Oji Group Safety and Health Management Structures aim to prevent occupational accidents and maintain and promote the good health of Group employees, affiliates, and business operators who enter the Group’s premises on a temporary basis and also clarify responsibilities relating to safety and health in the Oji Group and stipulate fundamental matters in the Group Safety and Health Management Rules.
In worksites in Japan and other countries, the head of each worksite with responsibilities and authority serves as the safety and health manager, exercising the overall management of safety and health operations and establishing the safety and health management structure.
In Japan, the heads of mills and other worksites who undertake the overall management of worksites have been appointed as the general safety and health manager regardless of the scale and industry prescribed in the Industrial Safety and Health Act.
Under the policies of "thorough compliance, safety, and the environment are the foundation of our corporate activities" and "the basic principle of absolute safety priority," the Oji Group stipulates occupational safety and health in the Oji Group Corporate Code of Conduct and the Oji Group Behavior Standard. We secure the safety and health of workers by ensuring that every Group employee is aware of these rules and standards on occupational safety and health, practices them, and complies with them. At the same time, we promote the creation of comfortable worksite environments and strive to create better worksite safety climates so that all workers in the Oji Group can work in a safe environment and with a sense of security.
Every year, the Oji Group formulates the Group’s safety and health promotion plan based on the safety results and reflections of the previous year and distributes it to Group companies.
Based on the plan, each Group company formulates its safety and health promotion plan and specific action plans for each company and business site and promotes activities aimed at eliminating industrial accidents in cooperation with not only Group employees but also contractors/contractors who enter facilities temporarily.
As of the end of October 2023, in the Oji Group there have been three occupational fatalities (one accident caused by forklifts and heavy machinery in Japan and one collapse and one fire overseas), one fatal traffic accident involving a commuting Oji Group employee and two occupational fatalities that are not included in the count (one pinched/rolled-in accident and one fall accident overseas). Additionally, 61 (58 in the previous year, 69 throughout the year) accidents accompanied by lost worktime, including the fatalities, occurred, and there were 27 (27 in the previous year) violations of the main principles for safety and workplace safety rules. In the light of these circumstances, we put up again the slogan, Always Follow the Main Principles for Safety and the Safety Rules and Ensure that Others Follow Them for this year. At the same time, we will make machinery/equipment safer with a special focus on measures to prevent collisions with forklifts and heavy machinery, and develop initiatives to achieve the goal, "no fatal or serious accidents," and to reduce the number of accidents accompanied by lost worktime.
The Oji Holdings Safety Administration Department provides the Group companies with safety and health information, including the Group’s safety and health promotion plan and notices and guidelines on safety and health.
We have built a structure that ensures that a serious injury, death, or accident reported by news media will be reported to the management immediately after its occurrence and handled appropriately in accordance with the Group Emergency Response Regulations.
In the event of an occupational injury (resulting in one or more lost work days), a Report on Occurrence of an Occupational Injury with Temporary Incapacity for Work (Format 1: Preliminary Report) is submitted to the Safety Administration Department within three days after the occurrence. The department confirms basic information about how and why the accident occurred and how to prevent it, and then provides the information to domestic and overseas Group companies to share the information and issue instructions to prevent similar accidents in the overall Group.
Further, where an accident has occurred at a Group company in Japan, how and why it occurred is studied and analyzed, measures for preventing its recurrence and horizontal deployment are discussed and implemented, and a Report on Occurrence of an Occupational Injury with Temporary Incapacity for Work (Format 2: Detailed Report) is submitted to the Safety Administration Department within a month after the accident occurred. The Safety Administration Department confirms that effective measures are being taken for preventing the recurrence of the accident, and then provides information about the measures to Group companies in Japan and other countries, instructing them to refer to the information for preventing similar accidents at each Group company and worksite.
At each domestic worksite, occupational safety and health committees are established in accordance with legal provisions. Under these committees, safety and health activities are carried out through labor-management cooperation by formulating plans to prevent occupational accidents and health impairment, creating a comfortable working environment, formulating a plan for maintaining and promoting good health, and having discussions to confirm and improve initiatives taken under the plan and other relevant issues. We also create opportunities to receive opinions from many employees, including safety and health meetings and gatherings, which are held at each worksite.
At worksites where the establishment of a safety and health committee is not required by law, we also hold a safety and health meeting, a gathering, or a similar event on a monthly basis to receive opinions about safety and health from employees. In addition, because it is essential for all employees to work together with the cooperative associations (onsite contractors) in safety and health activities to create an open workplace environment, Oji Group companies and workplaces in Japan mutually attend and jointly hold safety and health meetings with the cooperative associations, and hold safety and health meetings that include non-regular employees and temporary employees. Online meetings are also being promoted to prevent new coronavirus infection.
At overseas companies and workplaces, we promote the establishment of safety and health committees and safety and health management at each workplace in accordance with the laws and regulations of each country and locality. In addition, we have introduced a safety and health meeting, a gathering for talking about safety and health, or a similar session at each worksite to listen to employees’ opinions about safety and health.
