Promoting Occupational Health and Safety

Material Issue

Occupational health and safety

Management information

Relevance to our business

The driving force behind Fuji Oil Group’s business activities is our diverse human resources. Amid the diversification of working styles and increased labor mobility, ensuring the safety of our employees is our social responsibility as a corporate group and is essential to sustainable management. Our initiatives to promote occupational health and safety directly contribute to the health of our employees.

Basic approach

In the Fuji Oil Group Management Philosophy, the first of our values that inform our actions is “safety, quality, and the environment.” Among these three, the Group places top priority on “occupational safety” to achieve continuous growth. We promote occupational health and safety through the six items of the Basic Policy of Safety and Health below. Our aim is to protect the lives and health of our employees and all the people working at our business sites, and eliminate work-related accidents.

Basic Policy of Safety and Health

  • The base of our thought is the dignity of human life.
  • The base of our safety activities is the participation by all our officers and employees.
  • Every manager has a responsibility of safety control.
  • Good physical and mental health makes you a safer worker.
  • Making our workplace safe.
  • Becoming aware of and avoiding safety risks.

Management system

Occupational health and safety initiatives were overseen by the Chief “ESG” Officer (C“ESG”O) in FY2021. Since FY2022, that role has been transferred to the ESG Representative. The Sustainability Committee,*1 an advisory body to the Board of Directors, monitors the progress and results of initiatives as a material ESG issue.*2

Goals / Results

At least 90% complete At least 60% complete Less than 60% complete

FY2021 Goals FY2021 Results Self-assessment
Eliminate the occurrence of serious accidents and serious property damage accidents
  • Study measures to introduce the pointing and calling method, as well as to establish and maintain awareness programs
  • Continue programs that promote understanding of the effectiveness of risk prediction training
  • Launch initiatives that help raise safety awareness, such as adopting safety simulators using virtual reality (VR)
 Zero cases of serious accidents and serious property damage accidents
  • Group companies outside Japan introduced the pointing and calling method; held remote meetings for promoting understanding of risk prediction training and for sharing current safety initiatives, in order to raise awareness and implement this method. Additioally, continued programs that promote understanding of the effectiveness of risk prediction training.
  • Recommended the adoption of safety VR simulators to improve safety awareness in Group companies

Analysis

Although we have been carrying out training on the pointing and calling method and risk prediction to improve awareness of occupational safety, we recognize that these take time to introduce and establish. We believe that using VR helps improve safety awareness by simulating danger for our employees. We will continue to work on enhancing safety awareness through new initiatives introducing safety experience training using VR to overseas Group companies.

Next Step

Our goal for FY2022 is to eliminate the occurrence of serious accidents and serious property damage accidents. We believe that improving the safety awareness of employees is the key to achieving this goal. To address this issue, we will continue to work on the following measures in FY2022.

  • Continue measures to introduce the pointing and calling method, as well as to establish and maintain awareness programs
  • Continue programs that promote understanding of the effectiveness of risk prediction training
  • Continue initiatives that help raise safety awareness, such as adopting safety VR simulators

Specific initiatives

Risk management and countermeasures

Occupational health and safety risks are designated as Group-wide significant risks. We work in collaboration with each Group company to eliminate accidents and raise the level of health management in line with the Fuji Oil Group Management Philosophy. This is accomplished by conducting occupational health and safety audits at each production site to assess risks.

Occupational health and safety audits

Fuji Oil Group companies and their business sites in Japan plan on conducting audits every year. In FY2021, nine production sites in Japan were audited by the Safety, Quality, and Environment Audit Team of the Safety, Quality, and Environment Audit Office at Fuji Oil Co., Ltd., the regional headquarters in Japan. For Group companies outside Japan, the next occupational health and safety audits are planned based on the results of their previous audits. In FY2021, the Production Productivity Management Group conducted occupational health and safety audits remotely on four production sites outside Japan due to the coronavirus outbreak. With the spread of COVID-19 continuing around the world, we have been using wearable cameras* on safety, quality and environmental audits of overseas Group companies, in addition to reviewing documents in advance and conducting reviews via online meetings. Production sites can be visually checked in Japan through live streaming by having people wear cameras onsite. For production sites where audits have been conducted, we will follow up on remediation issues that have been identified and make improvements, with the aim of eliminating work-related accidents at our sites.

  • * Wearable camera: A camera worn on the body that can record video hands-free

Multilingual reminders

At overseas Group companies, we display safety-related reminders in multiple languages for employees who use different languages so that they can carry out their work safely.

Example of a sign at Fuji Global Chocolate (M) Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia)

Dialogue between labor and management

To evaluate and improve our risk management and countermeasures related to occupational health and safety, we attach greater importance to dialogue between labor and management. For example, Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. holds a monthly Safety and Health Committee meeting in accordance with the labor agreement, in order to discuss employees’ expectations and concerns regarding occupational health and safety.

Acquisition of Management Certifications

Supplier safety and health

For the occupational health and safety of suppliers, the Fuji Oil Group stipulates the provision of safe and hygienic workplaces for all workers, legal compliance and risk management in the Occupational Safety and Health section of the Fuji Oil Group Supplier Code of Conduct*1 formulated and published in April 2021. We ask all our suppliers to agree to this policy and submit a consent form. In November 2021, we revised and published the third edition of the CSR Procurement Guidelines*2 for suppliers of Group companies in Japan. In the section regarding Respect for Human Rights and Consideration for Occupational Safety and Health, we ask that suppliers maintain and improve a safe and healthy work environment, and we confirm through a questionnaire that the products and services procured by Group companies in Japan are in line with our procurement policies.

Education

The Fuji Oil Group implements measures based on the belief that prevention of labor accidents at manufacturing sites is one of our most important responsibilities. We conduct checks to identify dangerous operations and situations that can lead to accidents and take necessary measures. We also promote the PDCA cycle for risk management, work to identify near-miss incidents, and implement the use of safety observation cards to suggest potential hazards and areas with safety concerns. Through these and other initiatives, the whole Group is committed to working together to prevent occupational accidents.

Disseminating safety-related information

In recognition of the importance of raising safety awareness among employees throughout the Group, we created safety leaflets and distributed them to Group companies. Group companies give employees daily safety warnings using electric bulletin boards or information boards.

Education to improve safety awareness

We believe that heightening our employees’ sensitivity to danger leads to higher safety awareness. We set up safety experience rooms in Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. and Fuji Oil (Zhang Jia Gang) Co., Ltd., and let employees in Group companies outside Japan experience dangerous conditions through VR devices.
Group companies in Japan are engaged in activities aimed at raising safety awareness through simulation classes and safety education that enable employees to learn from past incidents. In this way, rules are observed and mistakes from the past are avoided. We are also working to create a safe and secure work environment by conducting emergency drills for natural disasters and installing motion sensor lights that are also useful when evacuating during a power outage.
Group companies outside Japan are also engaged in various safety initiatives, including adopting the pointing and calling method, education on the effectiveness of risk prediction training, safety communication activities,*1 and safety meetings.*2

  • *1 Safety communication activities: Activities to raise employees’ safety awareness by handing down knowledge of past labor accidents and countermeasures to younger generations.

    *2 Safety meetings: Meetings held before the day’s work begins to inform workers about safety matters that require special attention that day.

VR simulator at PT. Freyabadi Indotama (Indonesia)

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