Company Logs 1 Million Work Hours Without a Lost-Time Accident

The Nampa, Idaho, wafer fabrication facility of ZiLOG Inc., a design solutions company specializing in embedded and integrated circuits for the home entertainment, data communications, and integrated controls markets, has achieved an occupational health and safety milestone.

On May 15, the Nampa plant reached 1 million work hours (one year) without a lost-time accident. The company's previous record is 498,000 work hours without a lost-time accident. And it looks like 1 million hours is just the beginning: as of today, ZiLOG is at 1,065,000 work hours without a lost-time accident.

"My heartfelt thanks and congratulations to the ZiLOG Nampa team," said Curtis J. Crawford, chairman, president, and CEO of ZiLOG. "The entire ZiLOG community is proud of your success in achieving 1 million hours of work without a lost-time accident. This is a major accomplishment, a world-class achievement."

Crawford said there is a "direct correlation between a safe workplace and a successful company," adding, "I am extremely proud of the contributions that our 470 employees in Nampa are making to ZiLOG's continued progress in 1999."

ZiLOG Corporate Environmental Health & Safety Officer Ken Elkington also announced that ZiLOG has achieved high rankings on key health and safety issues in comparison to other chip companies. According to the latest federal statistics released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the accident rate for the U.S. semiconductor industry in 1997 was 3.1 accidents per 100 employees. ZiLOG's rate was 2.9 in 1997, and improved to 1.7 cases per 100 employees in 1998, the third lowest among 18 major chip companies.

"These statistics demonstrate that we are undeniably building outstanding health and safety systems throughout ZiLOG," Elkington said. "We are succeeding because each employee is personally taking responsibility for making health and safety a priority every single day."