Message from the President

Each member of top management within JSR Group works personally to ensure that employees throughout the Group understand and share the Group's mindset towards security, accident prevention and occupational health and safety, based on the Group’s Philosophy and Course of Action for Occupational Health and Safety and Policy for Security Management.

As the head of a chemicals manufacturing company, what is undeniably most important is safe and stable operations at our plants. Without this, society would not hold up, and we would not continue to be in existence.
Safety is the basis for business continuity, and is an investment for our company to grow. Safety is adopted as an important topic in management, and providing safety to the local society and developing our company into one where JSR Group employees and everyone working at our affiliate companies are happy to work and maintain the status at are my responsibilities. My aim is to ensure that JSR continues to become a sustainable company trusted by society.
Top management is making approaches toward developing a safety infrastructure, fermenting safety culture, improving security to support organizational safety, and building human resources who are well-versed in safety. This refers to, for example, participating in safety audits at business sites, directly listening to reports on safety approaches and indicators at business sites, thinking collectively about challenges, and resolving such challenges. In one example, after the audit last year, a department dedicated to safety was established at the Tsukuba Research Laboratories. We also believe that it is important to, on occasion, continue communicating messages about safety being the backbone of our business.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the working pattern of employees changed. What remained unchanged, however, is ensuring safety at our plants. While there has been less contact between people, it is necessary to realize efficient and effective safety/security activities, and JSR Group as a whole aims to continuously ensure the necessary resources for strengthening our facilities and to achieve zero accidents and zero disasters.

President and COO
Nobuo Kawahashi

1. Policy, Management System and Advancement Structure

(1) Security and Accident Prevention Measures, Policy

JSR’s security and accident prevention measures treat security and accident prevention as integrally related to health and safety; thus, activities which emphasize the elements of both shared safety culture and safety infrastructure are promoted.

Philosophy and Courses of Action for Occupational Health and Safety

JSR has established a “Course of Action for the Philosophy for Occupational Health and Safety” which presents specific actions demanded of the company and each of its employees. It is based on the “Philosophy for Occupational Health and Safety” that is spelled out in the “Top Commitment” issued by JSR’s top management and which serves as the basis for creating workplaces where everyone can work “healthily,” “safely,” and “with peace of mind.”

Philosophy for Occupational Health and Safety

At JSR Corporation, safety is our highest priority and the foundation of all of our activities.
Accordingly, we will create safe worksites and strive to maintain physical and mental health, with the goal of ensuring workers happily take it for granted that they will return home safely at the end of each workday.

Courses of Action of the Philosophy for Occupational Health and Safety

1. No matter the situation, we will act with safety foremost in mind.
2. We will comply with established rules and never fail to act in accordance with safety basics.
3. We will maintain safety by identifying and eliminating both actual and potential hazards.
4. We will strive to create comfortable work environments and promote physical and mental health.
5. Through communication and ingenuity, we will aim to achieve 100% employee participation in all safety activities.

Policy for Security Management

JSR establishes a “Policy for Security Management” that presents the company’s aim to be an accident-free organization, one in which all employees practice autonomous and proactive safety activities by accepting the “Philosophy for Occupational Health and Safety” and “Course of Action for the Philosophy for Occupational Health and Safety.”

Policy for Security Management

• (1) Extremely Safe Behavior

  The Philosophy for Occupational Health and Safety has penetrated through the organization, the Course of Action are established as applying to everyone, and safety competency is improving through independent safety activities.

• (2) Enhanced Human Resources and Organizational Strength

  High personal skills, organizational ability, and a healthy organizational culture are being maintained with the establishment and execution of the education and training programs needed for organizational management.

• (3) Optimal Risk Management and Security Measures

  Security measures corresponding to risk importance are being efficiently and effectively implemented using new technologies.

(2) Safety Management System

JSR has developed and operates a “Safety Management System” that establishes regulations and procedures concerning security, accident prevention and occupational health and safety, all of which are based upon the “Security Management Manual” and “Occupational Health and Safety Manual / Health and Safety Manual” created in accordance with JSR’s security management regulations.
Internal audits are conducted within JSR’s business establishments to confirm the effectiveness of this management system. Additionally, an auditing team led by the president conducts annual Headquarters Environment and Safety Audits in plants and laboratories, and the heads of these plants and laboratories conduct annual management reviews, to verify the effectiveness of each site’s health-and-safety and security-management activities according to the management system.

