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Promoting Occupational Safety and Health

Promoting Occupational Safety and Health

Sharp Group Basic Policies on Safety and Health

Basic Philosophy

The Sharp Group regards protecting the safety, security, and health of employees all over the world as indispensable to its business activities, and is dedicating appropriate management resources in a spirit of Sincerity and Creativity, in order to achieve a safe and pleasant working environment.

Basic Policy

  1. Legislative Compliance
    In addition to strict compliance with legislation related to safety and health in each country and region, all Group companies must comply with in-house standards established in line with the standard Group policy,
  2. Establishment of Management Organization
    The Sharp Group has established a management organization to deal with safety and health, with clearly delineated roles, authority, and responsibilities, and is promoting activities at the structural level.
  3. Establishment and Operation of Management System
    The Sharp Group has established an occupational safety and health management system, and is engaged in continuous evaluation and improvement of its activities, with a view to eliminating potential hazards and risks to safety and health in the workplace.
  4. Implementation of Education and Training
    The Sharp Group is endeavoring to raise awareness of safety and health and to promote voluntary activities by implementing for all employees the education and training required to improve safety and health.
  5. Setting Targets and Full Employee Participation in Practical Activities
    The Sharp Group sets targets for preventing accidents and improving employees' health, and is striving to meet these targets by means of practical activities in which all employees participate.

Organization Promoting Safety, Hygiene, and Health

Sharp works to ensure the safety and to maintain and improve the health of all of its employees, as well as further the creation of a pleasant working environment. Towards that end, it has developed a clear administrative responsibility system for preventing industrial accidents and improving occupational safety and health levels. Also, in order to show Sharp’s commitment to maintaining and improving health, it calls the names of its organizations and activities “safety, hygiene, and health” instead of “safety and health” and has established the following organizational system for promoting safety, hygiene, and health.

In order to ensure that activities for the maintenance and improvement of safety, hygiene, and health go smoothly, Sharp holds Central Safety, Hygiene, and Health Committee meetings that bring the management and the labor union together to discuss and decide basic policies for the entire company. The Committee establishes annual company-wide policies, objectives, and priority action items related to safety, hygiene, and health and rolls them out to business sites and affiliated companies.

At each business site or affiliated company, the Safety, Hygiene, and Health Committee consisting of labor and management representatives, as well as chemical, electrical, and gas subcommittees, meets every month to report, discuss, and review safety, hygiene, and health activities. The discussion and decision outcomes are communicated to all employees through the various departments.

In addition, in order to establish comprehensive safety, hygiene, and health management on company premises, every month at each business site a Safety and Hygiene Council meeting is convened, which includes subcontractors permanently stationed on-site. This committee discusses safety, hygiene, and health-related policy, targets, and planning, shares updates about safety, hygiene, and health initiatives, and works to prevent industrial accidents.

Organization Promoting Safety, Hygiene, and Health

Fiscal 2021 Objectives Fiscal 2021 Achievements Self-Evaluation Priority Objectives for Fiscal 2022
  • Eliminate severe accidents, reduce industrial accidents
  • Prevent health problems caused by overwork
  • Severe accidents:

    ・Thoroughly enforced rules for working with hazardous and toxic materials to eliminate the occurrence of severe accidents

  • Number of industrial accidents (including cases without lost work time)

    ・By implementing priority measures for workplaces with many industrial accidents, 23.3% year-on-year reduction was achieved

  • Strengthened measures against long work hours for Sharp Corporation employees

    ・General staff worked an average of 104 overtime hours in fiscal 2021, an 8.8% year-on-year reduction

    ・Had all employees working long hours interviewed and guided by a physician

★★
  • Eliminate severe accidents, reduce industrial accidents
  • Prevent health problems caused by overwork
  • Self-evaluation: ★★★ Achieved more than targeted / ★★ Achieved as targeted / ★ Achieved to some extent

Occupational Safety and Health Management System

Sharp has established an occupational safety and health management system and is promoting measures to ensure the further penetration and establishment of “proactive safety,” an initiative under which potential workplace accident risks are identified in advance and eliminated or reduced.

