TAIPEI (TVBS News) — A fatal workplace accident at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC, 台積電), the world's largest contract chipmaker, claimed the life of a 54-year-old female worker on Friday (July 18) at the company's Chiayi facility in southern Taiwan. The deadly incident unfolded Wednesday afternoon when a massive 380-kilogram (837-pound) chilled water pipe broke free from its mounting and plummeted from above, striking the worker, identified only by her surname Hsieh. Despite immediate emergency response and intensive medical intervention, the woman succumbed to catastrophic injuries including severe head trauma and brain hemorrhage around 7 a.m. Friday.
Construction safety investigators determined the accident occurred precisely at 4:50 p.m. Wednesday when a support bracket catastrophically failed during the installation process, sending the massive pipe crashing down in the facility. The construction site is part of TSMC's strategically important new CoWoS (Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate) advanced packaging plant, a cutting-edge facility designed for next-generation semiconductor production. This latest tragedy represents the fourth major workplace accident in just two months at the sprawling Chiayi Science Park construction site, bringing the grim toll to two worker fatalities and two others suffering serious injuries.
The mounting safety crisis at the site began with a catastrophic accident on May 20 when a worker fell from a fourth-floor scaffold, resulting in paralysis. Days later, another construction worker suffered a crushed leg in a separate forklift accident at the same facility. The situation escalated further on May 26 when a massive two-ton transformer collapsed during installation, instantly killing a crane operator at the scene. The alarming sequence of serious accidents has raised significant questions about workplace safety protocols and enforcement at what has become one of Taiwan's most dangerous construction sites. ◼