(3) Advancement Structure

Activity policies and action plans related to the JSR Group’s occupational health and safety, security and accident prevention, and other matters are deliberated and formulated by the Environmental Safety and Quality Committee, which is chaired by the officer in charge of environmental and safety affairs. The Committee also oversees the results of those activities. Please refer to the following link for more information about the Environmental Safety and Quality Committee.

• Responsible Care “2. RC Advancement Structure”

2. Targets and Planning

(1) Medium-Term Plan for Health & Safety and Security Management

JSR uses a two-sided approach comprised of “safety infrastructure” (equipment, organizations, and mechanisms) and “safety culture” (people and climate) as safety activities at business sites, improving “safety infrastructure” + “safety culture” = “safety competency” to support organizational safety. Towards that end, we have established and put into effect the “JSR Roadmap for Health & Safety and Security Management,” which is a medium-term plan for activities which promote the “re-cultivation of safety culture”, development of human resources possessing strong safety awareness, and development of safe and secure workplaces with no accidents or disasters.
Furthermore, in FY2020, we amended our vision for JSR to include top-to-bottom penetration among all business sites of the “Philosophy for Occupational Health and Safety” and “Policy for Security Management” and implementation of actions and activities based on them; thus, we have updated and are promoting “JSR 2020 Roadmap for Health & Safety and Security Management” containing easier-to-understand activity goals and more concrete activity content. We are conducting activities aimed at becoming a “mutual awareness raising-type organization”.

JSR 2020 Roadmap for Health & Safety and Security Management

(2) Plant Safety Policy

We use the “Philosophy for Occupational Health and Safety”, “Course of Action for the Philosophy for Occupational Health and Safety” and “Policy for Security Management” as the basis for establishing safety policies at each JSR plant that are matched to the individual characteristics of each plant in terms of its organizational makeup, workplace environments, and other traits.

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  Safety Policy for the JSR Yokkaichi Plant

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  Safety Policy for the JSR Chiba Plant

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  Safety Policy for the JSR Kashima Plant

(3) Activity Targets

Based on the “JSR Roadmap for Health & Safety and Security Management,” we conducted safety inspections of our plants using HAZOP and other methods to enhance risk management of process accidents, and we implemented countermeasures to serious/major risks. All of this was carried out with the aim of ensuring “zero facility accidents (i.e., abnormal phenomena stipulated in the Act on the Prevention of Disaster in Petroleum Industrial Complexes and Other Petroleum Facilities)” in FY2020.

(4) Action Plans

We establish and implement annual action plans at each JSR business site, based on their individual policies and targets.

< FY2020/FY2021 Activity Policy >

Implementation of focused and progressively intensifying activities which emphasize prioritization and total employee participation

< FY2020/FY2021 Priorities >

• Promote risk management
• Eliminate unsafe behaviors and conditions
• Cultivate safe human resources

3. Promotion of Risk Assessment (Security and Accident Prevention)

Risk management serves as the foundation for process safety and workplace safety, and an important part of risk management is risk assessment (risk identification and evaluation). At JSR, we incorporate HAZOP^*1 as part of our plant risk assessment protocols, and, when combined with our conventional risk assessment protocols, this ensures the completeness of risk identification in terms of security and accident prevention, as well as workplace safety. While doing so, the identified risks are prioritized according to their potential damage and rate of incidence, and countermeasures for each are developed and introduced into business site planning. Then, while optimizing the judgment criteria and reexamining operational rules, in cases where a new and particularly large risk is identified, countermeasures are introduced on an expedited schedule to quickly mitigate the risk and ensure safety.

*1 HAZOP: An acronym for “Hazard and Operability Study.” It is a method of safety assessment used to identify the sources of hazards in processes and operations

4. Compliance Confirmation and Certification

(1) Compliance Confirmation

At every business site within the JSR Group, a department is assigned to handle legal and regulatory management, and it is the responsibility of these departments to identify applicable security management and occupational health and safety-related laws, regulations and ordinances, as well as standards and guidelines established for plants, and to then develop and implement procedures for raising awareness of these laws, etc., among employees and for ensuring ongoing compliance.
Please refer to the following link for more information about compliance confirmation.

• Responsible Care “4. Disclosure of Legal and Regulatory Violations”

(2) Certification Renewal

The JSR Yokkaichi Plant and Kashima Plant renewed their high-pressure gas certification in FY2020. In FY2021, the Chiba Plant is planning on renewing their certification.

