with ISO 14001. It has a system of implementation based on the Plan-Do-Check-Action (PDCA) methodology. ZP: The company has over 8,000 employees in Malaysia and looking after their workplace safety and health is not easy. How does it manage that? TFW: As all safety experts would advise - apply the accident prevention methodology, i.e. elimination, substitution, engineering controls and as the last resort personnel protective equipment. We have invested many man-hours and much money in upgrading manufacturing equipment that include fail-safe systems such as installing safety interlocking mechanisms, optic sensors, fix guards, etc. It is Motorola's policy to eliminate hazards as the first priority. ZP: What has been Motorola Malaysia's OSH track record, and how do you feel about it (satisfied, not so) and why? Are the figures good enough? TFW: We have been steadily reducing the injury/illness trend based on the lost time injury frequency from 0.25 in 1996 to 0.05 in 2000. The figures indicate that we have one accident case with more than four days of medical leave per 3.3 million man-hours exposure. They are an indication that we are on an improving trend but as Motorola GM Mr J.A. Lew has mentioned in all his EHS campaign speeches, 'an accident is a fault in the system and it is not acceptable in any circumstances because someone has got hurt ... it must be ZERO accident'. (AboutSafety's note: The US Department of State Award 2000, which is in its second year, was received on behalf of Motorola Malaysia by Arnold Brenner, Motorola Inc executive vice-president and president of global government relations in December last year. The ceremony was transmitted live via digital video conferencing to the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Motorola Malaysia vice-president Datuk Ramli Abbas, who was present at the embassy, said the company's growth and accomplishments were the result of the commitment of its staff, government support in providing a conducive investment climate and Motorola's loyal customers. It is one of Malaysia's top 10 exporters of electrical and electronic products and its workforce comprises 99 percent Malaysians.)
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