Safety Initiatives
Measures for the Safety of Employees and Local Communities
Eliminating Accidents and Disasters
Since its foundation, JSR has conducted safety activities based on the principle that safety takes priority over production. In our annual safety audits, the president and safety officer visit each business site to engage in discussions on safety with employees. In FY1997 (April 1, 1996 to March 31, 1997), business sites finished developing their safety management systems based on the principles outlined in the ISO standard. Since then, health-related issues have been added, and the systems are operated as combined health and safety management systems, through which various activities are being implemented.
We conduct preliminary safety assessment activities and hazard prediction activities with respect to facilities and regular and non-regular work to identify hazards and implement tangible (facility) and intangible (standards and education) countermeasures. We also strive to implement innovative training and education programs that increase employees' awareness of issues and pass on technological expertise to younger generations. As a result of these efforts, no work accidents resulting in the absence of any JSR employee occurred in FY2013.
Employees from various manufacturing partners work at our plants. Each plant has a Comprehensive Disaster Prevention Council (Disaster Prevention Council) to jointly promote occupational safety and health activities with our manufacturing partners. These organizations conduct various activities to increase safety and health levels, including investigating the causes of accidents that occur at manufacturing partners and devising preventive measures, providing instruction and education on day-to-day safety and health, and implementing joint inspections of workplaces when construction is underway.
We also have established a safety award system (the Kawasaki Commemorative Safety Award) that includes group companies to raise workers' awareness of safety.
An award ceremony for the KawasakiCommemorative Safety Award
Data on Disasters at Facilities
The table below shows the number of facility accidents that took place in the last five years. There were two accidents in FY2013.
Number of Incidents(Number of accidents reported to authorities in accordance with the Act on the Prevention of Disasters in Petroleum Industrial Complexes and Other Petroleum Facilities)
| FY | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cases | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Accident Summary
■ FY2010(1) A minor fire caused by electrostatic discharge during solvent sampling at the Yokkaichi Plant’s solution polymerization synthetic rubber facility
The cause of the fire was electrostatic discharge on spouting liquid. The fire was extinguished immediately with fire extinguishers and there were neither injuries nor any impact on production.
(1) A minor fire caused by electrostatic discharge, which broke out from the drain valve of an isoprene transfer pump at the Kashima Plant
The cause of the fire was electrostatic discharge on spouting liquid. The fire was extinguished immediately with fire extinguishers, but one worker sustained minor burns to the face.
(2) A fire at the Yokkaichi Plant’s emulsion polymerization synthetic rubber facility’s drying site
The fire presumably broke out from polycarbonate fences that degraded over time that had been installed as a countermeasure for odors. The fire was extinguished by our own fire brigade as well as public fire-fighters, and fortunately there were no injuries.
In order to prevent a recurrence of accidents similar to the above two, we took necessary measures such as improving relevant facilities, re-education on the causes of the accidents (e.g., electrostatic discharge), and sharing information pertaining to the accidents throughout JSR and its Group companies.
Acquisition of Certification by Plants and Operators
In the spirit of our Responsible Care philosophy, we strive to help our plants and operators acquire certification under various security and safety laws. This enables plants and operators to create higher quality health and safety management systems in addition to clarifying their responsibilities and rights. As a result, certification plays an important role in improving safety technologies. At JSR, all plants have acquired plant and operator certification under the High-Pressure Gas Safety Act, Fire and Disaster Management Act, and Industrial Safety and Health Act. We will continue to acquire certifications with the aim of improving our environmental and safety standards.
Risk Communication*1 Initiatives
As part of our Responsible Care activities, we have issued a Responsible Care Report every year since 1998, showing leadership on the disclosure of information related to environmental impact, environmental complaints, number of facility accidents, discharge and transfer volumes of harmful chemical substances, and other data. For the 2006 edition, the name of this report was changed to "CSR Report" to reflect increasing activity in the JSR Group to fulfill our corporate social responsibility. Since 2000, all three of our plants have been issuing their own Responsible Care reports. The report from our head office and all business site reports can be viewed on our website.
JSR strives to improve communication with local communities by conducting a variety of initiatives, including tours of factory facilities for local government representatives and participation in government-hosted town meetings on the environment.
*1 Here, risk communication refers to achieving a mutual understanding of the risks associated with certain chemical substances by sharing information with stakeholders and discussing measures to properly manage such substances
Participation in the Safety Competency Evaluation Promotion Committee
In order to maintain and enhance their safety competency, 17 petrochemical companies, including JSR, established the Safety Competency Evaluation Promotion Committee in November 2012 in response to a proposal from the Japan Society for Safety Engineering (JSSE).
The members of the committee, who are active engineers sent from each company, developed a Safety Competency Evaluation System that visualizes the level of safety measures taken.
The system can be used to evaluate the safety level of each business site on five scales from the viewpoint of “safety infrastructure” and “safety culture,” allowing each site to clarify their strengths and weaknesses, plan measures for improvement, and quantify the level of improvement achieved so as to continuously enhance safety competency. In FY2014, it is planned that each site will begin their self-evaluation based on the system, and then will continue to further elaborate the system by identifying and solving any problems that arise.