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Third-party Evaluation and Independent Reviews

Basic Issues in JSR Group's Corporate Activity / Responsible Care (RC) Management

1. Basic Philosophy

JSR Group developed its Environment Safety Management Policy promotion items with reference to management policies based on our responsibility to stakeholders and the Japan Chemical Industry Association's basic policies on the environment and safety. We are formulating specific activity plans for these action items and engaging in the implementation of RC activities.
Management Policies - Responsibility to Our Stakeholders

What is RC?

RC logoRC is an acronym for Responsible Care®. In the chemical industry, each company handling chemical substances is responsible for ensuring that safety, health, and environmental issues are addressed throughout the chemical lifecycle, from development and production to distribution, use and disposal, publishing the results of their activities and maintaining dialogue and communication with society - all voluntarily. This initiative is called "Responsible Care."

Source: Japan Chemical Industry Association pamphlet "Do You Know about Responsible Care?"

2. Environment and Safety Management Policy

(1) Promotion Items and Policy

1. Development of safety-focused and environmentally friendly products

When developing new products, JSR Group evaluates the environmental, safety and health impact at every stage from research and development to production, transport, use and disposal, and makes the utmost effort to provide products that take such evaluations into consideration.

2. Provide safety and environmental information related to products

JSR Group sets in place a system for the management of product-related safety and environmental information, and provides Safety Data Sheets (SDS) to customers and yellow cards to transporters as necessary.

3. Preserve the environment and assure safety for local residents

JSR Group takes a positive approach in its measures for preserving the global environment, facility safety, and protection against major earthquakes, taking into consideration the impact its business activities have on the environment. JSR Group's objective is to earn even greater trust at its business locations.

4. Reduce environmental impact

JSR Group conducts studies on the environmental impact of chemical substances and works toward the systematic reduction of emissions. JSR Group engages in thorough efforts to reduce sources of emissions, reuse materials, and recycle resources in order to reduce environmental impact.

5. Assure safety and environmental preservation in international operations

JSR Group cooperates with cross-border transfers of environmental and safety technologies. Regarding corporate activities overseas, JSR Group strictly complies with the regulations of Japan and other nations, and makes every effort to assure safety and environmental compliance at each operating site outside Japan.

6. Ensure employee health and safety

Constantly at work on the pre-assessment of safety matters related to chemical substances and their handling, JSR Group is dedicated to improving operations and facilities, and to creating a healthy and safe workplace environment.

(2) International Initiatives

JSR Signs Declaration Supporting RC Global Charter

Declaration of support for RC Global Charter

Declaration of support for RC Global Charter

The Responsible Care (RC) Global Charter is a voluntary activity policy adopted by the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) and shared by the chemical industry to enhance and reinforce RC activities around the world. JSR subscribes to this activity policy, and signed a declaration supporting the RC Global Charter in October, 2008. JSR has also signed the revised RC Global Charter in March, 2015. By signing the declaration, JSR has committed itself to making even greater contributions to health, safety, and environmental preservation not just in Japan, but around the world.

3. Environment and Safety Advancement Structure

(1) Organization

The Responsible Care Committee is responsible for establishing project plans as well as project implementation and verification.

OrganizationOrganization

(2) System

1. Legal Compliance

When environmental and safety laws are adopted, enacted, or amended, the Head Office distributes information to each business site to keep them fully informed. JSR Group identifies laws and regulations requiring compliance in each country based on compliance regulations and conducts annual self-checks to ensure that business practices conform with laws and regulations through the entire Group.

2. ISO Certificate Acquisition

In 1999, all JSR plants acquired ISO14001 certification as an Environment Management System to support environmental management with recertification performed every year. In FY2016, all plants qualified for their continuing inspections. Currently, we are preparing to bring ourselves in line with ISO14001 revisions released in September, 2015. We are scheduled to complete this transition by September, 2018.
Tsukuba Research Laboratory is restructuring its environmental safety promotion system in accordance with ISO 14001 standards due to the launch of JSR Life Sciences Corporation and the reorganization of the research laboratory.

