Building a Structure for Safety, Health and Disaster Prevention
Promoting various activities based on the "Basic Safety and Disaster Prevention Policy"
The Brother Group's Basic Safety and Disaster Prevention Policy stipulates: "'Safety first' shall be the cornerstone of all operations. We shall try to create a comfortable working environment that allows all our associates to feel safe and work in good health. Safety culture shall be established at the same time." In accordance with this policy, the Brother Group is committed to preventing disasters, injuries, and illnesses among employees and to creating a comfortable workplace under the leadership of the Central Safety, Health, and Disaster Prevention Committee, which is chaired by the safety, health, and disaster prevention officer of Brother Industries, Ltd. (BIL) and composed of the officers of the group facilities in Japan. At the manufacturing facilities of the Brother Group, there have been no fatal occupational injuries over the past six years. In the three years from FY2019 to FY2021, the Brother Group aims for zero serious injuries (including fatal injuries, injuries involving 30 or more days away from work, and injuries with permanent damage) in those facilities.
At the group facilities in Japan, the chairperson of the Central Safety, Health, and Disaster Prevention Committee and the members of the Safety, Health, and Disaster Prevention Committee of each facility conduct regular patrols to check health and safety conditions and disaster preparedness in workplaces.
There were no lost-time injuries reported at BIL's main facilities in Japan during the four years from FY2016 to FY2019. Potential accidents in these facilities include falls from height, forklift accidents, caught in/between accidents, chemical burns, and so forth. To prevent these accidents, the facilities have improved their working environments by installing safety fences and covers that prevent workers from being caught in or between machinery, and put safety rules in place to prohibit unsafe acts, and conducted internal education to ensure compliance with the rules. Training on safe chemical handling has been also conducted regularly to instruct employees on the correct use of chemical substances.
In FY2020, the Brother Group aims for zero deaths and lost-time injuries.
Details of safety and disaster prevention (Brother Industries, Ltd.)
| FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of occupational injuries (target) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Number of fatal occupational injuries | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Frequency rate of lost-time occupational injuries*1 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Frequency rate of lost-time occupational illnesses*2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Number of lost-time occupational injuries (one day or more) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Frequency rate of lost-time injuries in Japan
To ensure safety and health, BIL annually provides risk prediction training, safety and health education, and so forth based on the plans of the respective facilities. As for the education, BIL offers e-learning training for all BIL employees. In FY2019, 3,754 employees, which represented more than 89% of the intended participants, took the training. BIL also conducts an educational session for new employees every April.
In FY2020, this session was held with 82 new employees, the full participation of the intended participants. For mid-career or newly-hired temporary employees, BIL holds educational sessions once a month. The sessions held in FY2019 had 75 employees, involving all of the intended participants. Furthermore, BIL delivers programs tailored to those engaged in chemical handling and other special operations.
As for the driving of company cars, employees are required to receive both permission to drive from the company and traffic safety training.
Each of the Brother Group facilities outside Japan implements education for new and mid-career employees.
Regarding preparation for disasters, BIL has been making efforts to minimize damage caused by possible disasters at its respective facilities. Such efforts include the consolidation of disaster prevention organizations, evacuation drills, initial firefighting training, and lifesaving training using an AED (automatic external defibrillator), and the legal inspection of fire protection equipment.
In 2007, BIL concluded a memorandum of understanding on support and collaboration in the event of a large-scale disaster with its local community through the mediation of a local administrative body. In addition, since 2014, BIL has been conducting evacuation drills jointly with a neighboring nursery school with which BIL signed a memorandum.
Since 2016, BIL has been conducting training for setting up a disaster headquarters at its head office. On October 20, 2019, an event was held in preparation for the disaster expected from a Nankai Trough mega earthquake, with BIL attending as a representative of companies in the Chubu region. At the event, Representative Director & President Ichiro Sasaki spoke about the importance of manufacturing industries in the Chubu region, and about other matters including transportation routes and BCP*4 measures for BIL domestic production, and government support measures to enable fast recovery after the disaster.
An event held in preparation for the disaster expected from a Nankai Trough mega earthquake at National Conference for Promoting Disaster Risk Reduction 2019
Details of safety, health and disaster prevention training (Brother Industries, Ltd.)
| FY2018 | FY2019 | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants in safety training (e-learning) based on BIL's internal regulation on safety and health education procedures | 4,098 | 3,754*5 |
| Number of participants in disaster prevention training (e-learning) based on BIL's internal regulation on safety and health education procedures | 4,071 | |
| Number of participants in other safety and disaster prevention training (e-learning) based on BIL's internal regulation on safety and health education procedures | 946 | 4,443*6 |
- Number of lost-time deaths and injuries from work-related accidents/Total number of working hours x 1,000,000
- Number of lost-time illnesses from work-related accidents/Total number of working hours x 1,000,000
- Source: Survey on industrial accidents provided by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan
- Business Continuity Plan for business recovery in the event of a large disaster
- In FY2019, safety education and disaster prevention training were provided together
- In FY2019, the number of participants includes those in mental health-related education
Promoting Safety, Health and Disaster Prevention Activities on a Global Scale
Information sharing and risk visualization
At the Brother Group's main manufacturing facilities outside Japan, the Workplace Safety and Disaster Prevention Group of BIL's Human Resources Department, which acts as the secretariat of the Central Safety, Health, and Disaster Prevention Committee, conducts regular patrols and audits to increase the level of safety, health and disaster prevention and develop local staff.
The Brother Group shares information about occupational accidents occurring in its main manufacturing facilities in and outside Japan and countermeasures against them on its intranet to make such information available at all group facilities. Each facility applies these countermeasures to its workplaces in order to prevent the same or similar accidents from occurring.
The group annually holds the Brother Safety and Prevention Convention in Japan and honors overseas manufacturing facilities which have implemented excellent safety and disaster prevention activities and presents such activities to facilitate information sharing among the group facilities.
Since FY2017, the group has been engaged in an effort to make the degree of the potential hazards of equipment used in its production sites obvious at a glance. In this effort, the degree of the hazards of such equipment is visualized if it is judged to have residual hazards above a certain level even after safety measures based on a risk assessment are taken.
At the Brother Group, it is required to perform an assessment of the risks associated with operations and equipment when installing equipment for a new project, relocating equipment, or implementing triennial operational changes. The purpose of this risk assessment is to identify potential hazard sources, such as falls, being caught in or between objects, electrocutions, explosions, and fires, and other sources that might exist in each work process, and to evaluate their risk levels and take appropriate measures for each level.
In December 2017, the Brother Group established the "Regulations of system and control for disaster prevention of the Brother Group" to ensure the safety of employees and workplaces when a fire breaks out.
These regulations are composed of three sections: (1) "fire prevention management" to take precautions against fires; (2) "firefighting management" to minimize damage from fires; and (3) "personal safety management" to ensure the safety of employees. The Brother Group will apply these regulations to its main manufacturing facilities outside Japan sequentially.
Some manufacturing facilities, including Brother Industries (Vietnam) Ltd. and Brother Industries (Philippines), Inc., have been externally certified to OHSAS 18001. About 8% of the Brother Group facilities had obtained this certification as of the end of March 2020.
Number of occupational injuries reported and yearly incident rate at main manufacturing facilities outside Japan (lost-time injuries and non-lost time injuries)
Incident rate: (number of occupational injuries/number of employees) x 1,000
The Brother Group will actively continue to promote safety, health and disaster prevention activities, aiming to achieve zero accidents and provide employees with a safer and securer working place.
