1. Responsible Care Policy

(1) Policy

Seeing occupational safety, security and accident prevention, environmental conservation, and product safety as key foundations for its business activities, JSR Group conducts all business undertakings under the following Responsible Care^® (RC) policy.

• 1) We will strive to ensure the safety of employees and local communities and to contribute to environmental conservation and a sustainable global environment by ascertaining risks associated with our business activities and executing countermeasures.
• 2) We will strive to comply with laws, ordinances, and voluntary regulations by gathering information on and ensuring the full development of laws and regulations required for business activity.
• 3) We will strive to ensure the safety of our products by developing products with consideration for safety, health, and the environment and providing information about them.

• Responsible Care^® (RC)

(2) International Initiatives

JSR Signs Declaration Supporting 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.

Declaration of support for RC Global Charter

2. RC Advancement Structure

Led by the officer in charge of safety and environmental affairs, the Responsible Care Promotion Committee formulates activity policies and action plans concerning JSR Group’s environmental safety, product safety, chemical management, and other matters and manages the results of those activities.
For the execution of concrete operations, the Responsible Care Promotion Committee sets up various meetings and committees and then proceeds according to plans.
Additionally, decisions made by the Responsible Care Promotion Committee are periodically presented to the CSR Committee and are also reported to senior management.

• Details of the CSR Committee and Four Conferences/Committees (Sustainability Management and Advancement Structure)

3. Environment and Safety Management

(1) 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.

Additionally, we actively advance efforts to have all plants acquire plant and operator certification under the High-Pressure Gas Safety Act, the Fire Service Act, and Industrial Safety and Health Act in order to strengthen our safety management systems, prevent accidents, and improve our responses to emergencies. We will continue to maintain and upgrade certifications with the aim of improving safety and preventing accidents.

• Security and Accident Prevention “3. Compliance Confirmation and Certification”

(2) Environmental Management System

By 1999, all three main domestic JSR plants had acquired ISO 14001 certification, an Environment Management System that supports environmental management. We have kept our certifications up to date each year since. We proceeded with preparations in response to ISO 14001 revisions that were released in September 2015 and brought all three of our plants in line with them by January 2018.

JSR Group companies, mainly manufacturing companies, have also obtained ISO certification, and are promoting environmental conservation activities using a management system that complies with the ISO14001 standard.

ISO 14001 Certification (Manufacturing Bases)

(3) Safety Management System

We develop and operate a safety management system that takes into account notices issued by the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry. This is part of our process safety management for maintaining the functions and safety of our chemical plants. We also build and manage a health and safety system that is based on the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS). The system is designed to manage the industrial health and safety risks to employees and others concerned, continuously improve our industrial health and safety systems, and reduce workplace accidents and health disorders.

• Security and Accident Prevention “1. Management System, Advancement Structure and Policy”

(4) Audits

1) Headquarters Environment and Safety Audits and Certified High-Pressure Gas Establishment Audits

To verify system soundness, JSR Headquarters conducts annual audits of the company’s plants and research laboratories, with the President acting as head of the auditing team. When conducting these audits, Headquarters employs a style whereby it shares and discusses issues challenges faced by audited departments. It also sets up dialogues between top management and employees that serve as opportunities for sharing the two sides’ thoughts and stimulating environmental and safety activities. Headquarters also conducts audits of certified high-pressure gas establishments.
Looking at FY2019 audits, we verified through our Environment Audits that the applicable laws and regulations of each department are clearly understood and managed appropriately. In our Safety Audits, we verified that awareness of “safety first” has penetrated throughout the organization and that improvements in safety activities have been made. And in our Certified High-Pressure Gas Establishment Audits, we found no cases of non-compliance at any of the targeted business establishments.

Details on the Safety Audits and Certified High-Pressure Gas Establishment Audits are available at the following link.

• Security and Accident Prevention “9. Inspections and Monitoring”

2) Environment and Safety Audits in JSR Group Companies

At JSR, we implement environmental and safety audits using the JSR audit system at our Group companies in Japan that are involved in production, transportation, and engineering processes in order to achieve integrated Responsible Care activities. The audits have allowed us to verify activities in each company and share information on them.
As in past years, the audits conducted in FY2019 allowed us to verify activities in each company and share information on them. And in the case of JSR BST Elastomer (Thailand), an overseas Group company, we conducted an audit that took the form of visiting the company and holding a “safety information exchange” meeting.
Details on these activities are available at the following link.

• Security and Accident Prevention “9. Inspections and Monitoring”

(5) 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. Eighteen employees received this award for seven areas of excellence in FY2019.

4. Stakeholder Engagement

By applying the PDCA cycle based on dialogue with our various stakeholders, we identify new issues, make frequent improvements and responses, and contribute to the building of a better society. Please access the links for more details.

Employees: Corporate culture improvement, employee awareness surveys, activities to ensure penetration of CSR and Responsible Care, etc.

Local / Society: Dialogue with local communities, social contribution, regional contribution activities, etc.

Customers / Business Partners: Customer satisfaction surveys, responses to CSR questionnaires, communication with business partners, winning of awards, etc.

Shareholders and Investors: Shareholders' meetings, communication with shareholders and investors, information disclosure, etc.

5. Disclosure of Legal and Regulatory Violations

There were no legal or regulatory violations of laws pertaining to the environment, safety, quality, product safety, or chemicals in FY2019.
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.