3. Headquarters Environment and Safety Audit

The JSR Headquarter conducts annual audits of its plants and research laboratories with the president acting as head of the auditing team. Beginning in FY2015, we switched to an audit system that pays more attention to the roles of the supervising departments of each business site (environmental safety and equipment management) and departments having worksites (production, research, etc.).
We fully discuss and share the challenges faced by audited departments and tie them to improvements. Additionally, we set up dialogues between top management and employees (nine people per group). The dialogues serve as opportunities for sharing the thoughts of the two sides and activating environmental and safety activities. In FY2016, we expanded the number of audited departments (having worksites) with the same method. We ascertained the challenges faced by each business site and reflected them on activity plans for the following fiscal year. In addition to these headquarters audits, we also annually audit our business sites that have been approved by the government for high-pressure gas operations as well as our approval inspection management department to ensure that both the department and the sites compliant government approval requirements.

  • President Koshiba visiting a plant

    President Koshiba visiting a plant

  • A dialogue with President Koshiba

    A dialogue with President Koshiba

  • A business site activities report

    A business site activities report

4. Environmental/Safety Audits in all Group Companies

At JSR, we implement environmental and safety audits at our Group companies in Japan that are involved in production, transportation, and engineering processes in order to achieve integrated Responsible Care activities. In FY2016, we also applied JSR auditing method to domestic Group companies that are outside of JSR plant zones. We will expand application even further to overseas Group companies in FY2017.

5. RC & CSR Explanatory Briefings

Explanatory briefing (Chiba Plant, JSR Corporation)

Explanatory briefing (Chiba Plant, JSR Corporation)

To promote the company's CSR, environmental, and safety activities to all employees, JSR organizes RC & CSR explanatory briefings. Every year, the officers in charge and other managers visit each business site to report the results of RC activities and share upcoming issues.
In FY2016, we reported on the results of our RC- and CSR-related activities over the past year as well as future tasks in these areas. We also reported on our efforts to promote commercialization review.

Conducted RC & CSR Explanatory Briefings
JSR Office Event date
Headquarters November 25 and December 6, 2016
Yokkaichi Plant November 4, 2016
Chiba Plant October 6, 2016
Kashima Plant October 28, 2016
Tsukuba Research Laboratories November 15, 2016

These CSR explanatory briefings were also conducted at a few other domestic and overseas group companies. We plan to continue conducting these briefings at other locations.

Conducted CSR Explanatory Briefings
Group company Event date
Taiwan Branch, JSR Corporation (Taiwan) March 20, 2017
JSR Micro Taiwan Co., Ltd. (Taiwan) March 21, 2017
JSR (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (China) March 21, 2017
JSR Micro Korea Co., Ltd. (South Korea) March 22, 2017
JSR BST Elastomer Co., Ltd. (Thailand) April 20 and 21, 2017

4. Disclosure of Legal and Regulatory Violations

There were no legal or regulatory violations of laws pertaining to the environment and safety in FY2016.
We are working to prevent recurrence of the types of cases that occurred in the past by continuing preventative measures and providing periodic education on those cases.

5. External Initiatives

Cooperation in a Program inviting Staff of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection based on the Japan-China International Afforestation Project

A tour of the Yokkaichi Plants Tsukiyama green space

A tour of the Yokkaichi Plant's Tsukiyama green space

JSR provides cooperation to a "Japan-China Youth Exchange Program" that is conducted under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' "Japan-China International Afforestation Project." In November 2016, we conducted a plant tour (Tsukiyama, etc.) by 30 young managerial candidates from the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China.

"Japan-China Youth Exchange Program": A initiative that invites Chinese young people to Japan for roughly one-week periods. During their stay, they visit people concerned with environmental protection policy, participate in dialogues, tour companies, and engage in afforestation work among other activities. The program's purpose is to educate Chinese young people on environmental problems and promote their better understanding of Japan.

