A Disservice to the Circuit Board Industry

A recent Times article on safety in the printed circuit board industry (“Safety Problems Plague Circuit Board Industry,” July 22) mixed fact and fiction to paint a distorted portrait of reality, thereby doing a disservice not only to the vast majority of responsible and conscientious board manufacturers in California, but also to an entire industry that is vital to America’s economic and national security.

By far, most industry manufacturers provide good, well-paying jobs in safe and secure facilities. But a few bad actors do endanger their workers and thereby draw most of the publicity, as they should. However, while the good safety record of the printed wiring board industry is not news, it is indeed a fact.

Contrary to the article’s statement--that “circuit board manufacturing . . . is one of the most hazardous industries around . . . “--circuit board manufacturing has a significantly better safety record than all industry in general, and far better than manufacturing jobs in particular.

Of course, as in any industry, a few companies do recklessly endanger the health and safety of their employees or the environment--either to save money or through ignorance or wanton disregard. To those few bad actors, we in the industry say, “Shape up or ship out!”

Please don’t use a few bad actors to paint a bad image of an industry that in reality is committed to a clean and safe workplace. In the U.S., the industry spends nearly 8% of sales, or about $560 million a year, on safety and environmental compliance and protection.

THOMAS J. DAMMRICH

President, Institute for Interconnecting

and Packaging Electronic Circuits

Northbrook, Ill.