To create a safe workplace culture, we are carrying out activities to help employees increase their knowledge of Health and Safety so they can perform their work with such knowledge in mind.
In FY2018, we conducted a Safety Awareness Survey to examine how employees felt about health and safety and whether they were using the skills they have developed or not. We then analyzed the survey results. To address the issues identified in the analysis results, in FY2019, we will develop and implement concrete steps to enhance safety awareness of every single employee.
We will continue to administer the Safety Awareness Survey regularly to promote a safe workplace culture.

With the objective of ensuring our equipment safety activities conforming to global standards (ISO and IEC), we are reviewing the Safety Standards for Group Equipment, which define measures against risks common to production equipment to enhance the safety measures for equipment.
In FY2018, we increased the number of qualified Safety Basic Assessors (SBAs) (90 individuals) for the purpose of enhancing equipment safety skills of equipment development designers and those who modify equipment in Japan. Also, due to the revision of the international standard, we reviewed and revised the current Safety Standards for Group Equipment checklist after collecting feedback from checklist users such as equipment development designers and equipment checkers.
We will continue our efforts to reduce industrial accidents associated with equipment.

We are upgrading and reviewing procedures to standardize them and make them safe and consistent so that employees can work more safely.
In FY2018, we began the RBA-VAP audit at group sites in Japan. To address issues detected in the audit that refer to other sites, we standardized and implemented detailed management methods that would satisfy the audit requirements, and as a result, raised the level of site management.
We will continue to work towards promoting a safe working environment from a common perspective.

To minimize the hazards and dangers of chemical substances, we are continuously taking measures against risks associated with tasks that require workers to handle chemical substances.
Chemicals-related rules have been standardized under the Occupational Health and Safety Management System for the corporate group in Japan. In FY2018, these rules were subdivided by chemical substance category based on the risk level and legal and other requirements. Then, compliance requirements for these subdivided rules were defined. Standardization of the rules in even more detail has reduced risks caused by chemical substance handling.
We will continue to work towards minimizing the hazards and dangers of chemical substances.

It has been over 10 years since the group introduced a mental healthcare program.
During this period, our mental healthcare system has advanced through support activities such as counseling, line care training, support for leaves of absence and returning to work, and stress checks using an online system.
To care for the staff, we have established a system that allows the industrial health staff (including counselors, public health nurses, and nurses) to provide added care so that they can identify employees who are not feeling well earlier and provide them with the appropriate support.
We conduct the stress checks required by law for workplace analysis and improvement.
In workplace analysis, we worked with psychiatrists, industrial physicians, and clinical psychologists to host lectures for industrial health staff where they learned how to analyze stress check results from industrial physicians.
In workplace improvement, we used the workplace analysis results to identify workplaces with a high incidence of mental health problems. Clinical psychologists provided self-care training at these workplaces.
The rate of employees who suffered mental illness went up from FY2015 but remained the same between FY2017 and FY2018. It is however still increasing among young employees, and we will therefore address this issue by effectively providing counseling to detect problems early.
We will continue to work on providing mental health care so that all employees can work with a healthy body and mind.

In the Taiyo Yuden Group, industrial physicians, nurses, and public health nurses provide health guidance to help each employee improve their ability to care for their own health. So far, we have provided three types of guidance: (1) exercise guidance, (2) health guidance, and (3) nutritional guidance. As a result, the rate of employees who were diagnosed with an illness in FY2018 was 52.6% while the national average was 54.1%. To decrease or at least maintain this rate, in FY2018, we began preparing healthy company management activities to promote employee health, improve corporate performance, and enhance corporate social value.
To prevent the employee illness rate from rising, we held a health awareness seminar for smokers in which they gained correct knowledge about cigarettes, learned about limiting of smoking areas, and measured their breath CO levels.
We will continue to promote healthcare activities so that our employees can work comfortably and in good health.