5. Education

(1) Security and Accident Prevention and Health and Safety Education

At JSR, we use hands-on safety and practical-skills courses in technical education, as well as “miniature plant” training, to improve security management-related knowledge, skills and sensitivity. We also work to improve employees’ knowledge, skills and sensitivity by providing education on health and safety as part of new employee training, mid-career employee training, and leadership training, which is in addition to that legally required under the Industrial Safety and Health Act.

1) Implementation of Risk Assessment Training

At JSR, we facilitate the effectiveness of our risk management by conducting risk assessment training at each of our business sites to improve assessment precision, as well as by checking the validity of our safety measures. To do so, we are implementing the HAZOP qualification certification system. For serious risks that are found in this way, we create risk scenarios which we put to use for disaster prevention and damage mitigation.

2) Promotion of Education and Training Tailored to Workplace Accident-prone Job Ranks

At JSR, we implement hazard awareness skills improvement training at each of our business sites; this training is designed for new and inexperienced young workers, as well as for workers who transferred from other workplaces. For veteran workers, we carry out physical limitations checks, as well as provide each workplace with an exercise regimen (a video created with health insurance union editorial supervision) which is used to promote good health and prevent injury.
These education and training activities are also introduced and provided to our Group companies as support for their safety activities.

3) Training Center for Skills and Hands-on Training

During FY2020, the JSR Yokkaichi Training Center ran 18 training sessions over 8,793 hours to provide a total of 577 participants (437 from JSR and 140 from Group companies) with education on manufacturing skills common to all plants. Additionally, 19 “miniature plant” training sessions were held at the same training center over 1,232 hours and were attended by 119 employees (92 from JSR and 27 from Group companies). On top of this, we complement the Yokkaichi Training Center training with hands-on training conducted at training centers outside of the JSR Group as well.
As for the training contents, risk scenario education and risk cognition education for young people were offered as the curriculum.
At JSR, we are incorporating training on operational procedures using an environment simulated with virtual reality (VR). This allows us to simulate “frightening” situations that cannot be experienced in the real world, thereby contributing to greater safety awareness and elimination of unsafe behaviors.

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  VR simulation training in action

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  Example of VR screen image

4) Safety Education via e-learning

In order to facilitate greater safety awareness and penetration of the Philosophy for Occupational Health and Safety and Policy for Security Management company-wide, all JSR employees participate in e-learning. In FY2020, the textbook contents were divided into “security and accident prevention” and “occupational health and safety”. To aim for increased understanding, e-learning was held in a creative manner, and 97.6% of JSR employees completed the program. To achieve even greater penetration in the future, we are developing promotion plans based on the results of e-learning, and will implement these on an ongoing basis.

(2) Organization and Education for Stable Plant Operation

1) Assessment of individual and organizational abilities

We have set desired levels for each rank of the job hierarchy and are striving to provide HR education that allows employees to reliably achieve those levels. We are also conducting assessments of individual employees' ability to operate specific equipment items and processes as well as their comprehensive abilities, and using them to maintain and improve organizational strength.

The Educational System (Conceptual Image)

2) Review of Plant Staff Evaluation Methods

We undertake reviews of our education and training systems and skills evaluation methods in order to ensure ongoing skills improvement of human resources engaged in manufacturing. As part of this, in FY2019, we prepared and began utilizing a common human resources development system comprised of an educational curriculum, qualification certification system and skills evaluation methodology that can be used to train staff in how to carry out tasks at business sites.

6. Communication with Local Communities and Society

JSR is a member of the Japan Chemical Industry Association, Japan Petrochemical Industry Association, Japan Society for Safety Engineering and Japan Safety Competency Center, and we engage in information exchange and information sharing, both in Japan and overseas, via the following responsible care and safety activities.

• Hold information exchange meetings with administrative bodies
• Hold/participate in disaster drills involving the fire department and nearby companies
• Participate alongside nearby companies in cooperative disaster prevention organizations
• Participate in local Disaster Prevention Councils
• Participate in responsible care community dialogs

In addition, our business sites both in Japan and overseas pursue communication with their local communities in order to facilitate mutual improvement in disaster prevention and safety-related awareness and technology.

