Health and Safety
Philosophy and Policy
With “Safety is our top priority” as the foundation of our business, the SWS Group strives to secure the health and safety of its workers with a spirit of respect and rigor that affords no opportunity for industrial accidents. We will strive to achieve zero accidents by following our Safety Activity Policy, shown below.
Strengthening the Global Safety Management System
To strengthen the global safety management system, each company conducts self-audits twice a year to visualize safety activities, identify and improve problem areas, and eliminate risks in the workplace.
If any problems are found during a self-audit, the Safety & Environment Department or safety inspectors from the head office will visit the site, diagnose and correct the problem. In FY2024, we conducted voluntary audits at 189 sites.
Focusing on Raising Global Awareness
The majority of accidents in the SWS Group were the result of human error, such as transportation, maintenance, Setup/Coordination, and cleaning. To address this, we have been developing various educational activities globally.
・POKETENASHI activities
Po: Don't walk with your hands in your pockets.
Ke: Don't walk while using a keitai-denwa (cell phone.)
Te: Do hold a tesuri (handrail) when using stairs.
Na: Don't naname-oudan (jaywalk.)
Shi: Do Yubisa-Shi (point and call out) left and right.
・Distribution of pocket cards for "3S +3D 3rules" to comply with safety rules
◆3S: Sorting, Set-in-order, Shining
◆3D: Designate position, Designate materials, Designate quantity
◆3Rule:
Before Operation -Make Sure Hands & PPE
While Operation -Never Place Hands in Safety Cover
Equipment Maintenance -Switch Main Power OFF
・Distribution of "Switch Main Power OFF" stickers to prevent accidents during maintenance
Global Industrial Accident Statistics
The number of persons injured due to industrial accident in SWS has tended to decline, peaking in FY2019, however the number of them in FY2024 is 17, consisting of 4 persons in Japan and 13 outside Japan. This remains the same of that in FY2023. We will continuously strive for reducing persons injured due to industrial accident.
Strengthening Safety Measures for Forklift Operators
Since forklift trucks are often used for transportation work on-site, which likely leads to serious accidents, we have been strengthening safety measures to eliminate forklift-related accidents since FY2014, such as separating the work areas of forklifts and workers (spatial separation) and separating the operating hours of forklifts and workers to prevent them from working at the same time (temporal separation).
From FY2019, we have been working on the complete separation of workers and vehicles, and 97% of all sites have been completed.
Safety Management of Equipment
In 2012, we introduced a safety certification system for production facilities (safety inspections including risk assessment of facilities and the working environment).
We have completed the safety certification of all production facilities installed before the introduction of this system, and from the viewpoint of further improving the accuracy of risk assessment, we have prepared a check item description (instructions). We plan to deploy it throughout the company to provide explanations and raise the level of equipment safety personnel.
Securing Safety of Suppliers
We ask all our suppliers to maintain a safe work environment in our CSR Guidelines for Suppliers as a safety requirement.
Various health-related initiatives (Wellness)
Under the basic policy that "the health of each employee is the source of a vibrant company," we actively support employees in maintaining their health.
For more details, please refer to the following link.
Glossary
*1 Frequency rate: The number of fatalities and injuries due to occupational accidents per million actual working hours, indicating the frequency of accidents.