Sustainability / Social Report / Creating Attractive WorkplacesOccupational Health and Safety
Basic Approach
To ensure the safety of its workplaces, the Daicel Group promotes various measures such as conducting risk assessments of all its activities, including R&D, manufacturing, and logistics, in accordance with the Daicel Group Basic Policies for Responsible Care. We have also established medium and long-term goals and carry out the CAPD*1 cycle as part of a continual effort to improve the occupational health and safety of our employees.
Placing the highest priority on safety in manufacturing, all employees and management at our business sites and partner companies (contractors)*2 work to improve the foundation of our production sites.
- *1Instead of a Plan, Do, Check, and Act (PDCA) cycle, the most widely known approach to continuous improvement, Daicel has adopted a CAPD improvement cycle to avoid the risk of overlooking crucial facts and realities that often lie hidden in the initial planning stage.
- *2Partner companies (contractors) are companies outside the Daicel Group that engage in various operations primarily at our business sites.
Promotion System
Through our responsible care system, which is supervised mainly by the Responsible Care (“RC”) Committee, safety management supervisors from each business site leads our efforts to improve the quality of health and safety management at our business sites. In our occupational health and safety management system, we implement DAICEL Production Innovation for process-based production at our domestic business sites. For assembly-based manufacturing done at Group companies in Japan and overseas, we utilize a version of the Toyota Production System based on DAICEL Production Innovation. Furthermore, some of our domestic and overseas Group companies are ISO45001 certified.
DAICEL Production Innovation
This production system goes back to the basics and focuses on human-oriented manufacturing. By systemizing the skills and know-how of experienced staff and enabling everyone to put them to practical use, it endeavors to achieve a broad range of results that include:
(1) Occupational health and safety/process safety and disaster prevention, and stable operations
(2) Dramatically higher productivity
(3) Substantially lower manufacturing costs
(4) Smoother, more finely-tuned operations and quality stabilization
(5) The passing on of skills and techniques and human resource development
(6) Energy conservation
Also, we regularly conduct meetings of environmental and safety division supervisors, which are attended by safety management supervisors from each business site and members of the Responsible Care Division (“RC Division”) of the Assessment Headquarters. In these meetings, members share information and discuss RC-related problems such as occupational health and safety, process safety and disaster prevention, and environmental conservation, as well as the content of revisions to laws and regulations such as the Industrial Safety and Health Act. In addition, at special meetings and RC audits, members confirm and discuss progress and issues concerning the RC Fiscal Activity Plan, including occupational health and safety, which each business site formulates.
Various councils led by partner companies (contractors) and the Environment and Safety Division have also been established at each business site to confirm and discuss all manner of policies to ensure safety.
Initiatives toward Zero Occupational Accidents
The Daicel Group carries out the CAPD cycle and takes a variety of measures, including those below, to eliminate all serious workplace accidents.
■Practicing 3S, HH, and KY
In Japan, all business sites, including those of our partner companies (contractors), practice the 3S methodology of —Seiri (Sorting), Seiton (Setting-in-Order), and Seisou (Shining)—as well as HH (near-miss reporting)*1 and KY (work injury prediction) in order to improve the foundation of our business sites and prevent the recurrence of past incidents.
■Before/After (BA) approach
We use a BA (Before/After) approach: Cases identified through this process as needing improvement are noted as “before” situations, and “after” situations are after improvements have been made. These workplace improvement initiatives involve employees consulting with their supervisors using BA sheets and then carrying out human and physical countermeasures. Progress with improvements is visualized as an after-improvement rate, and details are shared at health and safety meetings attended by employees and management at each business site.
■Looking to the future while respecting the past
We believe in “looking to the future while respecting the past,” aiming to foster a safety culture while preventing the recurrence of workplace accidents. We look back on workplace accidents and process-related accidents arising from unsafe behavior and the neglect of the basics, work to prevent recurrence, and raise employees' safety awareness.
