As a manufacturing company, safety is a fundamental prerequisite for our business operations. We have established and comply with operation management regulations, facility management regulations, and environmental safety management regulations with the goal of improving our standards of occupational health and safety and disaster prevention to ensure the safety and health of our employees and stable operations within the Group.

Shin-Etsu Group is committed to three safety-related code of conduct: (1) strictly complying with “rules and procedures,” (2) identifying and promptly eliminating “risks latent in the workplace,” and (3) enhancing “sensitivity to danger.” We carry out safety management activities in accordance with our code of conduct. During National Safety Week^*1, which is held every July, the president delivers a message to all employees working in the Group and thoroughly familiarizes them with the Company’s three codes of conduct related to safety.

We create the “Shin-Etsu Group Environmental Safety Management Plan” every year in accordance with the Responsible Care Codes^*2 and set numerical goals in the plan for occupational safety and disaster prevention.

Based on this management plan, the entire Group is working to prevent serious disasters, such as explosions and fires, and to prevent occupational accidents.

The Shin-Etsu Group is working to create a comfortable and safe workplace whose goals are the achievement of “zero serious accidents” and “zero lost-time accidents.” Lost-time accidents rate for the Shin-Etsu Group in Japan was significantly lower than the industry average in Japan. In order to achieve our goal of zero lost-time accidents, we have analyzed causes for each accident and promptly implemented measures based on the elimination of hazardous operations and equipment safety protection. Furthermore, we are working on revising the operation manuals to help prevent re-occurrence of occupational accidents. In addition, the occurrence of occupational accidents is reported to directors and department heads at monthly business report meetings.

At Shin-Etsu Group’s plants all over the world, risk assessments are undertaken to comprehensively identify and eliminate risks that could lead to injury or illness. When a risk is identified, the first step is to eliminate or minimize it. In cases where a risk remains, we take various safety measures such as providing workers with individual protective tools, measures to prevent entry into dangerous areas and posting of off-limits signs in dangerous areas, and locking out^*1 machines and equipment from the power source that drives them and tagging out^*2 machines and equipment. We also take safety measures including attaching safety devices to machines and equipment, and installing fail-safes^*3, foolproof mechanisms^*4, and interlocks^*5 as protective walls. In addition, we practice KY^*6 hazard prediction activities and make sure to indicate and name all relevant equipment prior to working in order to reconfirm safety.

The workers take measures against unsafe areas by regularly gathering information on close-call incidents from workers who experienced them. At the same time, we share our risk information and prevent similar accidents by disclosing this risk information internally and externally. Furthermore, during National Safety Week8, which is held every July, the president delivers a message to all employees working in the Group and thoroughly familiarizes them with the company’s three code of conduct related to safety.

The Group is working to create a comfortable and safe workplace based on the idea that each person’s physical and mental health improves the overall workplace atmosphere and productivity. We are conducting measures to prevent the development of possible diseases such as encouraging employees to take health checks, offering health counseling on lifestyle diseases, and promoting measures on mental health and activities for health promotion and fitness. In addition, we are implementing measures for infectious diseases, including COVID-19. In 2024, Shin-Etsu Silicones Europe organized a health event aimed at promoting employee health and fostering a healthier work environment.

Our head office and branch offices have a Health Committee, and each plant has a Safety and Health Committee. The committees work to improve the workplace environment and promote the workers’ health with advice and information from industrial physicians. We also have special programs such as physical fitness checks and seminars to help workers maintain and improve their physical condition. Furthermore, we offer an outside Family Health Consultation Service, which can be used by our workers and their families, with our health insurance union and an insurance company. It is available 24 hours a day.

The prevention of serious accidents is a top priority in the Group, and we continue to work on a variety of safety and disaster prevention activities. Safety countermeasures are taken for dangerous areas identified through process risk assessments, and pipes and equipment are maintained and managed, mainly through scheduled maintenance. Since FY2014, we have been working to strengthen safety management by implementing measures and studies to localize and minimize damage, assuming serious disasters such as major earthquakes and worst-case plant accidents.

The company has joined the Japan Industrial Safety Competency Center since its inauguration in FY2012. Each plant uses the Safety Evaluation System of the center to further improve the situation and works even harder on the Process Safety and Disaster Prevention Plan.

To improve facilities and maintenance management of its plants, the Group conducts regular voluntary inspections of machinery and other equipment as stipulated in Japan’s Industrial Safety and Health Act, the Fire Service Act, and the High-Pressure Gas Safety Act. We have also put in place management methods for maintaining the functions of safety devices and systems such as interlocks, emergency shutdown systems, and leak detection systems, as well as for early detection of failures. Safety education programs are provided to employees and contractors, and safety procedures are clearly defined. We use HAZOP^* to identify potential hazards and continuously improve our facilities. In the future, we will also consider advanced preventive maintenance incorporating AI and IoT/DX technologies.

In 2024, as part of its enhanced safety education program, the Kashima Plant conducted a safety education session using VR technology, with 72 Kashima Group employees participating. The participants experienced simulations of accidents that frequently occur in relation to their department or job description, reflected on the causes of the accident and countermeasures from a third-party perspective, and identified the factors lurking around them that contribute to accidents. In addition, 123 younger employees participated in the training to learn the magnitude of the impact of accidents and the power of the machinery using safety simulation equipment. We will continue to conduct training from various angles to help prevent workplace accidents.

To keep Group plants operating in safety, it is important for everyone working on the premises to constantly improve his/her skills and knowledge and be aware of danger. To this end, we provide safety education programs to employees and contractors to enable them to understand the hazards of the substances and processes they handle, to experience simulated hazards, and to properly use equipment and safety devices.

We also work on passing down the skills to operate manufacturing equipment to the next generation of employees. We work to give each employee thorough safety awareness by creating a workplace culture in which operation processes and rules are observed.

In addition to factory employees, we also provide safety education to people working in the plant premises involved in construction, delivery, and people outside the company who participate in business negotiations. During the training, we explained the dangerous areas in the plant and the substances handled, and made them understand the importance of strictly observing the safety rules stipulated in the plant. And also, in the event of an emergency at the plant, we ask everyone to prioritize actions to ensure their own safety. We will continue to provide regular training and continue to put human life first.

Every year, we conduct scheduled disaster prevention drills that assume abnormal situations such as large earthquakes and fires, as well as “blind drills” based on basic actions without creating scenarios. The drills include firefighting activities, rescue activities for the injured, transmission of information to the disaster response headquarters, public relations activities in the community, and correspondence with the media. In addition, we conduct disaster prevention drills in dormitories and company housing, confirming evacuation routes, training in reporting to the fire department, and training in how to use a fire extinguisher.

We will continue to raise awareness of disaster prevention and strive to respond quickly to emergencies so that the plant can be a safe place for the local community.

To verify and confirm that environmental safety management activities related to occupational health and safety and disaster prevention are being implemented as planned at each plant, the Group conducts internal audits in Japan and overseas in accordance with its “Standards for Environmental Control and Safety Audits.” The audit results are reported to the top management.

In FY2024, we conducted a total of 57 on-site audits for 30 production bases of Group companies in Japan and conducted an on-site audit for one overseas Group company. We audited the implementation status, along with implementation case studies, of the following priority issues, among others: improvement of the effectiveness of the occupational health and safety management system, establishment and strict implementation of change management, improvement of facility and process safety, status of PDCA implementation of activities to prevent accidents and disasters, and introduction of simulated hands-on training using audiovisual equipment, VR, CG, etc.