Promoting Occupational Accident Prevention

Basic Concept

The Nisshinbo Group's Business Conduct Guidelines states that "Safety is the Basis for Everything" and clearly states that the Group holds safety as the top priority for all of its activities to bring high-quality products to customers.

Promotion System

The Nisshinbo Group has established a Group Health and Safety Liaison Conference to promote the prevention of occupational accidents throughout the Group. Under a system in which the director and the chief of the Corporate Strategy Center of Nisshinbo Holdings Inc. serves as group supervisor, The Health & Safety Group of the Sustainability Development Department of the Corporate Strategy Center serves as the secretariat and is working on the activities. To promote activities for occupational safety and health based on the Sustainability Promotion Plan, targets and Key performance indicators (KPIs) are managed, and measures are implemented.

In addition, a management review is conducted at Board of Management of Nisshinbo Holdings Inc. on the Group's progress in achieving targets, the status of occupational accidents, and the results of health and safety audits, and the president and the director, who is the chief executive officer, provides instructions on targets and priority policies for the following year. Management reviews are also reported to the Board of Directors.

Specific Initiatives of the Nisshinbo Group

In the revised “Fifth Sustainability Promotion Plan,” the Group designated the promotion activities for occupational safety and health as a key action items and is working to prevent occupational accidents. The Nisshinbo Group is working to achieve the goal by implementing the PDCA cycle and the number of serious accidents “0” as a KPI.

In FY2023, the Nisshinbo Group will continue its efforts to strengthen preventive safety activities and improve each employee's sensitivity to danger under the priority policy of strengthening safety and health activities as was done in FY2022.

The main specific activities in FY2022 were as follows;

  • ①Prevention of serious accidents
    Continue risk assessment (of operations, equipment, and chemical substances) and prioritize measures to address major risks.
  • ②Strengthen preventive safety activities
    Regularly educate employees on the hazards and toxicity of chemical substances and ensure that they use appropriate personal protective equipment in order to prevent accidents resulting from contact with hazardous substances.
  • ③Improvement of hazard sensitivity
    Continue workplace safety activities of hazard prediction training (KYT: Kiken Yochi Training in Japanese) to improve the hazard sensitivity of inexperienced workers.

Occurrence of Occupational Injuries

In FY2022, the Nisshinbo Group had no serious occupational accidents (classified as grade 7 disabilities or higher).

The frequency rate of lost time injuries,* which represents the frequency of occupational accidents, worsened compared to FY2021 for the Japan group as a whole, but remained at a favorable level compared to the Japanese manufacturing industry.

When an occupational accident occurs, the person in charge of health and safety and the manager or supervisor of the department where the accident occurred conduct interviews the workers involved, including those affected, to determine the true cause and to implement measures to prevent a recurrence. In addition, the details of the occupational accident and countermeasures are compiled into a report and disseminated to all Nisshinbo Group companies to help prevent similar accidents.

* Frequency of injuries with lost work days: an index of the frequency of injuries with lost work days. Expressed as the number of work-related fatalities and injuries per 1 million total working hours.

Frequency of Injuries with Lost Work Days

Frequency of Injuries with Lost Work Days

Safety and Health Activities and 5S Activities

In addition to education at the time of hiring and at the time of changes in work content, each business site of the Nisshinbo Group strives to raise the safety awareness of each and every employee through small group activities and training to improve the abilities of employees engaged in safety and health work, hazard prediction training, 5S (Sorting, Setting-in-Order, Shining, Standardizing, Sustaining the Discipline) activities, and risk simulation education. Nisshinbo also formulates annual plans and systematically conducts risk assessments of equipment, operations, and chemical substances to determine priorities and implement preventive safety measures.

Safety and Health Activities and 5S Activities

Health and Safety Education and Training

One of the Nisshinbo Group's key policies for FY2022 is to "regularly educate employees on the hazards and harmfulness of chemical substances to prevent accidents resulting from contact with hazardous substances, and to ensure that they comply with the use of appropriate personal protective equipment." "In accordance with this policy, the Group held a "Study Session on Chemical Substance Management" with 65 participants via a Web-based system, gathering health and safety personnel from business establishments that use chemical substances.

