Occupational Health and Safety Policies, Targets and Plans, Promotion Structure

Occupational Health and Safety Policies, Targets and Plans

The Safety & Environment Control Department sets the Group’s policies, targets, and action plans (Group health and safety targets) based on the 3-Year Business Plan, which was formulated in light of the Group’s progress toward its vision for occupational health and safety, and the president approves them. In each business, based on the Group’s health and safety targets, annual activity targets and plans are established and line health and safety management is promoted, taking into consideration the risks specific to each business site.

Promotion Structure

Occupational health and safety is managed by the chain of command in which the president is the person ultimately responsible, general managers of the relevant divisions provide guidance and supervision, and the person in charge of each business site is appointed as the health and safety manager of that site. Constructive discussions on ways to improve health and safety in the workplace also take place during meetings of the Occupational Health and Safety Committee comprising representatives from both labor and management. Furthermore, the executive officer responsible for the Safety & Environment Control Department, who is also the General Manager thereof, provides guidance and advice on safety and health initiatives to each division and each workplace of the Group, while the health and safety manager assigned to each division and business site coordinate efficiently to promote improvements in safety and health. The SMM Group strives to improve health and safety under the concepts of the OSHMS,^* and has business sites that have already obtained ISO 45001 certification or are certified according to the Japan Industrial Safety and Health Association (JISHA) OSHMS standards. We conduct risk assessments when introducing new equipment or making changes to operational procedures, and make improvements to reduce risk. At overseas business sites, we have also built an occupational health and safety management framework based on local laws and regulations, and conduct the same level of risk assessment, improvement of equipment, and hazard prediction activities as in Japan.

OSHMS is an abbreviation of Occupational Safety and Health Management System and it is a management system that aims to improve occupational health and safety levels at business sites through the implementation of a set of processes known as the PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act), based on cooperation between businesses and their workers

■ Promotion Structure

Occupational Health & Safety Subcommittee and Safety & Environment Control Department

With regard to employees’ occupational health and safety, which is a material issue, the Safety & Environment Control Department promotes activities to achieve our vision in cooperation and collaboration with the members of the Occupational Health & Safety Subcommittee, who are in charge of health and safety in their respective division. In addition, the Safety & Environment Control Department provides functional instructions to the business division supervisors based on various reports and inspections, provides advice and reports to the competent authorities on the consolidation and response to important matters such as accidents and disasters, and disseminates disaster case studies within the Group to raise awareness and provide instructions for inspections.

The SMM Group Health and Safety Manager Meeting

As a rule, once a year, the Safety & Environment Control Department holds a meeting for business division health and safety managers and business site safety and health managers. At these meetings, health and safety managers of departments and divisions work to improve the level of health and safety management by providing information on the progress of health and safety targets, information on legal revisions, and explanations and discussions on performance and material issues related to health and safety.

Occupational Health and Safety Committees

In accordance with the Industrial Safety and Health Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Committee meets once a month at each of the Group’s business sites in Japan. At the Occupational Health and Safety Committee meetings, a wide range of health and safety issues are discussed, including the progress of health and safety activity plans, analysis of the causes of occupational accidents and measures to prevent recurrence, results of working environment measurements, results of medical examinations, reports on improvements to equipment and work methods, reports on the correction of areas identified during patrols, safety and management methods for new chemical substances handled, results of pre-operational safety examinations of new equipment, and information on legal revisions. A summary of the Occupational Health and Safety Committee meetings is reported monthly by business sites to the Safety & Environment Control Department, which confirms that safety and health activities are being properly implemented at each business site.
At SMM Group’s overseas business sites, occupational health and safety committee meetings are held in accordance with the laws and regulations of each country to ensure workplace safety through the creation of accident prevention measures among businesses and their workers.
Regarding regular contractors, Occupational Health and Safety Committee meetings and informal gatherings are held every month by contracting organizations in which contractors and others participate and information is shared. This information is taken back to the company where it is shared and used to make notifications.