Environment and Safety
Group Safety Targets
In order to achieve zero occupational accidents, Polyplastics has established the policies of environment safety and health at each plant, set group-wide targets, and actively works to raise safety awareness of every employee.
Zero Accidents
Zero serious accidents or
incidents leading to serious accidents
Reducing Human Error
OIR*1≦0.15
Main Activities
- Ensuring compliance with safety regulations
- Implementing regular auditing of each plant
- Promoting activities for safety awareness raising
- Eradicating unsafe behavior and unsafe conditions through
on-site patrols - Promoting TBM&KY*2 activities
- Improving risk assessment*3 skills
- Promoting near-miss accident activities*4
- Enforcing 5S*5 practices
- Ensuring universal adoption of pointing and calling practices
- Reducing risks in case of emergency situation
- *1Abbreviation for Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA) Incident Rate. A safety index for the rate of occurrence of industrial accidents, based on the number of injuries, with or without lost-time, per 200,000 man-hours of labor
- *2TBM/KY activities [Toolbox meeting (TBM) and KY (from the Japanese term for predicting danger) activities]. Prior to the start of operations, workers break into small groups and try to identify the dangers in their work operations and program for the day in order to plan safe procedures to follow.
- *3A series of steps to specify risks and hazards in the workplace, estimate the level of such risks, set priorities regarding operations, and decide on measures to be taken to reduce risks. Based on the results of this process, appropriate countermeasures against occupational disasters are implemented.
- *4These activities aim to prevent accidents through the collection and disclosure of reports concerning incidents where workers narrowly avoided disasters (near-misses) during work operations.
- *5Five basic practices for workers known as the “5S” system (based on five Japanese words beginning with “s” which translate as “sorting,” “setting in order,” “cleanliness,” “hygiene,” and “discipline,” respectively).
Group Targets and Results
Within the Polyplastics Group, we are working with in-house contractors to raise safety awareness among our employees in order to eliminate occupational accidents.
In FY2022, we achieved the target of zero serious accidents. However, we did not achieve the OIR target because there were five injuries with lost-time and two injuries without lost-time.
In particular, these accidents occurred when non-routine operations were being performed. Reflecting our aim of ensuring zero occupational accidents, we will work to prevent future incidents by identifying high-risk non-routine operations and strive to swiftly standardize practices.
Topics
Encourage Safe Work through JUKU (tutoring school-style)
At the Kuantan Plant (Malaysia), we conduct JUKU safety education twice a week for employees from the on-site safety management department. This course is unique because it allows the employees to actually experience potential work hazards in order to learn how to work safely. We conducted the following main education courses in FY2022.
- Super strong magnet hazard education
- Education on getting caught between magnets during cleaning, which can lead to injury
- Safety belt hanging experience
- Training about safe positions that help keep blood flowing when suspended by a safety belt
- Danger education on residual water pressure
- Training on the dangers of hot water and chemicals blowing out when working without releasing pressure from pipes
- Danger education for oxygen-deficient work
- Training on the dangers of low oxygen levels and the importance of measuring oxygen levels when entering a tank or underground pit to avoid fatalities
