Occupational Health and Safety

TOK recognizes that ensuring the safety and health of employees who support supply chain sustainability is the social responsibility of a company that operates business activities and is a requirement of all stakeholders. By providing a safe and comfortable workplace, TOK also intends to improve employee engagement as a key initiative in the TOK Medium-Term Plan 2024, while fostering and setting in place a safety culture.

Health and Safety System

In its initiatives for occupational health and safety, TOK works to prevent accidents based on the annual action plan of the Safety and Health Committee. Company-wide issues that a single site cannot address on its own are examined by the Safety and Health Liaison Unit, which is headed by the Dept. manager of the General Affairs Dept. The Safety and Health Liaison Unit shares information about the measures that must be horizontally developed across all sites. Based on this organizational structure, the Company promotes the prevention of injuries and fire accidents caused by chemical substances, as well as severe injuries caused by machinery or heavy objects. In the event of a workplace accident, TOK implements thorough countermeasures to improve safety and rolls them out horizontally across the organization.

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Occupational Health and Safety Policy

TOK Group, as prioritizing workers’* health and safety, fosters safety cultures by preventing accidents, disasters, and illnesses in the workplace.

* workers: any and all labor providers to TOK.

  • Complies with all laws related to occupational health and safety in each country and region.
  • Reduces risks by completing job hazards analysis.
  • Provides comprehensive education and training for employees.
  • Strives to strengthen our safety and disaster prevention systems for the purpose of minimizing and mitigating damage for accidents, disasters, or any other unforeseen event.
  • Makes effective and continuous improvements by investing appropriate resources.

Acquiring ISO 45001 Certification

Currently, the TOK Group receives an increasing number of questions and requests on CSR from stakeholders. The Group formulated the TOK CSR Policy and strengthened the management system for occupational health and safety as a component of the CSR Policy. Under these circumstances, the company is promoting the acquisition and expansion of ISO 45001 certification of the occupational health and safety management system. Through this activity, the Group also promotes measures to counter the aging of employees, measuresfor labor saving, and measures for mental health care.
ISO 45001 certification was acquired at the Koriyama plant, Utsunomiya plant, Shonan Operation Center, and Aso plant in 2021 after the Gotemba plant in 2020. In 2022, acquisition is planned at the Headquarters, Sagami Operation Center, and Kumagaya plant. In 2023, TOK aims to complete acquisition at all domestic sites, including the Distribution Control Center and SPs.
TOK has implemented measures in accordance with the RBA Code of Conduct. In 2021, the Koriyama plant was rated in the highest class (Platinum Recognition) in RBA audit. The company will continue to establish the necessary systems at domestic sites and will provide a safe and comfortable workplace to TOK employees at each site and to employees of affiliated companies, thereby achieving supply chain sustainability as a material issue and enhancing happiness of workers.

Initiatives for Workplace Accident Risk Reduction

Improvement of risk assessment

In 2021, TOK promoted risk reduction activities on risks with high seriousness at each site by learning lessons from past accidents of being caught, chemical injuries, and the turnover of heavy objects. The company also strengthened risk assessment and hazard prediction activities for infrequent operations.

Review the inspection standard for antistatic equipment and strengthen static risk reduction activities

TOK implements the inspection of antistatic equipment in accordance with the Procedure for Antistatic Measures. In 2021, a review of the inspection standard uncovered unclear points in the inspection methods and assessment criteria for the grounding and other antistatic equipment. In response, TOK investigated the inspection status at each site, reorganized the procedure, and further clarified the inspection methods.

Established and started operation of internal standards for highly corrosive substances and poisonous/ deleterious substances

In 2021, the company further strengthened management through the proper operation of the Internal Guidelines for the Handling of Highly Corrosive Chemical Substances, which were formulated in the previous year.

Promoted improvement activities incorporating inputs from internal audit and third-party review

TOK conducts internal audits of the sites that plan the acquisition of ISO 45001 certification. By proactively appointing internal auditors from other sites that have already been certified and new internal auditors, TOK promotes skill upgrading of internal auditors, as well as information sharing concerning workplace accident control and environmental pollution control. The company also considers reviews by external institutions to be valuable opportunities to obtain third-party evaluations and inputs concerning the handling of chemical substances, antistatic measures, and workplace accident control, and leads them to improvement activities.

Prevention of Workplace Accidents

TOK established the Occupational Health and Safety Policy linked to the CSR Policy. In its production activities, the company places the utmost priority on the maintenance of the health and safety of workers and implements measures to prevent accidents, natural disasters, and diseases in the workplace, thereby fostering group safety. In particular, the Safety and Health Committees at each site have been working to prevent accidents, while aiming to maintain and improve all related factors. In addition, the company is working to improve the safety level of the entire Group through measures to prepare manuals for emergency action in the event of workplace or other accidents and by providing systematic training and drills for employees, as well as fostering employee safety awareness.
In 2021, there were eight workplace accidents (zero without and eight with lost workdays), but the company achieved 0% as the frequency rate of workplace accidents. Fortunately, no serious workplace accident occurred. Through the factor analysis of accidents without lost workdays, TOK reviewed the risks and took action for recurrence prevention. TOK will further raise the safety awareness of employees and promote risk reduction activities.

Frequency rate of workplace accidents (unconsolidated) (%)

Frequency rate of workplace accidents

* Frequency rate: shows the frequency of accident occurrences as the number of deaths and injuries due to workplace accidents per million work hours Frequency rate = (number of deaths and injuries due to workplace accidents / number of work hours) × 1,000,000 (Number of deaths and injuries due to workplace accidents = number of deaths and injuries resulting 1 or more lost workdays)

Severity rate of workplace accidents (unconsolidated) (%)

Severity rate of workplace accidents

* Severity rate: shows the severity of accidents as the number of lost workdays per thousand work hours Severity rate = (number of lost workdays / number of work hours) ×1,000 (Number of lost workdays = number of lost workdays of dead and injured workers due to workplace accidents) Source of data for chemical and manufacturing industries: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Survey on Industrial Accidents

Future Issues and Initiatives

Based on its Occupational Health and Safety Policy, TOK acquired ISO 45001 certification at an increasing number of sites and has deepened initiatives for occupational health and safety. In the meantime, it has become necessary to strengthen new risk management and develop the relevant human resources, and to bolster the organizational power to counter emerging issues. TOK will continue to comply with occupational health and safety laws in each country and region, while further strengthening risk assessment and formulating a 5S policy, based on which the company will reestablish safety-first culture.

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