Cooperation with the International Center for Environmental Technology Transfer

FY No. of trainings
(times)
No. of participants
(persons)
Content of training
1991 - 2016 67 586 Water quality management technology, industrial waste disposal/management technology, odor control technology, environmental management systems,
No training was conducted in FY2016, as no requests for training were received from ICETT.
Training conducted as the Yokkaichi Plant

Training conducted as the Yokkaichi Plant

As part of our international RC efforts, we have provided cooperation and support to the International Center for Environmental Technology Transfer (ICETT), a Public Interest Incorporated Foundation established to assist in the development of environmental and safety engineers from around the world.

6. External Environmental and Safety Evaluations
   (Major Awards: Past 10 Years)

2015JSR Optic Tsukuba Co., Ltd.Japan Chemical Industry Association (JCIA)Responsible Care Award for Effort
2015JSR Micro Kyushu Co., Ltd.Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade, and Industry Award from the Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade, and Industry
Award for Excellent Energy Management Plant
2013JAPAN COLORING CO., LTD.Chubu Bureau of Economy, Trade, and IndustryAward from the Chubu Bureau of Economy, Trade, and Industry
Award for Excellent Energy Management Plant
2013JSR Micro Kyushu Co., Ltd.Commissioner of the Fire and Disaster Management AgencyFire Defense Award
2013JSR Optic Tsukuba Co., Ltd.Commissioner of the Fire and Disaster Management AgencyFire Defense Award
2013Chiba PlantJapan Chemical Industry Association (JCIA)Responsible Care Award
2012Yokkaichi PlantJapan Chemical Industry Association (JCIA)Safety Award Grand Prize
2010Chiba PlantJapan Chemical Industry Association (JCIA)Safety Award First Prize
2007Yokkaichi PlantJapan Responsible Care Council (JRCC)Responsible Care Award
2006Tsukuba Research LaboratoriesCommissioner of the Fire and Disaster Management AgencyFire Defense Award

7. Environment Distinguished Service Award

To further encourage environmental protection activities, we created the Environment Merit Award for employees who have made important contributions to environmental protection through a range of activities that include environmental product and technology development, environmental impact reduction, and assisting local communities with environment-related issues. Seventeen employees received this award for five areas of excellence in FY2016.

Subject Description
Chiba PlantEstablishment of flare stack combustion fluctuation control technologyWe investigated the link between exhaust emissions from flare stacks at each of our plants and the generation of black smoke. We then established flare stack combustion fluctuation control technology by reviewing the circumstances of exhaust emissions and our smoke elimination and control sequence and tied it to safe operation.
Kashima PlantStabilization of sludge treatment process for plant secondary wastewaterTo rectify significant degradation of treatment capability that was attributable to poor flocculation in our plant secondary wastewater and sludge treatment processes, we set optimum operational conditions for the appropriate adjustment of the type, volume, and ratio of added flocculation agent and used them to achieve better process stability.
Yokkaichi PlantReduction of environmental impact by recycling waste solventsIn the past, we were unable to incinerate some of the solvents that we use in our Fine Chemicals Business plants in-house, and therefore we disposed of them externally as waste (valueless product). To address this, we made improvements to our existing facilities to turn those solvents into a valuable fuel resource (i.e., a product with value). We have thus reduced the amount of waste solvent that we send out as waste and consequently reduced our environmental impact.
Yokkaichi PlantEstablishment of an alternative wastewater analysis method for plant wastewater in an emergencyConventional wastewater analysis requires five days for BOD measurement. Given this, we established a new method using a quick BOD meter that dramatically shortens analysis time to approximately two hours. We tied the new method to quicker handling of wastewater in times of emergency and stronger wastewater management.
Kashima PlantReduction of VOC emissions at EP plantsTo reduce VOC emissions at our EP plants, we switched from treating waste gas that cannot be collected by recovery equipment to a method that uses RTO. As a result, we have succeeded in greatly reducing the amount of VOC we generate.
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