Sustainability

Sustainability Top

Occupational Safety and Health, Process Safety and Disaster Prevention

Basic approach

Our group has established the "Basic Policy on Occupational Safety and Health," and strives to comply with laws and regulations and create a safe and comfortable working environment. We will do our best to prevent accidents, disasters, and legal violations by promoting activities based on the occupational safety and health management system throughout the group, such as taking safety measures for buildings and equipment. I will strive to.

The artience Group (hereinafter referred to as the “Group”) has established a mission of “building a future where all people can live enriched lives” through its corporate activities in manufacturing. We believe that the Group’s role as a corporate citizen, and as a chemical manufacturing company, can be fulfilled by ensuring the safety and health of all Group employees.
Based on this basic approach, we have established this Basic Policy on Occupational Safety and Health (hereinafter referred to as this “Basic Policy”). To sustainably improve occupational safety and health in the workplace, we will endeavor to engage in safe operation, safety and disaster prevention, and hygiene management based on the assumption of compliance with laws and regulations and respect for international norms.

  1. Scope of application
    This Basic Policy applies to all companies and organizations that make up the Group. In addition, all officers, corporate advisors, employees, contract employees, and part-time employees of the Group, as well as temporary dispatch workers and all other persons engaged in the Group’s business operations (hereinafter referred to collectively as “officers and employees”) are obligated to comply with this Basic Policy. We also ask all suppliers, distributors, and other business partners who form the Group’s supply chain to understand and support this Basic Policy.
  2. Building and operating an occupational safety and health system
    The Group will establish and operate a Group-wide management system for the purpose of ensuring and improving workplace safety and the health of officers and employees. We will establish an occupational health and safety management system at each business site that is tailored to the content of each site’s business activities, and we create a network that links these systems. Through the operation and continuous improvement of this company-wide system, we will share information, set goals and implement measures, and work to reduce and avoid all occupational safety and health risks within the Group.
  3. Management of occupational safety and health risks
    The Group will find, evaluate, and identify a variety of occupational safety and health risks at its production sites and sites that engage in non-production business activities. In addition, we will engage in appropriate management to reduce these risks, eliminate hazards that are risk factors, limit the possibility of risk manifestation, or minimize the damage suffered by workers when risks occur.
  4. Improvement of safety and health environments in the workplace
    The Group will ensure the safety and health of officers and employees in the course of their duties by using appropriate equipment, technical measures, and management methods, according to the nature of each workplace. Specifically, we will provide personal protective equipment free of charge, introduce ventilation and air conditioning equipment, keep medical equipment and supplies on hand, improve working environments for physically demanding work, and make reasonable accommodations for female workers during pregnancy and nursing (breastfeeding.)
  5. Preparations against occupational accidents and illnesses
    The Group will ascertain the state of occurrence of occupational accidents and illnesses, provide necessary treatment, record cases, investigate and analyze causes, and take appropriate corrective measures to eliminate them, with the aim of minimizing and preventing repeat occurrences of occupational accidents and illnesses. We will also work to create a workplace environment and systems that support workers who have been affected by occupational accidents or illnesses when they return to work.
  6. Emergency response
    The Group will place the highest priority on the lives and physical and mental safety of its officers and employees, and will prepare appropriate emergency response and recovery measures in advance, based on specific assumptions of disasters and accidents that may occur, regardless of the number of occurrences. To improve the effectiveness of these measures, we will inform officers and employees of evacuation routes, etc., and conduct evacuation drills at a level of frequency that exceeds legal standards.
  7. Worker health management
    The Group will provide appropriate health management for all officers and employees. We will conduct regular health checks for officers and employees in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. In particular, we will conduct necessary examinations for workers engaged in specific work duties, such as the handling of chemical substances. We will also work to improve health management throughout the Group, such as by preventing health problems caused by overwork and exposure to chemical substances, and promoting mental health care. At the same time, all officers and employees will endeavor to manage their own health, in order to maintain sufficient health in the performance of their duties.
  8. Information disclosure and dialogue
    The Group will disclosure information on occupational safety and health both internally and externally, and engage in active communication, including the clarification and sharing of health and safety information among officers and employees. In particular, we will encourage employees to report occupational accidents and illnesses and raise concerns about safety and health in the workplace, and work to create a workplace environment where everyone can express their opinions and engage in dialogue without hesitation.
  9. Enlightenment, education, and training
    The Group will distribute this basic policy and various information relating to occupational safety and health, and will continue to provide appropriate awareness-raising, education, and training, to ensure that all officers and employees understand the importance of maintaining and improving occupational safety and health, acquire the correct knowledge and skills, and develop the ability to detect potential risks and respond to them in a way that leads to risk reductions.
  10. Revision, abolition and management
    Decisions regarding the revision or abolition of this Basic Policy shall be made by the Board of Directors of artience Co., Ltd.
    The department in charge of the revision and abolition of this Basic Policy shall be the department that oversees occupational safety and health activities at artience Co., Ltd.

