This project has limited environmental and social impacts. The sponsor has presented plans to address these impacts to ensure that the proposed project will, upon implementation of the specific measures agreed, comply with applicable host country laws and regulations and World Bank/IFC requirements. The information about how these potential impacts will be addressed by the sponsor/project is summarized in the paragraphs that follow.
Site conditions and setting
The factory was constructed 15 years ago and is located in a mixed use area, which includes other industrial uses (e.g. warehousing, automotive services and other light industry) but also includes a school, residential housing and retail buildings. Immediate site neighbors are manufacturing companies to the north and west, a canal and residential area to the east and undeveloped land to the south. The site should therefore being considered as sensitive in relation to nuisance issues and the potential for public complaint. The sponsor has responded by implementing a formal a environmental management system (EMS) to minimize incident risk. The EMS is described more fully below.
Facility operations
The main production processes comprise components assembly, including soldering and cleaning. Assembly is undertaken under clean-room type conditions. The primary cleaning medium for assemblies is deionized water. On a monthly basis the facility consumes approximately 50kg of lead solder, 1200 litres of IPA (used for workplace cleaning), 5 litres of acetone (used in the laboratory), <1 litre of hexane (used in the laboratory) and 100 litres of perchloroethylene (used in rework).
Environmental management systems (EMS)
The company has implemented a formal EMS which was certified to ISO 14001 in April 2000. Surveillance audits have been undertaken subsequently and the certifiers'' records indicate that the EMS is performing to their satisfaction. The company has appointed a full time Environmental, Health, Safety and Security Manager, has developed a comprehensive set of environmental health and safety (EHS) management procedures, implemented specific improvement programs for energy conservation, waste minimization and reduction in use of ozone depleting substances, implemented EHS monitoring and audit programs and set improvement targets to drive continuous improvement in EHS performance. IFC therefore concludes that Fabrinet has strong management commitment to - and demonstrable performance of - an effective EMS for its operations. Reviewing the scope of the EMS and ensuring that it drives continuous improvement in EHS performance will be a key supervision indicator for IFC.
Wastewater and solid waste management
The factory produces limited wastewater from production processes - any discharges are related to cleaning. The canteen and sanitary facilities generate the majority of wastewater. The site has a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), for which quarterly monitoring results indicate compliance to both national and IFC guideline requirements. Recycled grey water is used for watering of the site landscaping and sanitary facilities. Approximately 50kg of sludge is removed from WWTP each month, analyzed and typically disposed as non-hazardous waste. The facility generates between 13-20t of non-hazardous waste each month, with each component wastestream (e.g. glass, metal, paper, plastic, sponge, wood) monitored on an individual basis. The company waste minimization program includes an elimination/reduction at source component as well as recycling and other downstream options.
Hazardous waste management
The facility generates approximately 1.35t/month of lead contaminated waste: the vast majority of this being lead ''contact materials'' (e.g. packaging) rather than lead residue itself, which is estimated at less than 1kg of the total monthly figure. A negligible volume (<10 litres) of waste solvent is generated each month. It comprises contaminated IPA and perchloroethylene. Both wastes are disposed to a private landfill licensed to handle hazardous waste.
Water and power supply
Water is taken from the municipal water supply. Power is also taken from the public supply. The facility has a back up diesel generator in case of power outage. The diesel tank is provided with secondary containment and the generator is subject to emissions testing, which indicate that it is compliant with national and IFC guideline requirements.
Air emissions and workplace air quality
Due to the nature of the company''s operations, a comprehensive workplace air quality program has been implemented, with quarterly testing for lead and solvents (as itemized under ''Facility operations''). Monitoring results indicate concentrations well below national and IFC (NIOSH) permissible exposure limits.
A wet scrubber serves the production building local exhaust ventilation (LEV) system in order to capture any lead dusts from soldering or other operations. Low overall lead concentrations from production processes combined with the scrubber abatement result in negligible lead emissions to atmosphere, from both a point source (< 0.02mg/m3) and ambient air quality (< 0.00005mg/m3) perspective.
Use of Ozone Depleting Compounds
The company currently uses air conditioning units (ACs) for the offices which contain R-22 and in the factory which contain R-11. The company has an replacement refrigerant strategy as part of its EMS program. The program will be extended cover VOCs used in the production process (e.g. perchloroethylene) and assess options for elimination, substitution or minimization.
Employee health, safety and training
Employees undergo safety training for various items, such as handling of materials, fire safety and first aid. Employees are issued with appropriate personal protective equipment such as ear plugs in high noise areas. An in-house clinic provides medical services, including occupational health monitoring (including blood lead analysis), health checks and health education and promotion. Accident statistics are compiled and reviewed on a monthly basis. The number of recordable injuries, injuries requiring first aid and number of lost workdays is low and benchmarked against US (OSHA) requirements.
Emergency response and fire safety
As part of its EMS, Fabrinet has developed and implemented an Emergency Response Plan. Drills and other exercises are undertaken on a periodic basis. The site is equipped with a comprehensive fire detection and fire-fighting system.
Employee issues
There are 2,108 employees working at the factory who receive benefits as per national law. Although Fabrinet does not have a policy on HIV/AIDS, they comply with Thailand''s Labor Law which specify that employs cannot be discriminated against for having HIV/AIDS and the EHS Management Plan has a training program for employees on Aids Awareness.
