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Putting environmental
safety first

Making safety
a priority for
our partners

Samsung
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semiconductor's
Two people walking in Samsung's semiconductor manufacturing plant, one in orange protective gear and one in white.
goal is to grow together

Samsung semiconductor's
Close-up of finger pressing a button on a keyboard.
goal is to
Hyperlapse scene of people going up an escalator. Two people walking in Samsung's semiconductor manufacturing plant, one in orange protective gear and one in white.
grow together

Person in protective gear holding a blue wafer.

At Samsung Semiconductor, we put environmental safety first. That’s why we provide our partners with human resources and materials to help create a safe work environment. The support we provide ranges from consulting services that help our partners obtain environmental certifications to offering stability to top suppliers by assigning the following year’s supplies in advance. And for occupational health and safety practices to take root throughout the supply chain, we also operate dedicated programs and offer incentives to our partners.

Interior of Samsung's semiconductor manufacturing plant. Two people in protective gear sit on the right side.

Environmental safety
is the future

Our aim is to create a better future by raising awareness about the importance of a safe working environment and building a stable supply chain ecosystem. And that’s why, we will continue to focus on growing with our partners.

How we support
our partners in creating
a safe workplace

Raise your hand
when you sense danger

Two people walking in Samsung's semiconductor manufacturing plant, one in orange protective gear and one in white.

“Raise Your Hand” is both a program and a formal request. It signals the worker’s right to stop working when they sense danger, whether it’s a dangerous situation outlined in the Industrial Safety and Health Act or a situation they anticipate to be dangerous. When they raise their hand, production must be stopped immediately for the safety of the workers.

The “Raise Your Hand” program was launched in 2018. In the beginning, we continued to see safety issues surface at supplier sites without seeing an increase in “Raise Your Hand” requests. This was because the suppliers were concerned about production delays and loss in human resources, the workers were worried they would get pay cuts from working less, and we were concerned the program could be abused, creating inefficiency in the workplace. That did not mean “Raise Your Hand” should be discontinued.

Icon with gears and curved arrows on a square shape, and a pile of coins and a paper and pencil signing

Strengthening
the cost
reimbursement
process

Specifying in
standard
contracts

We addressed these concerns by setting up
a compensation system for suppliers and workers in
January 2021 so they could take advantage of the “Raise
Your Hand” program without the fear of financial loss.
We also added a clause in the standard contract
protecting suppliers from any disadvantages that may
arise from stopping production. And we continued to
actively promote “Raise Your Hand” to all our suppliers
and their employees for the program to become
standard practice.

Infographic showing 245 hands raised in 2020 and 250 hands were raised in Q1 2021

Number of times hands were raised

2020
hands raised

245

2021 Q1
hands raised

250

As a result, the 245 hands raised during 2020 rose to
over 250 hands were raised in just the first quarter of 2021.
This significant increase is meaningful because shows
that the program has become standard practice at
many partners sites without any reports of program
abuse.

The three CEOs who received the Excellent Partner Award are standing with their certificates.

To acknowledge the top partners that had created safe environments by actively implementing “Raise Your Hand”, we held an award ceremony on April 16, 2021. Vacuum pipe PM partner Inwha ENG, electricity hook-up partner DaeMyoung GEC and pipeline hook-up partner WE Tech were presented with awards for their efforts.ain ecosystem. And that’s why, we will continue to focus on growing with our partners.

Jinro Lee, CEO of Inhwa ENG, the winner of the Platinum Award.

“It all began with the change in
our employees’ perception of
danger at work.”

Platinum Award, Inwha ENG CEO Lee Jinro

Han-wook Kim, CEO of Daemyung GEC, the winner of the Gold Award.

“Our safety officers are actively
enforcing safety rules and are
increasingly asking questions or
making suggestions.”

Gold Award, DaeMyoung GEC CEO Kim Hanwook

An Jongyong, CEO of WE Tech, the winner of the Silver Award.

“It’s reassuring to know our
the fundamental right to protect the
safety of my employees, their
families and the company is
being recognized.”

Silver Award, WE Tech CEO An Jongyong

The award ceremony highlighted the significant change happening at the sites of our top partners. It
was also an important reminder for everyone about the important role “Raise Your Hand” plays in
creating a safe working environment.

Samsung
Semiconductor will
continue to build
and
cultivate a
culture of
environmental
safety
with our
partners.

  • Helping our partners set up the world-
    class safety management systems

    Number of KOSHA 18001-certified partners (total 129)

    Infographic showing the number of suppliers that received KOSHA 18001 certification per year from 2014 to 2020
    • 2014 (18)
    • 2015 (15)
    • 2016 (16)
    • 2017 (22)
    • 2018 (33)
    • 2019 (14)
    • 2020 (11)

    KOSHA 18001 is a voluntary occupational safety and health management certification system overseen by the Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency (KOSHA). Workplaces are assessed in 39 categories, including 18 in occupational safety and health management, 15 in overall health and six interviews with health and safety management officials.

    Samsung Semiconductor was certified KOSHA 18001 with an excellent zero-accident rating in December 2017. To support the establishment of safety and health management systems for partner companies, we assist in obtaining ISO 45001/Kosha-MS certifications. In 2021, 6 companies obtained Kosha-MS certification; in 2022, 132 companies received certifications (6 companies with Kosha-MS and 126 companies with ISO 45001); and in 2023, 109 companies were certified (3 companies with Kosha-MS, 101 with ISO 45001, and 5 with risk assessment certificates).

  • Making environmental safety
    standard practice at our partner’s
    workplaces

    An icon of a document and a check mark on top of a square
    90% 90% Number of
    ISO 14001 certified
    partners (2020)

    We also help our partners become internationally certified for international environmental safety-related management systems with certifications such as the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System and the ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System. To motivate our partners to raise their management systems to international standards, we included certifications in the partner assessment criteria and added the ISO 14001 certification or a similar level certification as a requirement in our supplier contracts. These efforts resulted in 81% of our suppliers becoming ISO 14001-certified by 2023.

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