We hold a central labor-management committee meeting, that is, a meeting of the management including the Group CEO and people from Group companies’ labor unions, twice every year. Information concerning safety is shared at these meetings, including the safety and health activities based on the Group’s safety and health promotion plan as well as how occupational injuries have occurred, initiatives for preventing the recurrence or occurrence of accidents, and other information. Oji Group employees discuss the establishment of worksites where they can work safely and with a sense of security and where their families feel secure under the basic philosophy of “safety as our absolute top priority.”
In Japan, large Group companies including Oji Paper, Oji Materia, Oji F-Tex, and Oji Nepia and small- and medium-sized Group companies have established and operate labor safety and health management systems in accordance with the Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health Management System (OSHMS Guidelines) of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
Other domestic Group companies also carry out safety and health activities based on the occupational safety and health management system, including the announcement of the safety and health policy, the reflection of workers’ opinions, setting and implementing the safety and health policy, safety and health targets, and safety and health plan, as well as daily inspections and improvements.
Overseas Group companies have also built and operate occupational safety and health management systems that are recommended by an organization that oversees occupational safety and health in each country, or engage in similar safety and health activities.
Moving forward, we will discuss the activities in compliance with ISO 45001 (Occupational health and safety management systems) and the efforts to obtain the certification.
We have set "promotion of equipment safety" as a priority measure in our group health and safety promotion plan, and have decided to actively conduct risk assessments with the participation of all employees, and to prevent accidents by implementing specific safety measures for which the top management and supervisors of business units and workplaces are responsible.
We have focused our risk assessment efforts on the following (1) safety measures for work near rotating parts, (2) measures to prevent crashes and falls when working at heights and from roofs, (3) measures to prevent contact with transport vehicles, heavy cargo handling equipment, and heavy lifting equipment, and (4) safety measures for conveyors, balers, and pulpers, and measures against exposure to liquid.
In addition, we have taken concrete measures that are effective in preventing recurrence and similar accidents by implementing specific measures that are effective in preventing repetitive accidents, such as intrinsic safety and engineering measures.
| Company segment |
Industrial Materials COMPANY |
Household and Consumer Products COMPANY |
Functional Materials COMPANY |
Forest Resources and Environment Marketing Business COMPANY |
Printing and Communications Media COMPANY |
Corporate Management Group |
Shared Service Companies |
Oji Holdings |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identified methods |
|||||||||
| Based on work procedure manual |
2,064 | 612 | 2,354 | 261 | 3,774 | 63 | 417 | 575 | 10,120 |
| Horizontal deployment of accident cases |
4,698 | 316 | 296 | 459 | 392 | 279 | 353 | 182 | 6,975 |
| Safety patrol rules and audit guidance items |
5,803 | 55 | 615 | 322 | 282 | 151 | 1,241 | 127 | 8,596 |
| Near miss, incident, etc. |
24,180 | 656 | 525 | 648 | 4,087 | 342 | 1,753 | 256 | 32,447 |
| Total | 36,745 | 1,639 | 3,790 | 1,690 | 8,535 | 835 | 3,764 | 1,140 | 58,138 |
In 2023, as in 2022, we have set "promotion of machinery and equipment safety" as a priority measure in the Group's health and safety promotion plan.
We have decided to identify all risks based on past accident factors*, and to ensure that top management and supervisors at each company and workplace take responsibility for planning and managing the progress of specific and prompt safety measures, and that the safety and engineering departments work together to prevent occupational accidents before they occur and to prevent their recurrence.
Furthermore, based on various accident cases, near-misses, safety patrols, and audit findings, we will proactively conduct risk assessments to prevent recurrence and similar accidents.
The Oji Holdings Safety Administration Department and the safety departments of each COMPANY and Lead Company conduct safety audits and safety patrols of the companies and worksites that they oversee including overseas companies and worksites to raise safety and health management levels. As a new initiative, we started fixed-point observation in enhanced safety patrol. In addition, we are actively improving the safety of machines and equipment.
The Oji Holdings Safety Administration Department and the safety departments of each COMPANY and Lead Company established the Designated System for Special Guidance on Enterprise Safety Management. Under this system, companies and worksites at which improvements in safety management are deemed necessary such as those where occupational accidents resulting in a serious injury or death or resulting in a temporary incapacity for work have occurred repeatedly within a short period of time are designated as worksites needing special guidance on enterprise safety management. Inspections are conducted and guidance is provided, not only regarding measures for preventing recurrence but also about safety management systems, improvement plans, the status of activities, and other matters, to improve the safety management level at each designated worksite.
The Oji Holdings Safety Administration Department and the safety departments of each internal division/lead company share information and work together to prevent accidents.
The Oji Holdings Safety Administration Department and the safety departments of each COMPANY and Lead Company immediately visit worksites where accidents occurred to confirm how and why the accident occurred and countermeasures and also conduct thorough confirmation and hold discussions with worksite executives and worksite managers regarding measures for preventing the recurrence of accidents and daily safety management activities, thereby providing guidance aimed at improving the safety management activities of and creating a better work safety climate at the worksite as a whole.