Every month, the RC Division shares information about workplace accidents and process safety incidents that occurred the previous fiscal year with the workplace where those incidents occurred. This information helps employees at these workplaces review and make themselves aware of the incidents to avoid complacency in preventing their recurrence. In this way, both employees and managers work to prevent similar accidents from happening.
In FY2023/3, we and our partner companies (contractors) continued our efforts of FY2022/3 and worked toward our goal of eliminating serious workplace accidents, including chemical injuries, caught in, on or between, falls, and heat stroke. As a measure to eliminate chemical injuries, caught in, on or between accidents, and falls, we have been conducting pre-work safety assessments through the Whiteboard KY Sessions*2, a system shared by all business sites. For heat stroke, we have made sure employees can readily replenish drinking water and mineral supplies, set up rest areas, enforced mask usage rules, and encouraged the use of equipment to prevent and treat heat stroke.
In FY2023/3, there were 42 occupational accidents for the entire Group, consisting of 23 resulting in lost workdays and 19 that did not. There were no fatal accidents. The details and causes of these cases are shared with the RC Division through the "Incidents Database" promptly after they occur in accordance with internal rules, and both provisional and permanent measures are considered and implemented to prevent recurrence. This information is also shared horizontally with other business sites through the database and used to prevent similar accidents.
- *1Near misses: Activities that are recorded as events that nearly became accidents or incidents, and whose causes are investigated by all involved. Eliminating the causes of near misses makes for safer workplace environments.
- *2Aiming to ensure that work risks have been exhaustively identified, these sessions involve workers, supervisors, and experts using a shared format board to discuss and predict work-associated risks in advance, and confirm measures to mitigate them.
Number of Occupational Accidents (Daicel Group)
Occupational Accident Frequency Rate* (Daicel Group)
*Occupational Accident Frequency Rate = number of people involved in an occupational accident / total actual working hours × 1 million hours
ESG DataNumerical Data on Occupational Accidents
Patrols to ensure against heatstroke and injuries from hazardous substances
Initiatives to Improve Occupational Health and Safety
Safety Education for Employees and Partner companies (contractors)
The Daicel Group formulates its own training programs and provides necessary technologies and skills for employees, as well as regular safety education.
■Initiatives at the Operation Training Center (TRC)
In order to provide training on technology and knowledge related to chemical plants, the Group set up the Operation Training Center (TRC) where all staff learn about the background and goals of the mechanisms and rules created in light of past incidents. Employees also use special equipment to engage in hands-on risk training that includes experiencing crush accidents, static electricity, solvent and dust explosions, pressure, and exposure to caustic liquids. In FY2023/3, 397 people took training at the TRC, and a total of around 8,300 people have taken training since the Center was founded in 2002.
■Initiatives at each business site
Each business site receives training in using manufacturing technologies particular to their work processes, as well as training in occupational health and safety, environmental conservation, and chemicals management. Through TRC branch offices at each site, employees also take part in information sharing and simulation training for incidents that happened at business sites in the past. More than 19,000 people in total took training through TRC branch offices in FY 2023/3.
Furthermore, business partners and construction workers receive safety training specific to that site to confirm that they understand all safety rules. In addition, at workplaces where incidents occurred in the past, notices containing information about the events are posted to prevent complacency and raise awareness. Also, through the Occupational Accidents and Process Safety Incidents Database, TRC branch offices share information about incidents, as well as their causes and prevention measures, with top management and business sites where those types of incidents have not occurred.
Furthermore, in career development training for newly promoted employees, conducted as part of our human resource development program, we educate employees on our approach to disaster and risk management by citing the history of the explosion and fire that occurred at the Sakai Plant in 1982, using newspaper articles from that time and video footage to reinforce the importance of placing safety first in manufacturing. In the human resource development program for engineers to exercise their specialized skills, we organize seminars on assessment methods, including HAZOP*, and total and technical assessments, as well as the environmental management system.
