Safety / Quality
Process Safety and Disaster Prevention
Targeting Zero Process Accidents
Basic Safety Policies
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Safety forms our management foundation, and is the basis of all corporate activities.
We take action with priority given to ensuring safety in all activities in the company. - Safety is the foundation of local and worldwide communities’ confidence in Kaneka.
We do our best to develop their trust. -
Safety is based on our belief that “All accidents can be prevented.”
We always move forward without being satisfied with lukewarm results. -
Safety is the responsibility of every employee in accordance with his/her duties.
We fulfill our responsibilities by mutually clarifying the duties we have assumed. - Safety must be maintained continuously.
We ensure safety through steady efforts on a daily basis.
Based on a shared commitment to safety first, management and frontline staff are advancing toward our goal of zero process accidents by working to foster a safe culture and ensure the intrinsic safety of equipment, thus inspiring public trust in the safety of our manufacturing sites.
Safe Culture
- Promotion of safety awareness: Safety management training for plant general managers and production supervisors
- Ensuring adherence to basic safety practice (the 3S’s, greetings, handrail holding)
- Development of physical awareness of danger: Hands-on training to heighten sensitivity to danger based on learning through physical experience with virtual reality equipment
Emergency Response Training
We annually conduct comprehensive disaster drills, based on scenarios such as a large-scale earthquake or a fire caused by hazardous material leakage, at all parent manufacturing sites jointly with local governments and local industrial facilities so that we can promptly and effectively respond to emergency situations.
Emergency Response and Evacuation Drills (Examples in fiscal 2021)
| № | Training | Content (Purpose) |
|---|---|---|
| (1) | Undisclosed scenario training | Abnormal events and scenarios are not disclosed in advance. A third party introduces ad-lib elements to train training participants in making on-the-spot judgments and communication methods. |
| (2) | Comprehensive disaster drills | Assuming plant damage, the entire plant participates in these drills, with participation by government representatives. Training often uses undisclosed scenarios from (1). Serves also to convey safety and security to the government. |
| (3) | Drills for nighttime power outages | Training to carry out bare minimum activities in complete darkness (while wearing a headlamp, etc.). |
| (4) | Toxic gas leakage evacuation drills | Evacuation drills positing a chlorine gas leak, including at adjacent plants. Includes evacuating buildings, wearing a gas mask, and practicing gas concentration measurement. |
Comprehensive Disaster Drills
| Manufacturing Site | Date | Participants | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Takasago Manufacturing Site | December 13, 2021 | 2,078 | An earthquake resulting in a hazardous material leakage |
| Osaka Manufacturing Site | November 10, 2021 | 1,024 | An earthquake resulting in a fire |
| Shiga Manufacturing Site | December 20, 2021 | 446 | An earthquake resulting in a fire |
| Kashima Manufacturing Site | March 7 and 14, 2022 | 120 | A fire caused by flammable gas leakage |
We advance countermeasures against natural disasters in order of priority, including promoting the earthquake-proofing of equipment in preparation for large-scale earthquakes, and implementing risk assessment for typhoons, heavy rains and floods, which have frequently occurred in recent years, based on hazard maps for all parent manufacturing sites and Group companies in Japan.
We also learn how to initially respond to a fire and how to use a hydrant to prevent the spread of a fire through daily training to ensure that we can immediately perform self-defense fire-fighting operations.
To constantly improve our disaster coping skills and strengthen anti-disaster activities, we join a hydrant operation competition held locally, ranking higher every year.
Equipment Safety
To prevent accidents in the Kaneka Group, we have been working to develop technology and assessment techniques focusing on explosions and leaks, and on equipment safety measures for rotating equipment. In addition, with a view to the sustainable factory model we are aiming for in the future, we are pursuing initiatives to address problems with digital technology. For example, we have begun efforts to develop an AI-based risk assessment system and introduce image recognition technology to prevent human error.
Although eight process accidents, including minor accidents, occurred in fiscal 2021, there were no serious accidents related to process safety. When the accidents occurred, we promptly notified the relevant public fire department. And, we apologized to local residents and anyone affected by the disturbance.
Safety Best Practices
To further raise the level of safety across the Kaneka Group, we have issued safety best practices, sharing information from the perspectives of safety measures, risk assessment, education, and the passing on of safety techniques. We will continue to share the best practices on a regular basis to raise safety awareness and facilitate safety behavior.
Plant Safety Initiatives
We previously conducted a variety of safety management and safety technology training in a group format, targeting newly appointed manufacturing department general managers, section managers, and safety & technology promoting expert. By switching to online venues and distributing audio materials, we have continued to carry out training seamlessly even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We assess the safety of equipment using HAZOP (*). We make it compulsory that employees registered as evaluators through the in-house certification program should assess the safety of equipment. To foster safety evaluators, we annually hold a HAZOP workshop, inviting external experts as lecturers.
We have established a technique for assessing the risk of accidental chemical mixing and a method for evaluating thermal runaway in chemical reactions. We will continue to improve these safety techniques to ensure plant safety.
* HAZOP (Hazard and Operability Studies): A hazard identification technique used for chemical plants.
CHECK & ACT
To reduce the number of process accidents, we will work to ensure risk assessment and intrinsic safety by setting risk assessment standards and fostering safety evaluators. We will continue to make company-wide efforts to thoroughly prevent recurrence and similar accidents.