At this study session, participants were briefed on chemical substance management and risk assessment of chemical substances by Nisshinbo Holdings Inc. R&D Center, which specializes in handling chemical substances, and deepened their understanding toward the realization of "autonomous management of chemical substances" as required in the future.

Health and safety education and training
Health and safety education and training

Safety and Health Audits

The Nisshinbo Group periodically audits the status of health and safety management at each business site by organizing an audit team consisting of the Health & Safety Group of Nisshinbo Holdings Inc., the labor union, health and safety managers representing operating companies, and health and safety managers from other business sites. In FY2022, Nisshinbo conducted health and safety audits at 46 business sites in Japan, mainly manufacturing sites, and 2 overseas business sites. In response to the spread of the COVID‑19, the Group conducted on-site audits in Japan after implementing infection control measures, and online document audits were conducted for overseas sites.

At the end of the fiscal year, the monitoring team prepare a comprehensive audit report based on these audit results. The team also share accident risk analysis results and case studies of excellent activities throughout the Group and incorporate them into occupational safety and health activities in the following fiscal year.

Activities at Business Sites in Overseas

The Nisshinbo Group employs almost the same number of employees at group companies in Japan as it does at overseas group companies. Overseas group companies strive to raise the awareness of safety by each employee through the implementation of danger-detection training and danger-perception training provided at each site in cooperation with the core companies under its jurisdiction in accordance with the Guidelines for Behavior with the "Safety is the Basis for Everything." In addition, the Nisshinbo Group works to prevent the recurrence of occupational injuries at sites within the Group companies and to prevent similar injuries. Regarding the chemical substances handled, the Group continue to disseminate the danger and thoroughly implement the use of protective equipment to prevent health problems.

Specific Activities of the Group Companies

Strengthening Fall Prevention Measures

Nisshinbo Micro Devices AT Co., Ltd., has installed rhythm buzzers* in corridors frequented by employees as a measure to prevent falls, which have accounted for a large proportion of occupational accidents in recent years. As an additional initiative, a fall prevention exercise has been initiated beginning in 2022.

The falls prevention campaign is conducted at the beginning of each workday so that all employees can participate in the campaign. The exercise takes about one minute to complete, and involves bending over, lifting the legs, and checking ankle movements to make employees aware of how to walk in a way that prevents falls (i.e., lifting the legs up). The effect may be small per time, but by continuing to do so on a daily basis, the company can raise the safety awareness of each employee and reduce the risk of falls.

* Rhythm buzzer: A buzzer that sounds at a comfortable pace as people pass by to remind them to walk at a brisk pace.

In-house notice
In-house notice
Bulletin board
Bulletin board

Received the National Award for Excellence in Safety and Health

Nisshinbo Micro Devices (Thailand) Co., Ltd., based in Thailand participated in the 2022 Safety and Health Excellent Workplace Contest organized by the Department of Labor Protection and Welfare, Ministry of Labor, Thailand. The company, which continuously promotes safety, health, and welfare, received the Platinum Level of the National Safety and Health Excellent Workplace Award for the 19th consecutive year in June 2022 because of its various safety and health activities in FY2021.

There were 609 award-winning establishments nationwide, 10 of which received the award for the 19th consecutive year, as did the company, and the director of the Occupational Health and Work Environment Division received the award on behalf of the company from the director of the Lampoon Provincial Labor Protection and Welfare Department at an awards ceremony held on December 16, 2022.

National Safety and Health Excellent Workplace Award Platinum Level
National Safety and Health Excellent Workplace Award Platinum Level

Safety Dojo Education in the Learning Management System

Nisshinbo Brake Inc., Tatebayashi Plant, has traditionally conducted Safety Yatai* education at the Safety Dojo to raise safety awareness. The purpose of this program is to increase sensitivity to danger by experiencing specific hazards at each safety stall, so that employees can take action to reduce the risk of danger.

