Health and Safety System

The occupational health and safety system, which is headed by the Director, Division Manager of the Manufacturing Division, works to prevent accidents based on the annual action plan of the Safety and Health Committee. Company-wide issues that cannot be addressed by a single site on its own are examined by the Safety and Health Liaison Unit. 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 to improve safety and rolls such measures 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. The Occupational Health and Safety Management System certification (ISO 45001) has been completed at all domestic sites, including the Gotemba plant (2020), Koriyama plant, Utsunomiya plant, Aso plant (2021), the headquarters, the TOK Technology Innovation Center, Kumagaya plant (2022), and the Distribution Control Center (2023). Through this operation, TOK is promoting measures to address the aging of employees, the saving of labor, and mental health issues. The company also implemented measures in accordance with the RBA Code of Conduct. TOK obtained Platinum certification (the highest level) for the Distribution Control Center (2022) and Gold certification for the Koriyama plant (2023) in the RBA VAP audit. The TOK Group will continue to establish the necessary systems at domestic sites and will provide safe and comfortable workplaces for TOK employees at each site and for the employees of affiliated companies, thereby achieving supply chain sustainability as a material issue and enhancing the happiness of workers.

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 worked to prevent accidents, while aiming to maintain and improve all related factors. However, 14 workplace accidents (one with lost workdays and 13 without) occurred in 2023, resulting in many more accidents than in the past several years. The causes of these accidents included insufficient risk assessment during nonroutine work and violations of safety regulation rules.

• Strengthening safety inspections

In the Workplace Safety Emergency Declaration issued by the president in April 2023, all officers and employees of the TOK Group shared the determination to “not cause or allow new workplace accidents,” and the Group continues the implementation of a variety of measures. In addition to strengthening the 5S activities TOK has been promoting, on-site safety inspections have been conducted from different perspectives than before at all sites, including overseas, by conducting interview surveys on hazards during work and dynamic safety inspections focusing on unsafe actions by workers. By conducting more stringent inspections than before, TOK has made progress in identifying and visualizing the risks that could lead to chemical burns, leakage accidents, and static electricity ignition, and the company is implementing preventive measures sequentially.

• From past failures to fostering a safety culture

To nurture core human capitals for workplace safety management, TOK has incorporated external training using past workplace accidents (failures) as case studies. By increasing opportunities to discover potential risks and approach safety from multiple angles for each individual, TOK is enhancing awareness and problem-solving skills.

Regarding emergency response manuals in the event of accidents or workplace incidents, the company is reflecting on the parts that did not go well in past drills and actual situations, confirming action standards and various roles through drills based on various assumed scenarios, and using the lessons learned from past failures to further foster a culture of safety.

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

TOK conducts integrated internal audits concerning occupational safety, quality, and the environment. By proactively appointing internal auditors from other sites and new internal auditors, the company promotes the upgrading of the skills 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 information on the handling of chemical substances, antistatic measures, and workplace accident control, which then leads to improvements.