Protecting our people and operations is the driving force behind our health and safety programs and practice. Seagate has achieved world-class safety performance through strong commitment and accountability for safety by our managers and employees. By setting aggressive targets for continuous improvement at all levels and leveraging Six Sigma methodologies, we have experienced an 87% reduction in our work-related injury and illness rate during the past six years while productivity has doubled.

Please read more about our health and safety programs:

Health & Safety: Performance

Our high standards, management systems and continuous improvement strategies have provided the framework to achieve a dramatic reduction in our incident rates. The Seagate 2005 Recordable Case rate of 0.33 per 100 employees was significantly better than the Industry Average (SIC 3572) of 1.3.

Note: Seagate data reported by fiscal year. Industry data reported by calendar year. US Government did not report days away case rate in 2000. Industry Code: 3572 changed to 334112 - Computer Storage Device Manufacturing (beginning CY2003)

Additionally, we have experienced steady improvement in our “Days Away Case Rate”, with a 26.7% reduction over the past four years.

Consistent with our focus on driving to “zero”, we have established further improvement targets for the coming year:

• Reduction of worldwide OSHA recordable injury/illness case rate by at least 25 percent from Q4 2005 rate (0.30).
• Reduction of worldwide OSHA recordable lost workday case rate by at least 25 percent from Q4 2005 rate (0.08)

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Health and Safety: Incident Reporting and Investigation

While we are aggressively focused on incident prevention, unplanned events can occur . Our global Incident Reporting system provides employees with immediate access for reporting of an incident, accident, "near miss", or concern. The system immediately notifies our teams of trained incident investigators that an incident has occurred and signals the initiation of a comprehensive investigation that includes the identification of contributing factors, analysis of root causes and the establishment of corrective actions to prevent the incident from recurring. Incident data are trended to identify areas of opportunities for reducing risk across the company.

This year, we have enhanced our investigation process to incorporate the application of Six Sigma methodologies and tools for the analysis of incidents.

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  Health & Safety: Behavior Based Safety

Our employees are active stakeholders in the organization and its success -- and we encourage and rely on their participation to enhance our safety performance and the business. In that spirit, nearly 4500 employees currently serve as observers in our behavior-based safety programs (BBS), with additional observers being trained each year.

Over 90% of our manufacturing sites have implemented behavior-based safety (BBS) programs. Trained co-workers observe employees as they go about their routine work for a set of specific critical behaviors that have been targeted by the department or site for improvement and provide direct feedback to those employees being observed. Observations are recorded, tracked and reported back to employees on their department’s “% safe” performance. Thanks to online BBS systems and software, the data and results collected by observers can be efficiently captured, analyzed and shared across sites.

During this year, we have extended the BBS methodology to our bus transportation program at three major manufacturing locations to eliminate at risk behaviors of the driver or passengers that could potentially contribute to a motor vehicle accident.

Through BBS, we have been able to identify and eliminate unsafe behaviors that were potential precursors to accidents. In other words, we are engaged in preventing "accidents waiting to happen". This past year, we saw a 63 percent decrease in work-related recordable injuries attributed to at-risk behaviors. (Cases where behavior was primary root cause).

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Health & Safety: Ergonomics

While Seagate’s injury rated is very low, we are continually seeking performance improvements where needed. Musculoskeletal injuries are the most common type of workplace injuries that occur across Seagate locations. To help minimize incidents stemming from workplace or work process configuration and/or repetitive motion, comprehensive ergonomics programs have been installed to cover a range of work areas (office, production, lab/test facilities, shipping, etc.). For example, Seagate has online ergonomic training and self-assessment tools available for office employees. In the manufacturing areas, we have developed a process to integrate standard ergonomic requirements into our factory equipment and process flow designs. For new manufacturing equipment purchases, the equipment is designed and evaluated for compliance with the SEMI ergonomic standard (SEMI S8) prior to installation and use. Seagate has trained site ergonomics teams to conduct workstation assessments with improvements targeted to reduce ergonomic risk factors.

An example of the success we’ve had in leveraging teams within and across sites to reduce ergonomic risks, is illustrated in a project that was completed at our Normandale site:

Initially, assessment feedback was provided from the Behavior Based Safety team noting non-neutral posture when operators made height adjustment on a piece of equipment where the control position required full extension of the operator’s arm. A comprehensive task assessment was performed by the site Ergonomics Team and provided to the Equipment Engineering team for corrective action. Following a redesign change, a comprehensive review was done to confirm reduction of risk posture, ease of access, ease of adjustment, and follow-up with test operators that during a two week check out phase test operators reported no issues.

