Plant safety
Plant safety begins and ends with people, such that each employee can make a difference.
Protecting people and plants
Tosoh’s approach to safety revolves around a proactive, groupwide
culture that promotes personal responsibility in observing laws and
ordinances. That approach also encompasses measurable plans that guide
everyone’s actions, the careful management of facilities to prevent
accidents and disasters, education and training in emergency systems and
related technologies, the elimination of accidents and disasters
through meticulous analysis, the building of trust through openness and
dialogue with the community, and checks and balances designed to improve
subsequent action plans.
Occupational health and safety
Tosoh strives to prevent accidents and lost-time incidents by
implementing an occupational safety and health management system
(OSHMS), which includes the risk assessment of processes and facilities
and the analysis of close-call incidents. Our safety assurance
activities were strengthened in fiscal 2011 with an examination chiefly
of the initiatives and conditions of the production divisions in the
Nanyo Complex by independent Risk and Crisis Management (RCM) project
teams. Other such efforts focused on the Yokkaichi Complex. Meetings to
exchange information on safety-related matters were held for four group
companies in the Toyama region and for two in the Miyazaki region to
bolster safety throughout our organization in fiscal 2011.
Despite these efforts, the number of incidents in fiscal 2011 increased
compared with the previous fiscal year. Two lost-time incidents were
reported by the parent company in fiscal 2011 and seven were reported by
parent-company affiliates. Tosoh, therefore, continues to make
improvements toward eliminating accidents and lost-time incidents.
To raise safety awareness among workers and to reduce occupational
accidents, Tosoh maintains a database of accidents, occupational
injuries, and close calls from inside and outside the group. Reporting
and sharing experiences of close calls and analyzing the data yield
valuable insights into ways to prevent similar incidents and to execute
safety measures.
Chemical and product safety
Chemical and product safety is assured through strict compliance and
optimal management. Tosoh promotes product safety through global and
domestic activities, and undertakes initiatives to remain compliant with
environmental regulations.
Participating in global initiatives
The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg,
set goals for minimizing the environmental and health impact of
chemical products and their manufacturing by 2020. That summit led to
the establishment in 2006 of the Strategic Approach to International
Chemicals Management as a policy framework for promoting chemical safety
worldwide.
Tosoh is a signatory to the Japan Chemical Industry
Association’s declaration of support for the Responsible Care Global
Charter promulgated by the International Council of Chemical
Associations (ICCA) in connection with that framework. Through this
charter and the execution of the Global Product Safety strategy (GPS),
our entire supply chain and management of chemicals are being
strengthened.
Activities in Japan
The Japan
Challenge Program is a government-industry collaboration launched in
2005. Tosoh works with that program to collect data on and evaluate
substances to promote chemical safety. The Japan Chemical Industry
Association, meanwhile, is developing a Japanese version of the GPS
initiative in which Tosoh is engaged. Tosoh has participated in the
development of what is known as the Japan Initiative of Product
Stewardship (JIPS) from the outset to strengthen product safety
domestically.
Notification and registering of chemical substances
Tosoh complies with revisions to Japan’s Act on the Evaluation of
Chemical Substances and Regulation of Their Manufacture. The revision in
fiscal 2011 requires annual notification be made by manufacturers of
new chemical substances as well as those already in use. This is
applicable when both the old and new substances are manufactured and
transported above a set amount. Tosoh is therefore working with its
business units to confirm manufactured and transported volumes as well
as applications.
We also are registering substances designated
by Europe’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of
Chemicals, or REACH, regulation. During fiscal 2011, we completed the
registration of all substances listed under the first-phase deadline of
November 30, 2010. We have begun work on the list of the second- phase
deadline, set for May of 2013.
Analysis and labeling
Enhancing chemical and product safety is a foremost aim at Tosoh. In
this regard, we generate and manage material safety data sheets (MSDS)
and labeling in compliance with the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of
Classification and Labeling of Chemicals. In fiscal 2011, we completed
the notification of our compliance with the Classification, Labeling,
and Packaging (CLP) Regulation for chemical substances being exported to
the European Union.
We also are completing GHS-related
activities for designated substances for China and for Korea and
Singapore. We completed these activities by the deadlines and will
continue to act accordingly as the anticipated introduction of GHS takes
place in other countries.