Sustainability
Occupational Safety and Health
Basic Approach
The NGK Group operates an ISO 45001-certified Occupational Safety and Health Management System (OSHMS) in line with its Safety and Health Policy. The OSHMS serves as a mechanism for the ongoing, systematic achievement of employee safety and health initiatives. By strictly implementing this system and conducting risk assessment-based safety measures, we strive to raise the level of occupational safety and health throughout the entire Group, including for contractors on-premises.
Structure to Promote Safety and Health Management
NGK established the Environment, Safety and Health Committee chaired by the Executive Vice President in order to raise the level of the entire Group’s safety and health. This committee meets at least biannually to deliberate and determine the Group’s initiatives and action plan as well as monitor the results of activities, situation of work-related accidents and countermeasures. The committee reports to the Board of Directors and undergoes a review by senior management. Moreover, every business site holds Business Site-Specific Safety and Health Committee meetings monthly led by relevant labor representatives of every department and attended by General Safety and Health Manager (directors of each site/vice presidents). In addition to promoting awareness of Group activities and action plans, the committees investigate and deliberate important matters related to safety and health unique to each business site, and then penetrate and implement findings through the Safety and Health Committee members of each workplace.
Enhancing Safety and Health Activities
NGK views the enhancement of safety and health activities as one of its top priorities. In addition to rigorous operation of our occupational safety and health management system, we developed our third three-year action plan to start from FY2023. It is built around the key themes of compliance, governance, and risk reduction. We are promoting safety and health activities with our action policies defined as "ensuring thorough legal compliance," "further enhancing our Group governance structure," and "preventing serious accidents and disasters." Concerning "preventing serious accidents and disasters," in addition to comprehensive risk assessments covering existing facilities and operations, when introducing new facilities or operations or modifying operations, we conduct a thorough risk assessment in advance to eliminate risks or reduce them to an acceptable level. All of NGK’s business locations and plants as well as manufacturing Group companies in Japan and overseas have obtained ISO 45001 certification.
Results of FY2022 Activities
| Medium-Term Action Plan | Fiscal year implementation items | Key Activities |
|---|---|---|
| Strengthen Risk Management | Reduce risk of serious injuries/accidents in the workplace | We completed a reexamination of equipment/operations at all production sites, including overseas facilities, that present workers with a critical risk of being caught in rotating machinery or electric shock as well as equipment that presents a risk of explosion, such as degreasing furnaces and hydrogen furnaces, and we put into place operational safeguards (e.g., administrative measures) to control these risks. We are also mostly finished with the implementation of engineering or technical measures (e.g., equipment update or remodeling), except at some overseas sites. |
| Strengthen Group Governance | Entrench Group company governance mechanisms | In addition to safety and health-related auditing of Group companies by the dedicated department of the Head Office, Group company governance was strengthened through internal audits of Group companies by business group specialized teams responsible for overseeing them. |
Numerical Targets
NGK has set the following numerical targets for 2023.
- Zero fatal or serious accidents throughout the Group
- Group-wide lost-worktime accident severity rate of 0.01 or less
In 2022 there were no fatal or serious accidents throughout the Group. And the 2022 group-wide lost-worktime accident severity rate was 0.03.
Work-Related Fatalities
Work-Related Accidents
Trends in Work-Related Accidents
Work-Related Accidents by Type (past 7 years; NGK)
Response to work-related accidents
In the event of a work-related accident, following the NGK Group’s rules, we promptly notify relevant departments and convene the Work-Related Accident Deliberation Committee pursuant to the regulations oｆ each company. This ensures that we are able to thoroughly identify the cause and implement countermeasures against future recurrence.
In 2022, there were 39 non-lost worktime and lost worktime accidents Groupwide. Broken down, these included four at NGK, 11 at manufacturing Group companies in Japan, and 24 at manufacturing Group companies outside Japan. The number of times employees were caught in rotating machinery or electrocuted, an area of focus, was brought to zero, but falls on same level while walking (9 accidents) and daily supplementary work-related accidents occurring during preparations, cleaning or cleanup (13 accidents) stayed at the same level. As a result, we will conduct thorough risk assessments of daily supplementary work and further increase our ability to identify potential risks this year as well.
