Nissui Group’s Declaration of Safety

In fiscal 2023, the President issued a message to all employees, including those at Group companies, emphasizing that “safety is our top priority.” Furthermore, at the Nissui Group Safety Convention held on February 29, 2024, targeting domestic Group companies, the philosophy was reiterated as the “Nissui Group’s Declaration of Safety.” Based on this declaration, the Nissui Group has been advancing its occupational safety and health activities.

Nissui Group’s Declaration of Safety (PDF) 109KB

The Nissui Group has designated departments in each segment to oversee the Safety and Health Committees of each business location and established the ”Occupational Safety and Health Subcommittee” under the umbrella of the Business Foundation Risks Committee, with the heads of each overseeing department as members. The subcommittee is held once each quarter and addresses various issues relating to “labor safety,”“work hours” and “harassment” matters of Nissui, including its Group companies. Furthermore, in accordance with the law, the rate of establishment of Safety and Health Committees has reached 100% for workplaces in Japan with 50 or more employees.

Overall policy

The Occupational Safety and Health Subcommittee, under the secretariat of the Human Resources Department, compiles work-related accident trends for the entire Nissui Group in Japan, focusing on the type, severity, and frequency of accidents. By sharing this information with each department and raising awareness throughout the company, the subcommittee aims to prevent similar accidents in the future. In addition, each department formulates priority issues and activity plans for the fiscal year, and subcommittees periodically report on the progress of these plans to strengthen the safety framework through horizontal deployment of initiatives.
Nissui expresses the message of “aiming to create a safe and comfortable work environment in which each employee will be able to demonstrate his or her capabilities in a healthy way, fulfill the role assigned to him or her and work energetically.

Group-wide Activities

Since fiscal 2021, the "Nissui Group Safety Convention" has been held every year as a Group-wide activity with the participation of the President, officers, members of the Occupational Safety and Health Subcommittee and the respective safety management chiefs and persons in charge of safety at the Group companies.
At the Convention, the President announced the "Nissui Group's Declaration of Safety" as his message to all employees in the Nissui Group in Japan, reiterated that both safety managers and site staff must give top priority to safety in any and all situations and made sure everyone is on the same page with respect to the importance of safety, in order to realize a "workplace free of work-related accidents in which everyone can work safely with a sense of security."
In addition, at the convention, Nissui commends safety activities by presenting an award for safety activities conducted by Group companies that are particularly outstanding and widely spreads good examples among Group companies in an effort to invigorate safety activities of the Group as a whole. Nissui also makes time for a lecture on safety management given by an outside lecturer to boost the safety management standards on a Group-wide scale.

FY2023 Initiatives by Department

In addition to the translation of educational tools for non-Japanese workers who speak a variety of languages, we are also enhancing safety education using pictograms that do not rely on language, soliciting safety slogans from employees to raise safety awareness in each department, and conducting video conferences using remote means to track progress of these initiatives.

Implementation of Risk Assessment in Businesses (New/Existing)

At the Nissui Group's production plants in Japan, risk assessments relating to tools, machinery and equipment, and work methods are conducted on a regular basis, in addition to those required by law, such as risk assessments pertaining to the handling of chemical substances and the introduction of new machinery. By verbalizing the process that may lead to an accident, inherent risks are clarified. The level of risk can then be evaluated and examined in terms of the severity of the injury, the degree of urgency, etc., and appropriate measures can be taken to prevent such accidents from occurring. In addition to the above, the supervising offices of each department support the promotion of voluntary risk reduction activities by participating in safety patrols and safety and health committee meetings at directly managed business sites and domestic Group companies and providing education on methods and concepts such as risk assessment.
Additionally, regular departmental meetings are conducted where related Group companies gather to report and share safety activity information, and monthly safety meetings are held with representatives from all departments’ supervising offices, facilitating the sharing of updates on accident occurrences within the Group, progress of subcommittee action plans, and horizontal dissemination of measures against serious accidents, as well as the accumulation and sharing of experiences and insights from successful and unsuccessful practices, thereby enhancing the overall level of safety management across the Group.

Safety Education

At the Nissui Group's production plants in Japan, safety education is provided to employees not only at the time of employment or transfer, but also through daily KYT activities, on-the-job training, reminders on bulletin boards (pictograms, etc.), and opportunities to learn about near-miss incidents and other accidents at morning meetings. We also provide training on occupational safety and health and traffic safety courses for new employees, as well as strengthen safety awareness activities at domestic Group companies in conjunction with national campaigns (National Safety Week, Occupational Health Week, New Year's holidays, etc.).
Additionally, at Nissui’s food production plants safety training programs called “Safety School” are being carried out using machines that allows participants to experience what it feels like to be entangled in conveyor belts and machines to experience confirmation by finger pointing and calling out, to raise the safety awareness of its employees.

Labor safety training for foreign employees is here

Machines that allow participants to experience what it feels like to be entangled in conveyor belts

Machines to experience confirmation by finger pointing and calling out

Pictograms example (Caught in machinery)

Acquisition of Occupational Health and Safety Management System ISO45001 Certification

Nissui is actively pursuing ISO45001 certification for all its business sites in Japan to ensure a safe and healthy work environment for its employees. In January 2021, the Fine Chemicals General Plant Tsukuba Plant became the first Nissui site to achieve this certification. Additionally, in fiscal 2023, a company within the the Nissui Group aquaculture business also secured the certification. We remain committed to enhancing our occupational safety and health measures, working steadfastly towards achieving a workplace with zero work-related accidents in collaboration with our employees.

