Policy
In every business activity, we will address safety and accident prevention as the top priority. We will strive to operate with no accidents and no disasters, make contributions to social safety, protect employees' safety and health, and create a comfortable working environment.
System
The Safety Promotion Department, which is under the direct control of the President, instructs and supervises the occupational health and safety and accident prevention in each base.
In case of an emergency, a local emergency task force is established in the region where the emergency has occurred. Should a large-scale earthquake or other wide-area disaster occur, the Business Continuity Task Force will be set up at the Head Office to implement support and reconstruction activities on a company-wide level under the control of the General Manager of the Environment and Safety Headquarters designated by the President.
System
Status of labor accidents
To achieve zero labor accidents, we are conducting activities under the main themes of risk assessment, creation of a workplace culture in which workers warn each other, thorough implementation of recurrence prevention measures, and achievement of safer work environments.
In FY2022, we had one occupational accident involving our employees with lost time and seven without lost time. As for dispatched employees/employees of affiliates, there were three occupational accident with lost time and five without lost time. We have investigated the actual causes of the accidents by using the five whys method*, implemented recurrence prevention measures, and rolled out important countermeasures to all Group factories in Japan and abroad.
- A technique to verify the effectiveness of countermeasures against a certain problem, by examining the direct cause of the problem (why did it occur) and by repeating the question “Why?” to determine the root cause.
- Frequency rate = (Number of employees subject to accident with lost time) ÷ (total working hours) × 1,000,000
This value indicates the frequency of accident victims (Group company employees) per 1 million hours
* Severity rate = (labor lost days) ÷ (total working hours) × 1,000
This value indicates the severity of accidents per 1,000 working hours
Safety and Technology Education Center
In 2012, we established the Safety and Technology Education Center at the Nagoya Factory aimed at improving safety education and production technology (the facilities and operations have now been reorganized under the company-wide Safety Promotion Dept.). The center is equipped with devices for experiencing the dangers of occupational accidents including flight simulators that reproduce the production equipment, allowing the study of work facility principles and theories. Up to now, education has been provided to more than 3,000 employees of our company and affiliates. In the center, by making videos simulating accidents that have occurred in our company, safety education is provided to young workers.
Risk assessment
With the revision of the Industrial Safety and Health Act, the number of chemical substances subject to risk assessment will be gradually expanded. We will conduct systematic risk assessments of target substances handled at our factories and research laboratories, and take necessary risk mitigation measures.
Monozukuri Transformation (Manufacturing Innovation) Promotion Project
Envisioning where we want to be in five or 10 years, under the slogan of the Production Division “Change to be safer, more comfortable, and stronger!”, in order to innovate our manufacturing, in April 2021, we launched a project consisting of two project teams, automatization/mechanization (Monozukuri Transformation) and digitalization/work efficiency improvement (work style reform practices).
However, we decided to conclude this project in March 2023 after reviewing two years of activities, and after selecting themes to be continuously promoted, we will work on these themes at each factory. Going forward, we will proceed with Manufacturing Innovation as a company-wide project aimed at improving productivity and profitability through fundamental improvements in manufacturing processes. In July 2023, we established the Monozukuri Transformation Center within the Nagoya Factory as an organization to promote this project. At the center, we have resident researchers, who are responsible for the stabilization of production, process optimization, automatization, and labor saving through genchi genbutsu (going to see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation).
Kyoto Factory’s “activities that listen to the opinions of subcontractors” received the Responsible Care Excellence Award from the Japan Chemical Industry Association.
There might be something that employees of subcontractors, who are essential to the production activities at the factory, feel subconsciously but find it difficult to express. In order to respond to this situation, we have started Hospitality Activities for Subcontractors, in which we make suggestions to subcontractors to make improvements, in addition to our previous efforts to make improvements in response to their suggestions and requests. Specifically, in addition to the existing rest areas in the factory, we have installed easily accessible rest areas near the workplaces of subcontractor employees to make it easier for them to take frequent breaks and drink water. As measures against heatstroke, we have also installed mist showers and have provided heatstroke prevention goods to workers who work for long hours under the scorching sun. These efforts to improve labor safety and health have been very well received by subcontractor employees. As a result, in recognition of the following aspects of these activities, in May 2023, we received the Responsible Care Excellence Award from the Japan Chemical Industry Association. First, these activities have been undertaken from the perspective of subcontractor employees. Second, a wide range of opinions from subcontractor employees have been reflected in improvements to the work environment, including the installation of new rest areas and the implementation of numerous measures to prevent heatstroke. Third, this has been effective in deepening communication between our employees and subcontractor employees.
Safety/accident prevention activity
In order to ensure safe business operation and business continuity, we implement countermeasures for interruptions in both hardware and software. Having set the response/action plan in case of an emergency, we conduct training in accordance with it.
Unusual situation handling training and emergency response
Training for handling unusual situation and emergency response
In the education/training curriculum implemented at facilities, education concerning environment and safety/accident prevention practical training are incorporated, while we repetitively conduct emergency drills and other training in case of an earthquake, fire, and leakage regularly. We also conduct training in cooperation with the local community that includes joint training with neighboring factories of other companies and the local fire departments.
On the Company-wide Safety Day (October 2) established for the purpose of remembering the past serious occupational accidents, we hold various safety-related events in all areas of each domestic and overseas facility, including emergency training, disaster drills, emergency notification training, safety patrols, and cautionary lectures on safety while taking countermeasures against COVID-19.
Kashima Factory: Safety talk by subcontractors
Nagoya Office in SAN NOPCO LIMITED: Safety patrols by managers
Sanyo Kasei (Thailand) Ltd.: Safety patrols
Earthquake countermeasures
Since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995, we have continued to reinforce our buildings and production facilities against earthquakes. We have also been working on the establishment of a BCP (Business Continuity Plan) since 2007, and based on the experience of the Kashima Plant being damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, we continue to conduct BCP drills and review response manuals and other documents.
Efforts for predictive maintenance
Using artificial intelligence (Al) and digital transformation (DX), we have started predictive maintenance, which measures and monitors the condition of equipment to replace or repair parts and other components at the appropriate time. As a result, we believe that this will curb unnecessary parts replacement and unexpected troubles compared to the method of periodic maintenance.
We have also introduced smart glasses that allow skilled workers to view images and give instructions from outside the plant.
Other initiatives at each plant are shared through web-based communication tools and company-wide presentations at safety conventions to help strengthen accident prevention measures.
Internal environment, safety, and accident prevention audit (RC audit)
Targeting at the factories and research departments, Responsible Care Headquarter conducts audits concerning environment, safety, and accident prevention by visiting each facility once a year. In FY2022, the department conducted audits for status of horizontal development of accident countermeasures, the observation of compliance with laws and regulations, leak prevention measures, and risk assessment.
As we discontinued the ISO 14001 certification for domestic factories, the audit of the environmental management is also undertaken.