Occupational Safety and Health
Basic Policy and Management Structure
Basic Stance on Occupational Safety and Health
We advance safety and hygiene activities for all employees following the view that the safety, hygiene, and health of employees take precedence over everything else.
More specifically, we comply with laws and ordinances, and our own internal rules, concerning employee safety and hygiene, and have constructed occupational safety and health management systems. Through proper management, we strive to create work environments that are safe, hygienic, and healthy.
Basic Policies on Safety and Health
Philosophy
The UACJ Group, recognizing that the existence of a business enterprise rests on a foundation of employee safety and health and that ensuring employee safety and health is a social responsibility of business enterprises, will respect the following principles as a matter of course.
Action Guidelines
- We will place employee safety and health before all else in all business activities.
- To eliminate all workplace hazards as a step toward achieving zero workplace accidents, we will take the required organizational measures, allocate the necessary management resources, and, with the participation of all employees, strive to implement safety and health activities on an ongoing basis.
- We will comply with the Industrial Safety and Health Law and other related laws and ordinances, and ensure employee safety and health in accordance with the safety and health provisions established by the Group companies.
- Gaining the cooperation of employees, we will conduct education and training that is necessary and adequate for ensuring safety and health for all employees, and continuously implement safety and health activities, to constantly elevate safety and hygiene standards.
- Sharing information on safety and health activities within the Group, and pursuing mutual enlightenment, we will work to improve understanding of safety and health principles, and raise safety and health awareness, among all employees.
- We will advance the development of comfortable work environments to reduce worker fatigue and stress.
- We will work to develop and implement new safety and health methods and technologies.
Safety and Health Management System
The UACJ Group conducts safety and health activities for all employees following the view that the safety, hygiene, and health of employees take precedence over everything else. We seek to create a safe, hygienic, and healthy work environment by complying with labor-related laws and internal rules and by maintaining and appropriately operating an occupational health and safety management system.
Safety and Hygiene Committee
The UACJ Group has built a safety and health management system in which leadership is exercised by the general safety and health managers at individual business locations. The purpose of the system is to create work environments where workers can be confident that their safety and health are being adequately protected.
In the January 2023 meeting of the Safety and Hygiene Committee, a report on fiscal 2022 activities was presented by the Safety & Environment Department and then the committee deliberated and approved the directions to be taken for fiscal 2023 safety and hygiene activities.
Business locations that achieved accident-free operations in fiscal 2022 were presented with President’s Safety Awards.
[Presentations of President’s Safety Awards (15 business locations)]
Fukaya Works, UACJ Foundry & Forging (Vietnam) Co., Ltd., UACJ Extrusion Czech s.r.o., UAC Foil Isesaki Works, UACJ Foil Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., UACJ Metal Components North America, PT. Yan Jin Indonesia, UACJ Metal Components (Thailand) Co., Ltd., UACJ Aluminum Center Fukaya Works, Izumi Metal Corporation, UACJ Foil Service Isesaki Works, UACJ Foil Service Nogi Works, UACJ Metal Components Ena Works, UACJ Metal Components Koriyama Works, UACJ Green‐net Corporation
Safety and Hygiene Managers’ Committee
The Safety and Hygiene Managers’ Committee, with members including representatives of the Safety & Environment Department, and Safety Managers of the works and principal affiliates, meets once every month to discuss safety and work environment inspections and maintenance at each business location. The committee also refines the unified rules and promotes their inculcation across the breadth of the Group.
Going forward, we will continue to act vigorously to ensure that our safety and health management systems are equal to our needs.
Safety Management Initiative
Occupational Safety and Health Management System
The Nagoya, Fukui, and Fukaya works have adopted and are operating worker safety and health management systems, and are pursuing activities with the goal of achieving zero accidents in the workplace.
Safety and health activity plans are prepared at each works in accordance with the UACJ Group’s safety and health activity aims. Plans are finalized once they are approved by the head of each works, and then discussed and approved by the worker/management joint Safety and Health Committee at each works.
To help ensure that safety and health management is practiced at the highest standards, we have established internal audit and other schemes based on the management system. Through internal audits, we conduct self-assessments of system operations, assuring in the process, that PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Action) cycles are being used. In addition, to enhance the safety management standards of the entire Group, we hold annual liaison meetings of people in charge of safety and hygiene at Group companies.
To achieve further enhancement going forward, we intend to improve the accuracy of internal audits.
Conditions with Regard to Workplace Accidents
The UACJ Group aims to eliminate workplace accidents, regardless of scale, and the Group is working together to strengthen safety management systems.
In the most recent three year period, the number of workplace accidents at Group companies in 2020 was 5, in 2021 was 6, and in 2022 was 6. The overall frequency in 2022 was 0.25.
Note: Indicators were revised in fiscal 2022 to increase their effectiveness.
UACJ Group Frequency Rate of Workplace Accidents*2
- *1 Number of accidents is the total number of accidents resulting in death, lost worktime, and or non-lost worktime.
Scope: UACJ Group business sites, including overseas business sites (including on-site subcontractors) - *2 Overall frequency serves as an index for evaluating the occurrence (frequency) of occupational accidents by multiplying the number of accidents (including non-lost worktime) due to occupational accidents by one million and dividing by the number of total working hours during the statistical period.
Toward Intrinsic Safety
The UACJ Group is striving to achieve intrinsic safety in its equipment and facilities. To do this, we are conducting risk assessments by examining work processes from various angles to thoroughly eliminate hazards and harmful factors. Safety measures are taken beginning with the facilities, equipment, and work approaches evaluated as having high risk levels. Residual risks, too, are all addressed with provisional measures.
Based on uniform equipment safety standards the group introduced in March 2015, zones are being delineated within facilities and thorough safety measures are being implemented for each. Furthermore, when facilities are to be newly introduced or modified, intrinsic safety is achieved by conducting checklist-based safety examinations at the design, operation startup, and other stages.
Safety-First Corporate Culture and Personnel Development
At the UACJ Group, job-level training includes safety and health education, and content aimed at raising safety awareness. Furthermore, experiential training aimed at enhancing awareness of dangerous situations, and competitions to encourage workers to hone crane and forklift skills, are held regularly.
For managers, safety and health education and training sessions are held to promote acquisition of the position, knowledge, and attitudes necessary for implementing safety management. In addition, to elevate safety and health management standards at individual Group companies, safety and health education, safety inspections, and other support initiatives are actively undertaken to foster a safety-first corporate culture and advance personnel development along the same lines throughout the Group.
Principal Safety and Health Awards
| Award | Recipient | |
|---|---|---|
| Fiscal 2022 Japan Aluminium Association Award for Excellence in Maintaining a Safe Workplace |
Special Award of Excellence Award of Excellence |
UACJ Foil Service Isesaki Works UACJ Color Aluminum Corporation UACJ Extrusion Gunma Corporation |
Workplace Environment Improvement Activities
To make better workplace environments, we are systematically taking steps to improve conditions with regard to summer heat, winter cold, dust, and noise; eliminate work that requires excessive physical exertion or taxing body positions; and add break areas and other features (e.g. adding or renovating break areas and on-site restrooms) that make environments more livable. Concerning summer heat in particular, we are moving forward with installation of air conditioning and ventilation equipment in places where it is needed and introducing clothing with integrated fans.