*Hazard and operability (HAZOP) is a qualitative analysis method for providing feedback on potential hazards and operability issues in the design process.
Safety Exchange Meetings for Group Members
Since FY2015/3, we have been holding exchange meetings in Japan aimed at fostering a sense of unity among Group members and heightening the awareness of those who take on front-line operations with regard to 3S and other safety assurance initiatives. With the labor union and management acting in collaboration, these meetings are attended by forepersons and mid-level managers from Daicel production sites and other domestic Group companies. The sessions usually involve a tour of plant facilities and small-group discussions on 3S case studies to help participants exchange their insights. Participants become leaders of their respective workplaces and endeavor to improve safety by applying the knowledge they have gained at the exchange meetings. As with FY2023/3, in FY2022/3 we refrained from holding the meetings after determining that group sessions pose a high risk of spreading COVID-19.
Safety Exchange Meetings
Scroll left or right
| FY | Location | Participants |
|---|---|---|
| 2023/3 | － | － |
| 2022/3 | － | － |
| 2021/3 | － | － |
| 2020/3 | Harima Plant | 12 |
| 2019/3 | Kanzaki Plant, Daicel Logistics Service Co., Ltd. Kansai Logistics Center Amagasaki Business Office |
25 |
| 2018/3 | Okayama Plant, DM Novafoam Ltd. | 18 |
| 2017/3 | Hirohata Plant | 18 |
| 2016/3 | Harima Plant | 19 |
| 2015/3 | Aboshi Plant | 21 |
Facility tour given by the Safety Exchange Meeting Members
Creation and Distribution of “The Essence of Safe Operations” and the “Basic Internal Rulebook on Construction Work”
The Daicel Group has numerous in-house rules on manufacturing safety, including the "Essence of Safe Operations" and "Basic Internal Rulebook on Construction Work," established in FY2014/3 to enable all front-line operators of the Group involved in manufacturing to be aware of, think about, and act to ensure safety on the same basis.
■Essence of Safe Operations
We created pocket-sized versions of these documents to allow workers to check, anywhere and at any time, the key points of safety rules that apply in the field, including information about the types of protective gear, how to use it, and how to use tools. In 2018, we issued the third edition, which includes more diagrams and photos so as to facilitate reading and understanding, and in 2020, the fourth edition which includes rules for preventing electrostatic accidents and the appropriate wearing of new uniforms was issued. In April 2022, we published the fifth edition of the leaflet, making changes necessitated by revisions to the Static Electricity Accident Prevention Rules (Powders and Liquids) and adding in content about safety when working at heights and other matters.
■Basic Internal Rulebook on Construction Work
There are two versions of the Basic Internal Rulebook on Construction Work, the Safety Version and the Quality Version. The Safety Version is a compilation of Daicel’s unified basic rules related to construction work, formulated based on feedback from field personnel. We created the rulebook based on our belief that complying with these rules is essential, not only to ensure one’s own safety but also to ensure the safety of colleagues working at the same site. The Quality Version focuses exclusively on rules aimed at preventing a recurrence of serious incidents resulting from defects in construction quality. It was created with the intention of encouraging employees to gain a deep understanding of the key points for ensuring construction quality and to comply with the rules. In April 2023, we issued a revised edition of the leaflet containing updated information.
Safety Programs for Partner companies (contractors) and Business Partners
We strive to ensure the safety of each business site by educating not only Daicel Group employees but all employees of partner companies (contractors) who are involved in manufacturing and construction work. To raise safety awareness, we continuously provide education on safety rules related to occupational health and safety process safety, and disaster prevention on a regular basis, such as when workers enter the worksite for the first time or before undertaking periodic repair work.
Class 1 Zero Accident Certificate Received
Zero Accident Certificates are given by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to business sites that experienced no accidents over a certain period of time. For accumulating 4.4 million hours with no accidents, the Harima Plant was given a Class 1 Zero Accident Certificate by the Labor Standards Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on July 26, 2021.