7. Activity Record

(1) Preparations for Severe Natural Disasters

Since FY1995, JSR has systemically implemented preparations for large earthquakes. And since FY2006, we have carried out seismic construction focused on high-pressure gas facilities in our plants, based on the results of seismic performance assessments. Also, as part of our commitment to putting “human lives first,” we have installed earthquake early-warning systems at all JSR business sites.
Moreover, after the Great East Japan Earthquake prompted us to review the size of assumed earthquakes, we formulated safety measures that included enhancement of seismic resistance and tsunami countermeasures. We are currently implementing those measures systematically. Our work on seismic reinforcement of spherical tank braces was completed in FY2020.
We also re-verified our approaches to severe natural disasters in the Risk Management Manual, and confirmed that there were no human injuries or damage to facilities at business sites located near the seismic centers during enormous natural disasters (i.e., the earthquake off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture that occurred on February 13, 2021 (maximum seismic intensity of 6 upper) as well as the one off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture that occurred on March 20, 2021 (maximum seismic intensity of 5 upper)).

(2) Preparation of a Security Management Manual

Previously, at JSR, the “Security Management Manual” was contained within the “Health and Safety Manual”; however, following a review carried out to make the systems and structures easier to understand, the content was separated into “Security Management Manual” and “Occupational Health and Safety Manual / Health and Safety Manual”, and they have been in effect since FY2020.
The information which is common to both security management and occupational health and safety is contained in both manuals to ensure it is not overlooked.

On May 14, 2020, a death occurred at the Yokkaichi Plant when an employee from an affiliate company was performing work opening a manhole, fell in, and died from lack of oxygen. We are taking this accident very seriously, and as horizontal expansion regarding similar types of accidents, we conducted a comprehensive inspection of the construction safety management system of JSR and JSR Group companies. We are verifying the current state, and will ensure that the system functions more effectively.

(3) Accident Prevention (Introduction of New Technology Towards Security and Accident Prevention Activities)

To encourage safe use of drones in the plant security sector, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry coordinated with the Fire and Disaster Management Agency and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to compile “Guidelines for Approaches to Safe Operation of Drones in Plants” in March 2019 and “Guidelines for Detailed Setting Methods in Hazardous Areas in Plants (hereinafter “Explosion-proof Guidelines)” as a method for setting hazardous areas in detail in April 2019. These guidelines have made it possible to expand the scope of use of electronic equipment, etc. in plants without lowering the security level specified by law.
Using these guidelines, JSR is verifying the possibility of photography and inspection from the sky of manufacturing facilities and tanks by drones, and these verifications are being conducted at the Yokkaichi, Chiba and Kashima plants. In the future, drones will also be used in security and accident prevention activities. This is also listed in METI’s “Collection of Use Case Examples of Drones at Plants”.

Test flight of a drone

With leakage accidents on the rise throughout JSR Group, measures against facility corrosion and deterioration are of the utmost priority for each business site. We are therefore checking the soundness of relevant facilities and carrying out repairs in order of priority according to the level of leakage risk. In addition, we aimed at eliminating leaks by reviewing our inspection and construction methods, putting priority on pipe frame contact points in particular, and we investigated the introduction of new technology to strengthen countermeasures against, and prevention of, corrosion due to age-related degradation of facilities and other causes. The results and information obtained have not only been shared with other business sites but have also been externally disclosed as part of our responsible care activities.

(4) Safety Culture Self-assessment

Based on the belief that effective safety relies upon having an effective safety culture and safety infrastructure, JSR is pursuing safety culture innovation with the goal of realizing the vision of the JSR Roadmap for Health & Safety and Security Management (medium-term plan) described above. And as a metric for regular monitoring of the maturation of safety culture, we create and use self-assessment questionnaires. These questionnaires are distributed once every four years, and the results are analyzed to identify potential weaknesses, as well as to facilitate self-review of safety culture maturation and measurement of safety activity results. As part of support for domestic JSR Group companies, we conducted safety culture questionnaire at each Group Company, and have encouraged each to use the questionnaire results in safety activities.

• 4. Targets and Planning (1) Medium-Term Plan for Health & Safety and Security Management

(5) Investment in Safety

JSR undertakes ongoing investment in safety. Please refer to the following link for more information about Workplace Accident Prevention, Age-related Equipment and Facilities Degradation and other Equipment and Facility Safety Investment.