Within our fishing operations, we actively work at the level of each Group company to ensure a safe working environment for employees involved in fishing activities. We prioritize the safety of crew members on fishing vessels and strive to improve the working environment, while ensuring third-party monitoring to increase transparency.

Human Rights

Number of Incidents of Work-related Accidents

We strive to achieve zero occupational accidents; however, our immediate goal is to limit the number of accidents to 100 or less per year for the entire Nissui Group in Japan. Based on the number of accidents (cases without/with lost workdays/cases resulting in fatality) by department, type, etc. as the main indicator, we have established a system to compare the frequency rate with the industry average.

Scope: Total of 36 companies, Nissui Corporation and its group companies in Japan (including unconsolidated affiliate companies in Japan)

Frequency Rate

Scope: Nissui Corporation

(Note): One of the safety indices to indicate the incidence of work-related accidents, calculated by the following formula: Frequency rate = number of those who suffered from injury resulting in lost work time ÷ total working hours × one million actual work hours

Ratio of Work-related Accidents by Type

Scope: Total of 36 companies, Nissui Corporation and its group companies in Japan (including unconsolidated affiliate companies in Japan)

Living Wage Support

The Nissui Group not only complies with labor laws and regulations regarding minimum wages and their payment in each country, but also pays a living wage that enables employees to maintain a certain standard of living, taking regional market rates into consideration. In fiscal 2023, the average annual salary of Nissui was 7.66 million yen.

Prevention of Long Working Hours

Nissui manages working hours to prevent employees from working excessive hours based on the Labor-Management Agreement, which provides for even stricter limits than the law. More specifically, our attendance management system is used to manage work hours at the workplace; the Human Resources Department monitors the situation mid-month and at the end of the month, and issues warnings as necessary to ensure thorough management. In addition, we are promoting understanding of working hour management by distributing a video explaining the content of the work hour agreement (known as the “Article 36 Agreement”) and how to enter information into our attendance management system. Furthermore, we promote flexible work styles, such as flextime and telework, while striving to prevent health problems caused by excessive workloads. Depending on work performance, interviews with industrial physicians and public health nurses are conducted, and if necessary, measures such as work restrictions are put in place.

Code of Ethics Awareness

The Guidelines of Ethical Conduct set out in Nissui’s Code of Ethics states “respect our frank and openhearted communication environment and make an effort to maintain a sound and effective system of internal checks and balances,” and to respect fundamental human rights of individuals as well as prohibit all forms of discrimination and harassment. This Code of Ethics is posted on Nissui’s internal portal site and shared with its employees to instill awareness of the prevention of discrimination and harassment among them.

Measures Against Harassment

In order to prevent incidents of harassment, harassment study groups (seminars, e-learning, and similar) are being conducted. A Harassment Desk has also been set up for employees to consult, and a structure to handle any problems has been established.

Declaration to Eliminate Harassment

On June 1, 2020, the revised power harassment prevention law (Act on Comprehensively Advancing Labor Measures, and Stabilizing the Employment of Workers, and Enriching Workers' Vocational Lives) came into force; in conjunction with this, the President delivered a message to all employees of the Nissui Group in Japan, strongly urging them once again to eliminate workplace harassment. On April 1, 2022, when the power harassment prevention law became applicable to small and medium-sized enterprises as well, the President newly announced "Nissui's Declaration to Eliminate Harassment," taking it as an opportunity to send an even stronger message than before, including Group companies.
Going forward, the Nissui Group will continue to take various measures to prevent harassment and aim at "enabling each and every individual to fully demonstrate his/her abilities."

Basic Stance

The Nissui Group respects the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining in accordance with the laws and regulations of each country in which it operates. In countries and regions where association is not permitted by law, we recognize the importance of collective bargaining and promote collaborative efforts between labor and management to resolve issues.
Nissui has concluded a labor agreement with its labor union (Nissui Adventure Club), and is striving to create and maintain a healthy labor-management relationship through sincere and proactive communication between employees and management for the realization of a better working environment. Furthermore, a union shop agreement has concluded, and the membership rate in the labor union for regular employees at Nissui is 100%.

Implementation of Labor-Management Meetings

At Nissui, important management policy and themes are explained by the president and other executive officers of all businesses at the Annual Policy Labor-Management Meeting, and directors in charge of each business explain important management policies and issues at the Central Labor-Management Council for each business. In addition, proposals are received from the labor union based on the situation in the field, and discussions are engaged in a spirited manner. Furthermore, the company establishes opportunities for regular meetings, such as the Labor-Management Liaison Council, which shares the discussions of the Occupational Safety and Health Subcommittee and facilitates the exchange of opinions; the Safety and Health Committee, where discussions are held between representatives of the company and the labor union at each business site; and the Labor-Management Review Committee, which discusses various personnel, labor, and work-related safety issues with the Human Resources Department. Whenever necessary, such as when revising systems or in cases of labor problems, we hold good-faith labor-management consultations and strive to resolve issues through labor-management cooperation.