The safety of our products and their compliance with legislation are part of our product development process. Safety measures are built into our systems from the earliest design stage. Where equipment hazards cannot be offset by design, we incorporate safeguards into the machine to ensure no single system failure or operator error can endanger the operator, facility or environment.

ASML Product Safety department tracks all safety issues related of our machines. These are defined as product-related near-misses – incidents that cause material or environmental damage – or accidents causing injury.¹

All product-related safety issues (occurring at ASML's, suppliers' or customers' sites) are analyzed to determine the root cause, and feedback is provided to prevent repeats. In total, 18 (2010: 12) product safety issues were reported at client sites in 2011. Four issues involved a minor injury. One incident at a supplier’s site resulted in a lost time accident. In analyzing the cause of the incidents, we looked at the design of our systems, our way of working and other quality issues.

To verify the safety and compliance of our machines, ASML performs a safety review using SEMI S2 Safety Guidelines for Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment. All ASML machines have a SEMI S2 report available and several types, including the latest generation NXE 3100 machine, are fully SEMI S2 certified. The SEMI S2 reviews of our equipment are done by external assessors. These SEMI S2 reviews address chemical, radiation, electrical, physical, mechanical and environmental hazards, as well as fires, explosions, earthquake protection, ventilation, exhaust and ergonomics.