• Environmental Conservation “4. Local Environmental Improvement Initiatives”

8. Handling of Emergency Situations (Facility Accident Incidence and Analysis)

The graph below shows the change over time in facility accident numbers, as reported to the government in compliance with the Act on the Prevention of Disaster in Petroleum Industrial Complexes and Other Petroleum Facilities.

In FY2020, there were 5 accidents (1 fire, 4 leaks) at JSR, and 1 accident (leak) at a Group company; although this is the same level as the previous year as a whole, it represents an increased number of accidents at JSR despite a decrease at Group companies. The main causes of the accidents were poor equipment management and poor work management; there has been an increasing trend in recent years of disasters caused by construction management. The fire was caused by a rechargeable battery and did not occur in a manufacturing facility. In addition to ongoing implementation of measures to counter age-related facility corrosion as a measure against leakages, we are implementing thorough safety management in construction.

As with information on workplace accidents, information on facility accidents that occurred at JSR is quickly and effectively communicated to all employees via the company intranet. The information is also used in cause analyses, with the results being incorporated into education and training so as to prevent occurrence of similar accidents in the future.

• Number of Facility Accidents
  (JSR)

  

• Number of Facility Accidents
  (Group Companies)

  

9. Inspection and Monitoring

(1) Auditing of Certified High Pressure Gas Business Sites

As part of FY2020 auditing, all of JSR’s certified business sites were checked to ensure that their security management systems were still in conformance.
Additionally, auditing of the certified high-pressure gas business sites of Group companies was also carried out as a cooperative effort to ensure proper operation of these sites’ security management systems.
In FY200, auditing was implemented online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

(2) Safety Auditing

An auditing team led by the President conducts annual Headquarters Environment and Safety Audits in plants and laboratories. From FY2015 onward, stimulation of environmental and safety activities has been promoted by changing to an auditing style which incorporates sharing and discussion of the audited departments’ issues and, on top of this, by establishing opportunities for dialog between top management and employees where both sides can share their thoughts with one another. In FY2020, auditing was implemented online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FY2020 Headquarters Safety Audit confirmed the conditions at each business site based on RBPS (risk-based process safety^*), by setting the five KPIs of (1) risk recognition, (2) mutual understanding, (3) risk assessment, (4) human resources development and (5) safety as priority items. As a result, we found an improvement over the previous year in the penetration of the “safety-first” mindset and in the level of business site safety activities practiced. There were many favorable examples related to improved risk recognition levels and approaches towards human resources development, and we also confirmed that activities are being expanded with a focus on the priority areas of safety activities and communication activities (between and within departments). In addition, risk assessment activities are becoming more entrenched, and application of their results to prevention training and to the handling of severe natural disasters is starting to be investigated. However, because variations are still observed between JSR business sites and departments regarding information sharing and matching of assessment levels, improvement efforts are still ongoing. The use of safety KPIs was of a state where mainly lagging indicators were introduced, but we were able to promote understanding and penetration of KPIs towards activities using leading indicators.

* RBPS: System of practical safety management at chemical plants issued by the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) in the U.S. in 2007.

Cultivating Auditing Personnel

At JSR, we are improving auditing skills through reexamining and evaluating requirements for auditing personnel, such as competence evaluations, and are ensuring that the results they obtain from dialog-based audits can still be effectively used to improve the audited departments. We are also inviting auditing personnel candidates from various business sites, and are cultivating future auditors while having them participate in audits together with the auditing team.

A dialog session with President Kawahashi (Headquarters/Kashima Plant  Web discussion)

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  On-site inspection (Chiba Plant)

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  Site inspection (Yokkaichi Plant)

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  Top management (Yokkaichi Plant, Web audit)

(3) Group Company Safety Auditing

During the safety auditing of Group companies conducted in FY2020, we were able to both confirm the status of activity at each Group company, as well as facilitate the sharing of information. We also introduced productive activities undertaken by JSR. Moving forward, we will continue to provide support for initiatives tailored to the conditions at each Group company.
In addition, for our overseas Group companies, we judged that it is difficult to implement audits locally during the COVID-19 pandemic, and so audits were postponed in FY2020.

(4) Internal Auditing and Management Review by Plant and Business Site Heads

At least once a year, the head of each plant and business site conducts an internal audit and management review at his or her respective site. The plant or business site head promotes effective safety activities, by performing a meticulous review of how well the plant or business site is acting on the findings and recommendations of the JSR Headquarters Safety Audit, described above, and how well it is acting on the site or department-specific challenges and action plans, and then by providing concrete guidance.