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 FY 2024, two incidents attributable to fire-related problems occurred—a serious disaster and an accident that led to a serious disaster.
The number of persons affected per 200,000 working hours (OIR) improved from 0.35 in the preceding fiscal year to 0.33 but fell short of the target value of 0.15. As a company, we are committed to reassessing the effectiveness of our past measures and implementing both soft and hard countermeasures. In addition, we will strengthen our ongoing efforts in 3S activities (Sort, Set in order, Shine), near-miss reporting, hazard prediction, and reducing operator workload. Through these initiatives, we aim to further enhance safety and environmental practices across all group facilities and remain dedicated to preventing future incidents.
Topics
Established SE Management Office
In FY 2024, we established the Safety Environment (SE) Office to oversee the safety, health, and environment activities of the Group on a consolidated basis. This was done with the aim of establishing an effective management system by unifying the safety activities that had previously been entrusted to each individual plant, sharing issues that should be addressed across the entire Group and making rapid decisions based on three activities: (1) improving safety awareness and safety skills, (2) eliminating dangerous acts as they relate to safe conduct, and (3) compliance with laws and regulations.
This fiscal year, we developed work regulations and written standards for work, which we had determined were inadequate, and promoted safety inspections at each site. We will further strengthen safety activities by enhancing collaboration with each plant, standardizing education, and quickly collecting and deploying disaster-related information whenever incidents occur.
Night-time Disaster-Prevention Drills
Disaster-prevention drills at night began this fiscal year at the Kaohsiung plant. While drills for night- and holiday-shift workers had previously been carried out in accordance with the local fire safety laws and regulations, such drills took place during the day and had not reflected actual nighttime conditions. Since there are fewer workers in the plant during holidays and at night, however, it is important to carry out drills that reflect realistic emergency situations.
On the day, 14 employees participated by being split up into teams according to such themes as safety protection, firefighting, rescue, and evacuation procedures. A comprehensive simulation of a fire in a formaldehyde storage tank area was conducted and included such elements as reporting, extinguishing, evacuation procedures, and the rescuing of injured persons.
The younger employees that participated in this drill were able to gain experience operating equipment used for fire-extinguishing measures under conditions that differed from daytime conditions. In addition, many of the more experienced employees also appreciated the opportunity to participate as they were also able to review emergency response procedures through this drill. We will continue to implement measures to ensure the safety of our workforce.