Four of Sharp’s major business sites in Japan have received ISO 45001 certification, and one has received OSHMS certification from the Japan Industrial Safety and Health Association (JISHA). Sharp has also established and is promoting occupational safety and health management systems at other workplaces and affiliated companies to promote systematic, organized, and continuous safety and health management and raise the level thereof.

Example of Company-Wide Effort to Eradicate Industrial Accidents (Promotional Posters)

Initiatives to Reduce Industrial Accidents

Sharp companies in Japan are working to eradicate unsafe practices and cultivate a culture of safety by following safety and procedural rules and by reaffirming awareness of the safety first concept.

At workplaces where there are many industrial accidents, we are raising employees’ awareness of dangers by making potential hazards more visible and conducting training in near-miss accidents and danger prediction. The goal is to prevent things that lead to serious industrial accidents, such as falls and crashes, and getting caught between or inside machinery. In addition, at production sites we are conducting risk assessments, re-inspecting equipment and machinery, and checking parts that aren’t normally entered or looked inside during inspections.

As a result of these efforts, the Sharp Group’s industrial accident rate (frequency rate of lost-worktime industrial accidents*1) in Japan in fiscal 2021 was 0.28, which was continuously lower than the national average for all industries (2.09), the manufacturing industry (1.31), and the electrical machinery, equipment, and supplies manufacturing industry (0.54). In addition, the Sharp Group has not experienced any fatalities since fiscal 2013.

Annual Industrial Accident Rates (Frequency Rate of Lost-Worktime Industrial Accidents)

  • *1 Indicator that represents the incidence of industrial accidents per million work hours (one day or more of suspended operations).
  • *2 National averages for all industries, the manufacturing industry, and manufacturers of electrical machinery, equipment, and supplies are based on a 2021 survey by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare.

Healthy Sharp 23 Health Management Initiative

Mr. Get,
the mascot for Healthy Sharp 23

Sharp’s business philosophy states that “It is the intention of our corporation to grow hand-in-hand with our employees.“ To this end, we have been conducting a health management initiative (from fiscal 2014 to 2022) called Healthy Sharp 23 aimed at supporting the health of employees.
The Sharp Workers Union and the Sharp Health Insurance Association are working together to achieve the following Healthy Sharp 23 targets:
1. Reduce the obesity rate of employees
2. Lower the smoking rate of employees
3. Increase the rate of employees who regularly exercise
4. Reduce the total amount of sick leave associated with mental health issues and disorders
5. Eliminate constant excessive work hours

Making Employees Healthier

Sharp is committed to making its employees healthier. For example, based on the results of periodic health checkups, employees have workplace physician interviews and are provided with health guidance to prevent lifestyle diseases, lose weight, and stop smoking. We have also made all company buildings smoke-free. We also encourage regular exercise through a competitive walking campaign among workplaces, which runs via a smartphone app.

We also have ongoing, focused activities to follow up on employees’ health. For example, we encourage employees who are at risk of brain and heart diseases to undergo health checkups.

Enhancing Mental Health Care

Sharp uses its employee stress check system, which is required under the Japanese law, to let employees realize their level of exposure to stress. The system is expected to lead to the prevention, early detection, and early treatment of mental health issues. Stress check results are also analyzed for each organization, so that we can improve the workplace environment.

Sharp also offers comprehensive mental health services to employees, including counseling with mental health doctors and workplace counselors and counseling at outside specialized institutions. Mental health information is also made available to employees on the intranet.

Our return-to-work support program also demonstrates our commitment to supporting reinstatement after absence and prevention of a recurrence of mental health issues. Employees returning to work will have a preliminary talk with the workplace physician and their department, and they can choose to return to work on a trial basis and work shorter or flexible hours.

