Promoting Occupational Safety 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.