To sustain the effectiveness of this experiential education, each safety stall course has been registered in the Learning Management System (common name within the Nisshinbo Group: L-Click) as a reminder material. Each course includes "Injuries Caused by Entanglement," "Back Injuries Caused by Heavy Muscle Work," "Electric Shock," "Pinch Hazards," and "Forklifts and Surrounding Hazards." By reminding each person who has experienced the simulated hazards in the safety stalls training periodically by using L-Click, they can reconfirm hazard prediction and hazard avoidance and take the appropriate action.

By including each safety stall lecture using L-Click in each department's safety and health activity plan, the company aims to foster a safety culture within the workplace and throughout the entire business site through the practice of individual safety behavior.

* Safety Yatai education: Simulated safety training materials produced by the company

Safety Dojo
Safety Dojo

Publication of Health and Safety Newsletters

Once a quarter, Nisshinbo Mechatronics Inc. publishes a health and safety newsletter for all of its bases in Japan and overseas. The contents of the newsletter include a "Message on Safety and Health from Management," "Introduction of Safety and Health Activities at Each Site," "Group Safety and Health Policies, Targets, and Priority Implementation Items," and "Brief knowledge on Safety and Health." "The report demonstrates the strong commitment of top management to safety and health and raises the safety awareness of all employees by informing them of the company-wide safety and health policy and activities.

In the first and second issues published in 2022, the company provided easy-to-understand explanations of safety and health activities unique to Japan, such as "5S" and "Hiyari-Hatto" as brief knowledge, with overseas sites in mind. In addition, in January 2023, the company published an Extra issue of the health and safety newsletter, in which delightful comments of the winners of the 5S contest were included. The publication has served to motivate not only the offices featured in the issue but also other offices to take part in safety and health activities.

Health and Safety Newsletter Vol.1 (in Japanese)
Health and Safety Newsletter Vol.1 (in Japanese)
Safety and Health News Extra (in English)
Safety and Health News "Extra" (in English)

Achievement of 1,000 Days Without Accident and Commendation of Excellent Business Office

Excel Tokai Co., Ltd., achieved 1,000 consecutive days for achieving zero accident resulting in lost work days on June 25, 2021. Since this record is eligible for Type II (Progress Award) of the Medium and Small Business Accident-Free Record Awarding System of the Central Accident Prevention Agency, the application was approved, and a certificate and plaque were awarded.

In addition, the prefectural federation of labor standards associations recognized the company as an excellent business site for its proactive safety activities in which labor and management worked together. The main safety activities commended were as follows:

  • ①1277 consecutive days without accident (4 years and 6 months: from Dec. 26, 2017 to July 1, 2022)
  • ②Creation of procedure manuals and implementation of training based on the results of risk assessments (38 operations, 10 facilities, and 53 chemical substances)
  • ③Thorough implementation of 5S activities through model line activities and red tag patrols
  • ④Enhanced on-site management and activities by having all management personnel obtain safety manager certification

The commendation was a motivating factor for the entire company. The company will strive to achieve even higher goals.

No accident record certificate
No accident record certificate
Certificate of Commendation from the Federation of Labor Standards Associations
Certificate of Commendation from the Federation of Labor Standards Associations

Promotion of Safety Activities

Nisshinbo Do Brasil Industria Textil LTDA. in Brazil holds a monthly safety committee meeting (CIPA) consisting of safety promoters and executives from each workplace.

CIPA designated a period of January 30 to February 5, 2022 as , as Safety Week and conducted safety training, invited employees to submit safety posters, KYT illustrations, and free artwork related to safety, and presented awards at the end of the Safety Week period. In FY2022, ①67 posters were submitted: 5 received awards, ②90 KYT illustrations were submitted: 6 received awards, and ③34 free artwork submissions were submitted: 2 received awards. Each awardee was presented with cooking utensils and tools.

In addition, CIPA holds KYT and other safety workshops for managers and supervisors four times a year with plant safety engineers as instructors.

In addition, as a safety awareness campaign, the plant cafeteria offered one free meal of special dishes to employees who achieved 90 consecutive days without an accident (including unplanned accidents and accidents during commuting) (three times in FY2022).

Safety Poster
Safety Poster
Free production on safety
Free production on safety