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Safety and Health

Basic Concept

Sumitomo Electric has given top managerial priority to “safety” since its early years and has taken measures to eliminate occupational accidents such as promotion of danger-prediction activities and equipment safety measures as well as development of the safety and health education system. Recognizing that ensuring the health and safety of employees is essential for continuous business operations and is also part of our corporate social responsibility, we established the Sumitomo Electric Group Policy for Safety and Health Promotion Activities in 2001. Under this policy, we unite all employees' efforts in performing continuous health and safety activities toward the elimination of occupational accidents.

Sumitomo Electric Group Policy for Safety and Health Promotion Activities
  • Continuing with safety and health promotion activities involving all employees to eliminate all risk factors from the workplace and realize perfect occupational safety.
  • Complying with laws and internal rules to ensure the health and safety of employees.
  • Encouraging employees to raise awareness of physical and mental health and manage their health voluntarily.

Creating a Corporate Culture Where “Safety Comes First”

Group-wide safety convention(chanting a safety slogan in unison)
Group-wide safety convention
(chanting a safety slogan in unison)

The Sumitomo Electric Group Policy gives top priority to safety, and the President conveys safety messages directly to all employees at the Group-wide safety conventions (held twice a year) and via internal safety broadcasts (carried twice a year) to ensure compliance with the Policy. It is crucial that top management demonstrates a clear policy. The safety policy and targets for each business unit are disseminated via the safety commitment of the general manager.
To create a corporate culture where “Safety comes first,” we are continuously promoting safety activities involving all employees and various forms of safety education with resolute honesty.

Promotion of Occupational Safety and Health Management and Strengthening of Risk Assessment Practice

For “perfect occupational safety,” it is essential to eliminate sources of danger. To realize this goal, Sumitomo Electric has promoted safety and health management as well as strengthened implementation of risk assessment since January 2001. In the Safety and Health Management System, we identify and evaluate risks and hazards concealed in work sites and implement countermeasures before accidents occur. This approach is also recommended by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in its activities to eliminate occupational accidents and has started to be adopted on a global scale.
In 2002, the Osaka Works obtained the OHSAS18001 certificate, which is an international certification  for occupational health and safety management systems, from an outside institution. Since then, the Company has proactively performed risk assessment (i.e. identification and evaluation of risks concealed in operational work) based on the concept of OHSAS throughout its departments and affiliates thereby addressing reduction of risk levels systematically.
We continue to strengthen the implementation of risk assessment and to work on reducing risk levels.

Group Global Safety & Maintenance assessment Activities

(left) Safety Management Global Standard, (right) Forklift Safety Management Global Standard
(left) Safety Management Global Standard
(right) Forklift Safety Management Global Standard

Under the Industrial Safety and Health Law, we must manage appropriate working environments for dangerous or harmful operations, provide legally required education, take equipment safety measures. To check that domestic affiliates appropriately fulfill these requirements, and to check the progress of their voluntary management activities, Sumitomo Electric has implemented safety audits and hearing surveys in these affiliates every year. In fiscal 2009, we reviewed the traditional safety auditing procedures and introduced the group global safety and maintenance capability evaluation activities as a new form of safety audits to the manufacturing sections and affiliates in Japan and overseas.
In the evaluation of safety and maintenance capabilities, in addition to checking various management activities, the auditors tour the plants and give instructions in order to ensure that segments with potential risks are identified and appropriate measures are taken. In particular, the safety measures on equipment are also evaluated in the facilities which involve especially high risks. We also identify the strengths and weaknesses of the audited sections and affiliates by scoring the factors in the checklist including the equipment procurement system, maintenance capacity and plant fire prevention ability and provide follow-ups and support to ensure that the sections and affiliates take proper measures.

Safety and Health Education

■Safety and Health Education System
(Administrative, Managerial and Engineering Members)
Safety and Health EducationSafety and Health Education

With the goal of achieving "perfect occupational safety," Sumitomo Electric provides legally required education and position-based safety and health education in a systematic and planned manner by incorporating such training programs into the curriculum of SEI University.
Because safety and manufacturing are closely related, we set up facilities where dangerous situations can be physically experienced in the Technical Training Center, a manufacturing education center built in October 2008; the facilities provide safety training that enable individuals to physically experience dangerous situations. Since January 2009, we have organized the KKP or KIBAN KYOHKA training Program (Manufacturing Foundation Reinforcement Program) for mid-level employees; this program consists of lectures, exercises, and reporting assignments about practical themes.

Mental Healthcare

Mental Health Training Course
Mental Health Training Course
Mental Health Handbook
Mental Health Handbook

Sumitomo Electric is committed to company-wide management of mental health care for all employees, by disseminating basic knowledge regarding mental healthcare and implementing training for administrators. We station counselors at major operating sites, and have also established a system since May 2008 by which employees and their family members can consult external counselors.

Thus, we have set up a system that helps us through daily communication to remain aware of employees and their family members with mental health issues, and enables us to take early measures to address these issues. As part of our support activities, all employees can also have their stress levels tested. Counselors offer advice on appropriate methods for communicating with employees who are on leave or absent from work. To help these employees return to work, we design and implement measures to provide step-by-step support, by establishing coordination among workplaces, company doctor and other specialists, and personnel staff members for close communication with employees and their family members. We are striving through such careful measures to improve employee mental health.

*Annual results (numerical data) are published in the CSR Reports for the respective fiscal years.

Commitment to the Data Health Plan

The Japan Revitalization Strategy adopted by the Cabinet in June 2013 requires all health insurance society to implement the Data Health Plan. Sumitomo Electric Health Insurance Society has established the Sumitomo Electric Data Health Plan with three pillars of 1) development of health awareness by introducing an incentive point system, 2) enhancement of specific health guidance and 3) strengthening of measures to encourage employees to have health checkups and prevent diseases from being more serious, and started the initiatives in fiscal 2015. While collaborating with the society (collabo-health) and working to enhance health awareness of employees (health literacy), Sumitomo Electric aims to be a corporate group that is highly evaluated and trusted by society and enables employees to stay healthy and work with enthusiasm.

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