Measures to Prevent Employees’ Mental Health Issues

Preventing Health Problems Caused by Overwork

The Sharp Code of Conduct states that “We will actively make efforts to create a safety-first workplace environment and to manage proper working time and the like by placing maximum priority on human life, and by complying with global standards, the laws and regulations and internal company rules relating to work conditions and occupational health and safety.“ The Code of Conduct provides the basis for our efforts to prevent health problems caused by overwork, including efforts to curb long working hours, so that all employees can work in full physical and mental health.

Specifically, in order to limit the amount of overtime work, Sharp has set upper limits on working long hours and has designated days on which no overtime is allowed. Other measures which Sharp utilizes are securing break times between the end of working hours and the start of the next and mandating physician consultation and guidance for employees working long hours.

The total hours actually worked by Sharp Corporation general staff were 1,786 hours per employee in fiscal 2021, and annual overtime work hours per employee were 104 hours.

Measures Related to Work Hours Description
Upper limits on overtime work
  • A general staff member may work overtime (1) for not more than 80 hours per month and (2) for not more than 720 hours per year
  • A manager may work overtime (1) for less than 100 hours per month to the extent that (2) overtime above 80 hours per month is limited to two consecutive months and that (3) the average overtime per month for the past six months is not more than 80 hours
No overtime days
  • Two no overtime days are set per week
Rules to secure rest time
  • Seven consecutive workdays are prohibited
  • At least 10 hours of rest time should be secured between the end of one work period and the start of the next
Encouragement to take scheduled annual paid leave
  • Employees are encouraged to schedule and take their annual paid leave
    (In fiscal 2021, general staff at Sharp Corporation took 79.2% of their annual paid leave.)
Criteria for mandatory physician consultation and Guidance
  • All employees whose overtime above the weekly limit of 40 hours has exceeded 80 hours in the given month must receive physician consultation and guidance

Protecting Employees from Covid-19

Protecting the health of employees, their families, customers, business partners, and all other stakeholders is the number one priority for Sharp. Towards that end we work with relevant organizations to prevent the spread of infection. Sharp undertakes careful measures developed in line with governmental policy and the conditions at each base in Japan to prevent the spread of Covid-19 while ensuring the continuation of business activities.

Primary Measures Taken by Sharp Corporation and Its Affiliates in Japan*

Initiatives Description
Telework and other measures aimed at preventing the spread of infection

Each business unit undertakes measures at its own discretion and based on such considerations as the surrounding traffic infrastructure, the workplace physical environment, employees, job categories, and job duties

< Examples >

  • Teleworking
  • Flexible working options (e.g., flextime and staggered work hours to avoid commuting during rush hours; having employees go straight to and return home directly from their business destinations)
  • Changing commuting modes (changing from public transportation to cars or other modes)
  • Having employees who may be infected (e.g., have an elevated temperature based on a temperature check before coming to work or who have cold symptoms) stay at home
  • Having employees with family members suspected or confirmed to be infected stay at home
  • Workplace entrance temperature checks (and denying entry to anyone with an elevated temperature; the same applies to visitors)
  • Distributing masks to employees and requiring that they wear them
  • Enforcing hand washing and disinfection (putting sanitizing solution at building entrances/exits, in bathrooms, hallways, etc.)
  • Regular disinfection of contact surfaces inside buildings (doorknobs, elevator buttons, etc.)
  • Enforcing physical distancing and coughing etiquette
  • Suspending the requirement for in-person meetings and holding online meetings instead, from the standpoint of preventing infection and reducing contact
  • Spacing out seating and installing partitions in rooms and cafeterias
  • Installing Plasmacluster ion generators in rooms, meeting areas, etc.
Recommending that employees get vaccinated against Covid-19
  • Giving employees paid leave to get vaccinated
  • Offering vaccination in the workplace
    Vaccination is offered at sites in Sakai, Yamato-Koriyama, and Makuhari to employees, temporary staff, subcontractors, and other related personnel wishing to get vaccinated. Between July 2021 and May 2022, a cumulative total of 8,181 people were vaccinated.
  • * These are measures that were implemented between April 2020 and March 2022. We are revising these as the number of Covid-19 cases around Japan fluctuates and as circumstances at our sites change.
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