Health and Safety System

In its initiatives for occupational health and safety, TOK works to prevent accidents based on the annual action plan of the Safety and Health Committee. Company-wide issues that a single site cannot address on its own are examined by the Safety and Health Liaison Unit, which is headed by the department manager of the General Affairs Department. The Safety and Health Liaison Unit shares information about the measures that must be horizontally developed across all sites. Based on this organizational structure, the Company promotes the prevention of injuries and fire accidents caused by chemical substances, as well as severe injuries caused by machinery or heavy objects. In the event of a workplace accident, TOK implements thorough safety measures and occupational health measures to improve safety and rolls them out horizontally across the organization.

Occupational Health and Safety Policy

TOK Group, as prioritizing workers’* health and safety, fosters safety cultures by preventing accidents, disasters, and illnesses in the workplace.

* workers: any and all labor providers to TOK.

• Complies with all laws related to occupational health and safety in each country and region.
• Reduces risks by completing job hazards analysis.
• Provides comprehensive education and training for employees.
• Strives to strengthen our safety and disaster prevention systems for the purpose of minimizing and mitigating damage for accidents, disasters, or any other unforeseen event.
• Makes effective and continuous improvements by investing appropriate resources.

Acquiring ISO 45001 Certification

Currently, TOK receives an increasing number of questions and requests on CSR from stakeholders. The company formulated the TOK CSR Policy and strengthened the management system for occupational health and safety as a component of the CSR Policy. Under these circumstances, the company is promoting the acquisition and expansion of ISO 45001 certification of the occupational health and safety management system. Through this activity, the Group also promotes measures to counter the aging of employees, measures for labor saving, and measures for mental health care. The ISO 45001 certification　 was acquired by the Gotemba plant in 2020; by the Koriyama plant, Utsunomiya plant, and Aso plant in 2021; and by the Headquarters,Sagami Operation Center（present TOK Technology and Innovation Center（TTIC）） , and Kumagaya plant in 2022. With the acquisition at the Logistics Center in 2023, the company completed the acquisition of ISO 45001 certification at all domestic sites.

The company has also implemented measures in accordance with the RBA Code of Conduct. The Koriyama plant was rated in the highest class (Platinum Recognition) in RBA audit in 2021, and the Logistics Center was also rated in the highest class (Platinum Recognition) in RBA audit in 2022. The TOK Group will continue to establish the necessary systems at domestic sites and will provide a safe and comfortable workplace for TOK employees at each site and to employees of affiliated companies, thereby achieving supply chain sustainabil­ity as a material issue and enhancing happiness of workers.

Initiatives for Workplace Accident Risk Reduction

Foster safety culture by reestablishing the 5S

The review of the practice of the 5S activities confirmed that it would be necessary to reestablish the 5S activities in order to foster safety culture. In 2022, TOK identified issues in the activities, determined the activity policy for coming years, and started the reestablishment.

Promoted reduction activities for risks with high severity (unacceptable high risks)

In 2022, TOK promoted reduction activities on risks with high severity (unacceptable high risks) at each site by learning lessons from past accidents of being caught, chemical injuries, and the turnover of heavy objects. The Group also strengthened risk assessment and hazard prediction activities for infrequent operations, in addition to the risk assessment of frequent operations.

For equipment and operations with the risk of static electricity, TOK implements the periodic inspection of antistatic equipment to reduce static electricity risks in accordance with the Procedure for Antistatic Measures.

For highly corrosive substances and poisonous/deleterious substances, TOK further strengthens management through the proper operation of the Internal Guidelines for the Handling of Highly Corrosive Chemical Substances.

Established and started operation of internal standards for highly corrosive substances and poisonous/ deleterious substances

In 2021, the company further strengthened management through the proper operation of the Internal Guidelines for the Handling of Highly Corrosive Chemical Substances, which were formulated in the previous year.

Promoted improvement activities incorporating inputs from internal audit and third-party review

TOK conducts integrated internal audit concerning occupational safety, quality, and the environment. By proactively appointing internal auditors from other sites and new internal auditors, the company promotes skill upgrading of internal auditors, as well as information sharing concerning workplace accident control and environmental pollution control. The company also considers reviews by external institutions to be valuable oppor­tunities to obtain third-party evaluations and inputs concerning the handling of chemical substances, antistatic measures, and workplace accident control, and leads them to improvement activities.

Prevention of Workplace Accidents

TOK established the Occupational Health and Safety Policy linked to the CSR Policy. In its production activities, the company places the utmost priority on the maintenance of the health and safety of workers and implements measures to prevent accidents, natural disasters, and diseases in the workplace, thereby fostering group safety. In particular, the Safety and Health Committees at each site have been working to prevent accidents, while aiming to maintain and improve all related factors. However, nine workplace accidents (four with lost workdays and five without) in 2022, resulting in more accidents with lost workdays than in the past several years. The causes of these accidents included infrequent operations, chemical injuries, falls, getting accustomed, inadequate countermeasures, and inadequate risk assessment.

In response to this increase in workplace accidents, the president declared a state of emergency with regard to occupa­tional safety in April of this year in order to share the resolution never to cause or have others cause new workplace accidents among all officers and employees of the TOK Group, to imple­ment effective measures for preventing workplace accidents, and to otherwise improve the group-wide safety level and undertake risk reduction activities, such as the formulation of manuals stating emergency actions in the event of workplace accident, planned education and training for employees, and raising safety awareness among employees.

Frequency rate of workplace accidents (unconsolidated) 

* Frequency rate: shows the frequency of accident occurrences as the number of deaths and injuries due to workplace accidents per million work hours Frequency rate = (number of deaths and injuries due to workplace accidents / number of work hours) × 1,000,000 (Number of deaths and injuries due to workplace accidents = number of deaths and injuries resulting 1 or more lost workdays)

Severity rate of workplace accidents (unconsolidated) 

* Severity rate: shows the severity of accidents as the number of lost workdays per thousand work hours Severity rate = (number of lost workdays / number of work hours) ×1,000 (Number of lost workdays = number of lost workdays of dead and injured workers due to workplace accidents) Source of data for chemical and manufacturing industries: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Survey on Industrial Accidents