Established in June 1996
Revised on January 1, 2024 (Resolved at Board of Directors on December 8, 2023)

Promotion system

In order to ensure a high level of "Basic Policy on Occupational Safety and Health," which is the basis of safety, our group has established an occupational safety and health management system that complies with laws and regulations, and is actively conducting safety activities. Production-Logistics Planning Department conducts audits (safety dialogues), risk assessments, and accident investigation confirmations regarding the prevention of occupational accidents, security, disaster prevention, etc. throughout the group, and provides important information regarding occupational safety and health and the Group through "safety network meetings" in Japan and overseas. It is responsible for promoting the prevention of industrial accidents, safety and disaster prevention accidents, and prevention of recurrence, including instructing appropriate responses globally.
Furthermore, in order to prevent occupational accidents and safety and disaster prevention accidents from occurring and prevent their recurrence, we regularly carry out "Repeated Safety Education" and conduct a "Review of Past Accidents" that summarizes labor accidents and safety and disaster prevention accidents that have occurred within the Group in the past. We distribute the "Calendar" monthly both domestically and internationally, and aim to raise safety awareness and improve skills across the group by sharing and discussing examples of safety initiatives related to past accidents.
We regularly hold management council meetings where the labor union and the company deliberate, and strive to improve work styles, including safety and health. Furthermore, we hold a safety and health committee meeting every month at each site, consisting of managers, managers, and labor union members, to report and discuss occupational safety and health, including occupational accidents.

Organizations and systems related to occupational safety and health
(FY2023)
Organization/system diagram related to occupational safety and health
Safety system diagram
Safety system diagram

attempt

Audit (safety dialogue)

In domestic safety dialogues, we confirmed safety goals, the progress of basic safety activities (KY, near misses, etc.) carried out at bases, the continuation of past accident countermeasures, and the status of horizontal deployment, etc., in a dialogue format. At overseas safety dialogues, safety themes such as prevention of accidents caused by getting caught, prevention of electrical fires, and countermeasures against static electricity were confirmed in the form of a document diagnosis.

Audit (safety dialogue) implementation results (FY2022)
Domestic Mother factories: 4 factories (Fuji Factory, Kawagoe Factory, Saitama Factory, Moriyama Factory)
Daughter factories: 5 factories (Seishin factory, Chiba factory, Toyo-Morton, Toyo FPP, MATSUI CHEMICAL)
abroad 27 overseas locations (5 locations in China, 20 locations in English-speaking countries, 2 locations in South Korea)

Frequency rate/severity rate

In our group (domestic and in-house), the number of lost-time accidents decreased by two compared to 2021, resulting in a decrease in the frequency of lost-time accidents. On the other hand, the severity rate increased as the number of days off work increased by 7 days. As a result, the frequency rate was 0.286 and the severity rate was 0.002, which were lower than the overall manufacturing and chemical industries. Our group is working to clarify the causes and countermeasures for accidents, including accidents resulting in lost time, and to prevent recurrence.

Trends in the frequency rate of accidents resulting in lost time *1
Trend graph of frequency rate of lost-time accidents

*1 External data representing the frequency of accidents resulting in lost time, expressed as the number of casualties resulting from lost time accidents per 1 million cumulative actual working hours, is quoted from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's ``Summary of the 2020 Occupational Accident Trend Survey (Business Site Survey)''

Changes in the severity rate of accidents resulting in lost time *2
Graph of trends in the severity rate of accidents resulting in lost time

*2 External data representing the severity of lost-time accidents in terms of the number of work days lost per 1,000 total actual working hours is quoted from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's ``Summary of the 2020 Occupational Accident Trend Survey (Business Site Survey)''

Number of accidents resulting in lost time

(Unit: cases)

2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Our group
(Domestic/in-house *)
5 2 2 4 2

*In-house: Employees at all of our group's domestic offices (including contract employees, part-time workers, and temporary employees)

その他の取り組み​(PDF:2,912KB)

  • Hazard identification, risk assessment, accident investigation
  • Training on occupational safety and health
  • Domestic and international network conferences
  • Safety and disaster prevention initiatives