Occupational Safety and Health Education Center - “Midori-kan”
Monument for safety and health
The monument for safety and health in the courtyard of the Midori-kan. The design consists of a green cross, meaning safety, surrounded by five materials symbolizing our business.
We thought that personal experiences of hazards are important to improve hazard awareness, so started running an Occupational Safety and Health Education Center -“Midori-kan” in March 2017. The center has 50 different hazard experience facilities inspired by the actual work environment and the dangers that hide in everyday tasks. It also regularly provides specialized education needed for work safety and health in dedicated classrooms, in addition to hazard experience education by expert instructors. Since its establishment until March 2020, the center provided hazard sensitivity training for more than 3,800 Group employees, approximately 650 of whom have also complete specialized training courses.
We introduced VR hazard experience education at our Occupational Safety and Health Education Center in May 2018 to allow participants to experience hazard difficult to simulate with regular equipment. VR allows participants to have a 360° field of vision, better realism and immersion through haptic and other technologies, and experiences of hazard until the end (e.g., before, during and after falling). It is helpful for creating better hazard awareness. Because the devices are portable, we provide the training at each plant of the Group. In 2019, we introduced second and third sets of devices and added five new hazard experience courses. We began to lend them to Group companies as well, aiming to improve hazard awareness further.
High temperature accidents
(gas releases)
High temperature accidents
(steam explosions)
Forklift accidents
(driver moving forward)
Forklift accidents
(pedestrian moving backward)
Falling accidents
(falling from crane)
Falling accidents
(stepping through the floor)
Caught-between accidents
(press)
Caught-in accidents
(high-speed conveyor belt)
Caught-in accidents
(slow-speed conveyor belt)
Electric shock accidents caused by contact with power panel
Tripping accidents caused by difference in height
Cutter accidents resulting in incision wounds
Falling accidents while descending stairs
Stepladder fall accidents
We have established a scheme to award groups and individuals serving as an example to the MMC Group in outstanding safety and health improvement activities over the course of the year.
As the activities carried out by grand prize winners cannot be adequately described in writing, we hold guided visits of facilities open to groupwide participation as an opportunity to observe the award-winning activities as well as exchange opinions and gain insight into overall safety and health improvement activities. The fifth awards were presented in April 2020. The below table lists the facilities presented with awards in the group category. Moving forward, we will continue to actively roll out these outstanding activities within the Group in a bid to further raise the levels of safety and health.
| Award | Winner | Award-winning Activities |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Prize | MMC TOOLING Corporation | Safety activities that were effective for achieving absolutely no accidents for 47 months, workplace revitalization, and quality improvement as well |
| Narita Branch Office, Safety and Environment Division, Mitsubishi Hitachi Tool Engineering, Ltd. (now MOLDINO Tool Engineering, Ltd.) | Auxiliary device for supplying powder to powder forming machines | |
| Outstanding Achievement Award | Environment and Safety Dept., Kyushu Plant | Promotion of on-site hazard experience education |
| Incentive Award | Sambo Plant, Mitsubishi Shindoh Co., Ltd. (now Sambo Plant of Mitsubishi Materials Corporation) | Safety measures related to the handling of large dies for indirect extruders |
| Environment and Safety Dept., Mitsubishi Materials Electronic Chemicals Co., Ltd. | Status of the occurrence of accidents, including occupational accidents, and future safety activities | |
| Akita Plant, Japan New Metals Co., Ltd. | Utilization of on-site hazard (safety) experience education | |
| Honorable Mention | Wakamatsu Plant, Mitsubishi Shindoh Co., Ltd. (now Wakamatsu Plant of Mitsubishi Materials Corporation) | Activities for reducing near-miss incidents in forklift work |
| Akashi Plant | Initiatives for eliminating accidents resulting in incision wounds | |
| Yokoze Plant | More intensive patrolling of site while the kiln is not running | |
| Operating Dept., Hachimantai Geothermal Energy Co., Ltd. | Continuation of accident-free operation for 20 consecutive years | |
| Nagaoka Plant, Engineering Division, Mitsubishi Materials Techno Co. | Initiatives for preventing the recurrence of past occupational accidents |
As the results of an analysis of past occupational accidents revealed issues in risk identification, we have been providing MMC Group facilities with safety and health guidance through outside consultants. Having an expert point out latent risks that are usually overlooked by on-site personnel and taking measures to mitigate the identified risks raises the on-site safety level and improves the hazard sensitivity of employees.
The Safety & Environment Department has been running an internal portal website since February 2017 for the collection, dissemination, and viewing of information about safety, health, disaster prevention and the environment. As regards health and safety, safety data and safety chronology that had previously only been stored on head office servers along with occupational accident case studies, documents used for safety and health training and information concerning health and mental health have been classified, organized and published to the intranet.
Computer graphics have been used to produce videos depicting cases of typical occupational accidents that have occurred in the MMC Group. The videos can be used to offer straightforward explanations of the conditions of an occupational accident, its cause, countermeasures taken and the lessons learned.
All past accidents in the Group have been entered into a database. That database has been available on the internal portal website since June 2017. It allows keyword and full-text searches and the creation of accident calendars, contributing to the preparation of safety education materials as well as measures against similar accidents. It is constructed so that all plants can obtain the necessary information swiftly and accurately, helping to bolster our safety foundation and foster a safety culture.
Since 2014, we have been compiling a collection of safety and health best practices on a yearly basis, highlighting unique and highly-effective initiatives implemented at each MMC Group facility to prevent occupational incidents. We are promoting the spread of best practices by presenting them during National Safety Week as a shared asset for increasing the Group’s safety and health levels.
The number of employees involved in occupational accidents, including injuries without lost time, in the Company and in 22 major Group companies was 185 in 2019. Of these, 32 were lost time injuries. The number of accidents at the Company, on a non-consolidated basis, has been showing a downward trend for the past ten years, but it has leveled off in recent years. The Company’s accident frequency rate (number of deaths and injuries per 1 million working hours), which is an assessment of the frequency of occupational accidents, was 0.17. This is lower than the manufacturing industry average of 1.20. In 2020, we will further ensure equipment safety through risk assessment, add further measures for preventing accidents, and promote initiatives to achieve our goal of zero accidents.
* Figures are based on calendar years and do not include minor incidents
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMC (non-consolidated) |
Fatal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lost-time (or more serious) |
2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |
| No lost-time | 24 | 21 | 20 | 18 | |
| MMC (subcontractors) |
Fatal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lost-time (or more serious) |
3 | 7 | 10 | 4 | |
| No lost-time | 14 | 11 | 13 | 18 | |
| Group companies (Incl. subcontractors) |
Fatal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lost-time (or more serious) |
14 | 32 | 35 | 26 | |
| No lost-time | 90 | 109 | 95 | 117 | |
| Totals | Fatal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lost-time (or more serious) |
19 | 40 | 48 | 32 | |
| No lost-time | 128 | 141 | 128 | 153 | |