Number of contractor accidents severe enough to result in lost worktime
Number of contractor deaths
Severity Rate (number of lost workdays per 1,000 hours worked)
Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (Employees)
Occupational Illness Frequency Rate
External certification of occupational safety and health management system
To continuously raise the level of occupational safety and health in workplaces, we encourage companies in the NGK Group to acquire international certification for occupational safety and health management systems.
In 2017, our Nagoya Site received the first ISO 45001 private certification in Japan. In 2018, all other NGK sites and plants in Japan received ISO 45001 certification and JIS Q 45100 certification.
As of June 2021, all 26 manufacturing Group companies in Japan and overseas have completed the acquisition of ISO 45001.
Acquisition of Occupational Safety and Health Management System Certification
Safety and Health Training
NGK provides training to employees and assists with their acquisition of qualifications/licenses required under safety and health laws and regulations. Our training includes various in-house programs on safety and health along with curriculum sourced from outside the company. In FY2022, a total of 2,708 employees received in-house group training on safety and health standards. The breakdown includes rank-based training/training for newly-promoted employees (647), danger prediction training (2,006), and ISO 45001 internal audit training (55). This excludes training conducted by each department such as worker training and job rotation training, external training for crane operators and the like, and safety officer training.
Main Training Programs
| Training programs | Training curriculum |
|---|---|
| Legal training | Group training mainly for managers that provides a summary of safety and health related laws and regulations |
| Internal safety and health training | In-house group training required of employees, including workplace supervisor training and training on dust, low-voltage electricity, organic solvents, VDT, etc. |
| External safety and health training | Training conducted offsite required of employees, including lift/crane operators and various operation chiefs |
| New employee training | Group training for new graduate hires and individual training provided to newly assigned employees including temporary employees |
| Job rotation training | Training conducted by each department for employee transfers and work changes |
| Stratified education /Promotion training | Training provided at the time of promotion, including new promotions as well as newly appointed assistant managers, managers, general managers, and directors of business sites Stratified education training is provided to new graduate hires, mid-career hires, and workers promoted to regular employee status |
| Internal auditor training | Group training for the purpose of developing and improving the level of ISO45001 internal auditors |
| Worker training | Training and exercises for frontline work are conducted to evaluate skill level and certification of work proficiency |
| Frontline management training (safety officers) | (See below) |
| Danger-Prediction Training Center | (See below) |
Acquisition of safety officer qualification
To increase their managerial skills, we train managers to become Safety Officers through e-learning and encourage them to obtain Safety Officer Qualification*. As of FY2022, 294 managers in research & development and engineering departments, including general managers, plant managers, and managers of the manufacturing department had obtained this qualification (Approx. 70% of target managers). We also encourage engineers of design and maintenance departments for in-house equipment and production engineers at our plants to obtain Safety Assessor Qualification*.
Safety Officer Qualification/Safety Assessor Qualification: Qualifications established and administered by The Institute of Global Safety Promotion (IGSAP). The qualifications certify that an individual possesses understanding and knowledge of safety or knowledge and skills of machinery based on international safety standards, respectively.
Establishment of Danger-Prediction Training Center
To prevent injuries mainly among young workers and inexperienced workers, in 2018 we established the 450 m2 Danger-Prediction Training Center at our Chita Site, where we launched safety training led by specialist employees with experience outside of the company.
The training center features equipment that enables employees to safely experience work-related injuries that have occurred in the past including caught in or between equipment and work-related accidents that could lead to serious injury such as electric shock or explosions. Combined with classroom learning using computer graphics, the training center provides practical programs where employees can refine their sensitivities toward dangers.
In 2020, we introduced a virtual reality system for experiencing dangers and launched a new training program that combines this with conventional training approaches. As of FY2022, a running total of 6,327 NGK Group employees have participated.