This re-design was integrated into operations for continued risk reduction at this site and shared with two sister sites to gain efficiencies in Seagate’s drive to reduce ergonomic risks across the company – “fix once, repeat many”.

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Health and Safety: Equipment Safety

The safe design, installation, maintenance and operation of our equipment and processes play a key role in maintaining a safe work environment. Our broad set of design requirements, both internal as well as for our equipment suppliers, has resulted in reduction of design-related safety incidents from 40% of all incidents three years ago to “0” in FY2005.

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Health and Safety: Occupational Health and Wellness

Seagate’s Occupational Health and Benefits programs supports the Company’s business agenda through targeted strategies directed toward improvement of employee health and productivity. Our global resources are focused on proactive strategies to ensure safe job placement and the early identification/mitigation of occupational health issues should they occur.

Health and wellness priorities are established at the site level to customize programs targeted toward local health issues with sensitivity to cultural differences. Programs include health screenings, health risk assessments, periodic medical examinations, smoking cessation programs, weight control programs and health seminars/awareness campaigns on a variety of health issues. Onsite fitness centers and recreational facilities are available at many of our locations. Some examples of programs that have been delivered during this past year to improve health and productivity include:

Just Step! - A 12-week program was launched in selected US locations designed to improve wellness by encouraging employees to walk at least 10,000 steps each day. Participants receive a pedometer, track their steps on a website, and receive fun incentives upon reaching milestones.

Lifestyle Survey and Health Screening – A 2-month program was offered at our China site to evaluate individual health risks and to provide consultation and support for personal risk reduction strategies. Over 4500 employees participated in this baseline assessment.

“Lose Weight, Feel Great” - A 9-month program was established at our Penang, Malaysia site for employees to be made aware of their health risks and educated on how to help themselves. Participants had access to calorie counters, food journals, weekly weigh-ins and regular talks on lifestyle diseases as well as the support of a team assigned to each shift to monitor food journals and to provide advice on maximizing use of gym equipment. Fifty-eight percent of participants achieved more than 50% of their weight loss target, with 76 employees fully meeting their goal.

For our employees who travel, country alerts are provided regarding status of communicable disease, information on required/recommended immunizations, any necessary precautions regarding consumption of food and water and local standards of health care. Our travelers can access support for medical referrals and other emergency assistance from any location across the globe.

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Health & Safety: Worldwide Awards

Over the last four years, Seagate has formally recognized over 400 employees (20 individuals and 44 teams) for their significant contributions through our annual “President’s Drive to EHS Excellence” award program. This is an opportunity for employees to nominate co-workers for outstanding safety, health or environmental achievement over and above their regular assignments. Our executive management selects the “best-of-the-best” to be recognized for their contributions in maintaining a safe and productive working environment.

Seagate has also been recognized externally for our excellent health and safety record, including:

U.S.A

• Governor's Award of Honor In Occupational Safety, Minnesota Safety Council -- Normandale USA (2001- 2005)
• Governor's Occupational Safety and Health Award from 2001 – 2004 (Shakopee)
• Oklahoma Safety Council -- Oklahoma (Gold Award 2001, Award of Excellence 2000)

N. Ireland

• Northern Ireland Safety Group 'Safety Quiz' (Winners 2001, Runners Up 2002 and 2003)

Singapore

• Annual Safety Performance Gold Award, Ministry of Manpower – AMK & Science Park, Singapore (2004)
• HEALTH Gold Award, Health Promotion Board, Ministry of Health – AMK, Singapore (2004)
• Noise Control Award, Singapore's Ministry of Manpower -- Woodlands Singapore (2003)
• Annual Safety Performance Award, Ministry of Manpower -- AMK, Science Park, Woodlands Singapore (Silver 2001-2003, Certificate of Merit 2000)
• HEALTH Award, Health Promotion Board-Ministry of Health -- AMK/Science Park, Woodlands Singapore (2000-2003)
• Distinguished Award to KP Teo, Senior Director Facilities in recognition of his distinguished service and contribution to the Singapore National Standardization Program 2003, SPRING Singapore.

Thailand

• National Outstanding Safety Factory Award, Ministry of Labor – Teparuk, Thailand (CY2005)
• National Safety Award -- Teparuk, Thailand (2004)

Malaysia

• Gold Award for Reduction of Electricity, National Productivity Corporation -- Senai Malaysia (2003)

China

• Safety Award for Excellence, Wuxi City (2004)
• Distinguished EHS Department, Wuxi City (2004)

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