Occupational health and safety

Occupational safety and health is one of the most important themes in the DOWA Group’s efforts to leverage its business toward sustainability. Therefore, the Company conducts activities based on the basic philosophy of “safety takes priority over everything” grounded on annual plans formulated from risk management planning for all businesses domestic and overseas. The DOWA Group’s safety and health activities cover all workers involved, including subcontractors and contractors.

The Group’s safety management activities are carried out through collaboration between the Environment & Safety Department of DOWA Holdings and the safety and environment managers and staff appointed at each operating company. The director in charge of human resources at DOWA Holdings is responsible for the health and productivity management activities. They promote these activities throughout the Group while developing and building a system to promote them in the human resources departments, safety departments, occupational health physicians, and health insurance associations of each Group company, while holding regular exchanges of opinions with labor unions.
The Sustainability Subcommittee holds Groupwide discussions on occupational safety and health. Matters recognized as important by the Sustainability Subcommittee are reported to the Sustainability Committee, which is above the Sustainability Subcommittee, and further important matters are reported to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors provides oversight on safety and health.

The Safety and Environment Personnel Council brings together members of the DOWA Holdings Environment & Safety Department and environment managers and staff from each operating company and technical support company. The Council serves as a forum for discussing the promotion of Company-wide safety activities, sharing the details of each company’s activities, and supporting each other. The Council also holds discussions and shares direction for implementing measures in the Midterm Plan about twice a year. In the event of an accident, the Council verifies the facts, investigates the causes, and discusses emergency and permanent countermeasures, then provides feedback. The details and measures decided at this Council are disseminated by the safety and environment officer to each operating subsidiary, creating a system for rapid information sharing.
The Regional Safety Council has been set up as a place for communication, allowing members from each region to share examples of safety-related activities and ideas and consult with one another. The council is endeavoring to boost the level of safety-related activities by helping establish cooperative ties among different business fields.

At each of our sites, the Health and Safety Committee, whose members consist of the company and the trade union, meets once a month to share and study cases of basic accidents, conduct safety and health patrols and hold study sessions on health management in order to prevent hazards or health problems for workers. In addition, the Central Labour-Management Roundtable Meeting is held every year between the Company's management, the DOWA Federation of Trade Unions and representatives of trade unions at each location to exchange opinions and discuss employee safety and health, in order to build good labour-management relations.

The Group has established an Environment, Health, and Safety Management System (EHS-MS) that integrates the environmental management system (ISO 14001) and the occupational health and safety management system (ISO 45001), and aims to operate in compliance with ISO standards.
Under Medium-term Plan 2024, we implemented various activities, with the rebuilding of the Group’s EHS-MS (Environment, Health, and Safety Management System) as a key measure to ensure the operation of the system at all of our locations, with the aim of operating, maintaining, and improving our occupational health and safety systems based on risk management. We deployed our EHS-MS Manual, which clarifies roles, responsibilities, and authority of DOWA Holdings and operating companies, throughout the Group, and achieved a ratio of 99% of business locations operating under EHS-MS in fiscal 2024.

By leveraging an integrated management system that combines environmental management and occupational health and safety, we will work to enhance the management level of each area and strive to prevent accidents and disasters.

Regarding work-related accidents at the Group, when compared with the figures for business establishments of the same size in the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s occupational accident statistics, the frequency rate was 1.20 for DOWA (including contract and dispatch work) compared to an average of 1.30, and the severity rate was 0.01 (including contract and dispatch work) for DOWA compared to an average of 0.06, meaning DOWA came in with a below average frequency rate and severity rate compared to business sites of the same size covered by the occupational accident statistics. We will continue to implement a variety of safety measures and strengthen our safety management system.

Businesses where serious accidents occur may be designated as “Special Guidance Workplaces for Safety Management (designated sites)” under the Industrial Safety and Health Act. As a system similar to that of a “designated site,” the Group has established its own “semi-designated site” system, which actively supports improvements to the safety systems of each workplace. Safety personnel from DOWA Holdings and the applicable operating companies support and guide the “semidesignated sites” in improving their safety systems. Additionally, we aim to improve the safety level of the entire Group by appropriately addressing issues within our own Company through discussions from various perspectives at the Safety and Environment Personnel Council.

In addition, we conduct safety audits and occupational health and safety assessments while incorporating objective perspectives provided by external consultants.

