Safety & Crisis Management
Basic Approach
We at Sojitz are working to create a healthy and safe environment in which each and every employee is able to exercise their full potential. Sojitz manages the safety of employees both in Japan and overseas, with an emergency system in place for accidents and natural disasters.
Workplace Safety
System to Promote Health & Safety: Safety & Sanitation Committee
We have created both a system to manage employees’ workplace health and safety through our Safety & Sanitation Committee—an organization established in accordance with the standards of the Industrial Safety and Health Act—as well as a system to promote employees’ health, headed by the President & CEO.
Related Link
The Safety & Sanitation Committee meets every month to monitor workplace safety reports and any policies to improve workplace safety which are under examination. The results of these meetings are posted internally for all employees to read. Additionally, the Safety & Sanitation Committee regularly reports to the Board of Directors on the status of workplace safety initiatives.
Monitoring Results
Average Overtime
| FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 hours | 25 hours | 20 hours | 25 hours | 26 hours |
Data on Work-Related Accidents
To ensure a safe working environment, we monitor the occurrence of occupational accidents with the goal of ensuring zero occupational accidents and zero fatalities. In the event of an occupational accident, we have established a system to determine the cause of the accident and, if deemed necessary, implement measures to prevent recurrence. Please refer to "Related Links" below for performance against targets.
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- Work-related accident data
- Commuting accident data
- Fatalities data
- LTIFR (Lost Time Injuries Frequency Rate)
- OIFR (Occupational Illness Frequency Rate)
Employee Education
We educate managers on workplace health and safety measures at manager training sessions. In FY2022, this training was held for all general managers and section managers (including deputy general managers and deputy section managers) (249 employees). At the training, in accordance with our efforts to improve working culture, we explained our company-wide efforts to reduce overtime (prohibiting overtime in excess of 80 hours per month, for all employees, including managers), goal setting for employees’ use of paid leave (set at 17 or more days annually), and other health management-related initiatives. In this way, we take every precaution to ensure that these policies are understood throughout the company and work to link them to increased productivity. Also, in order for these targets to be achieved we set several targets such as reducing the overtime work and taking the leave in our organizational performance evaluation.
A Safe and Healthy Office Environment
Sojitz implements office furnishings and lighting to create a safe and healthy office environment.
RelatedLink
Safety Policies & Crisis Management
Sojitz, beyond its business offices in Japan, has 88 offices overseas and 294 consolidated subsidiaries (as of December 31st, 2022), with numerous employees at HQ, affiliates, and locations outside Japan.
To ensure the safety of employees and their families working in Japan and abroad, we have established the “Sojitz Group Basic Crisis Management Policy.” We have a crisis management system in place to handle natural disasters, including earthquakes and typhoons, as well as other unexpected situations in Japan and abroad, such as terrorist attacks, war, crime, riots, infectious diseases, and cyber-attacks.
In strengthening our crisis management functions for natural disasters, we have also introduced resources to help employees collect information in the event of a natural disaster, take precautionary measures for unusual weather phenomenon, and quickly respond to an emergency. We have constructed a framework to quickly and efficiently confirm the safety of employees and their families, installing a system to confirm the safety of employees at our Tokyo HQ and at Sojitz Group companies in Japan.
The basic tenets of the “Sojitz Group Basic Crisis Management Policy” are as follows:
- 1. Ensure the safety of employees and others
- 2. Ensure the safety of company assets and restart operations as soon as possible
- 3. Support stakeholders and the local community
- 4. Strengthen crisis response and raise crisis management awareness
This framework establishes the President & CEO as bearing the highest responsibility for managing the crisis, and it provides a structure for Sojitz Group to manage crises both within and outside of Japan. The policy also calls for the establishment of an “Emergency Response Unit” in the event of a crisis, headed by the President & CEO, as an organization to specifically handle crisis response.
When sending employees on overseas assignment, we conduct pre-training on safety measures. In addition, we have alliances with emergency medical service companies, with a system in place to manage emergency situations faced by employees on overseas assignment and their families, including accidents, injury and illness.
In Japan, we periodically conduct emergency drills and tests of our safety confirmation system in preparation for major disasters. These drills serve to protect employees and make it possible to continue operations in times of emergency.