We hold Safety and Health Achievement Presentations with the aim of sharing best practices regarding safety and health initiatives throughout the Group. At the fiscal 2023 presentation, all operating companies gave presentations on four themes: “Work improvement and equipment improvement,” “Safety education,” “Safety and health activities,” and “Improvement of management systems.” The presentation fostered lively discussions on the topics at hand. Additionally, materials and videos are posted on the in-Company portal site to make them available to those who were unable to attend the presentation.

It is important to be conscious of various risks in the workplace, including moving parts, heavy objects, high temperatures, and electric currents, fully comply with the correct procedures and rules, and prevent injury to oneself and others. Experience of hazardous situations motivates people to act in a manner that ensures safety, so in fiscal 2024 we began conducting experience-based hazard education in the Okayama area ahead of our establishment of an experience-based hazard education facility. There are plans to introduce it elsewhere too, and measures are underway to that end, including introducing the necessary equipment and conducting the necessary education (training the instructors).

The DOWA Group’s measures to prevent work-related accidents include efforts to enhance risk assessment activities and safety risk assessments for existing and new businesses. For new businesses we conduct safety audits and, since FY 2019, we have performed design and construction for new businesses based on the DOWA Technical Manufacturing Standard, a series of standardized rules for each stage of the process, including construction conceptualization and both basic and detailed design. We use a checklist to evaluate the status of necessary systems to ensure any anticipated environmental and occupational health and safety risks have been dealt with and to ascertain whether there is a proper understanding of residual risks, with proper countermeasures in place. After this process, confirmation and guidance are provided.

The entire Group has been implementing risk assessment initiatives Groupwide for many years. We have established Risk Assessment Guidelines to further improve our risk assessment practices. The guidelines clarify management’s responsibilities and set key points for conducting risk assessments starting from the source of the hazard.

●Key Points of Review in the Risk Assessment Guidelines

Issues with equipment, such as defective safety equipment, causing excessive strain during work, and failure to account for human error, must be resolved at the time the equipment is introduced.
The DOWA Group has been using the DOWA Technical & Manufacturing Standard (DTMS) since fiscal 2019 as a manual to provide standards for processes from equipment planning to introduction and commencement of use. This standards manual comprises points to be considered such as workflows, technical standards, and risk assessments, as well as check sheets for each stage. Before introducing equipment, sufficient discussion and deliberation is conducted between the relevant personnel to ensure that safe and effective equipment will be introduced.

The DOWA Group has formulated the DOWA Group Health and Productivity Management Declaration and promotes a variety of health-related measures.

In order to “create a workplace where employees can work actively and with healthy body and mind”, as set out in the Health and Productivity Management Declaration, it is necessary to pursue not only good health check-up results, but also a state in which each and every employee is full of vitality. Therefore, we have set the following indicators (KPIs) and are working on various measures.

The Group takes health and productivity management measures for employees and their families beyond those required by law, such as gynecological and family checkups and subsidies for immunizations. We have also set up a special hotline for telephone and in-person consultations with a professional counselor (clinical psychologist).

In order to detect diseases at an early stage and prevent serious illnesses, efforts are made to ensure that 100% of employees receive regular health checkups, and recommendations and health guidance are given based on the results of health check-ups. The consultation rate for regular health checkups in 2024 was 99.0%.
Furthermore, a system for subsidising the costs of various medical check-ups, such as physical examinations, has been established to promote meticulous medical check-ups, including non-statutory test items. The amount invested by the DOWA Health Insurance Association in subsidising the cost of various medical checkups (physical examinations, etc.) in FY2024 was JPY 87 million.
Furthermore, we take seriously the health challenges posed by global infectious diseases (including pulmonary tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and malaria), and our Group is proactively responding to these challenges. We alert our employees to these global health issues by educating those posted overseas about infection prevention. For early detection of tuberculosis, in particular, regular health checkups, including chest x-rays, are conducted.

We are working to prevent long working hours and encourage employees to take paid leave so that they can fulfil both their work and personal lives. As a result of Group-wide efforts to set targets, the paid leave utilisation rate is improving year by year.

To support the health of our employees, we have established systems such as a free smoking cessation programme. In addition, some Group companies have introduced cafeteria systems that can be used for various occasions, such as exercise and leisure, to encourage individual employees to improve their lifestyles.

We are also working to hold health-related events at Group companies. Since FY 2025, DOWA Holdings and operating companies have been organizing dietary education programs and walking events, while also encouraging employees to check their daily physical condition, thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of health (*).

The DOWA Group and some Group companies were named the Recognition Program of the Outstanding Organizations of KENKO Investment for Health (Large Enterprise Category and Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Category) by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Nippon Kenko Kaigi.