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CSR of DOWA(DOWA Corporate Social Responsibility)

Protecting Life and Health of Workers - DOWA’s Health and Safety

Answers Rest in the Forefront. Our Health and Safety Efforts
Safety and health of employees are the highest priority for any company. The DOWA group strives to be creative and take a unique approach in each of its businesses. Now we are going to introduce how employees in the forefront are engaged in health and safety activities on a daily basis.

 

Chukyo Handa plant of DOWA Thermoengineering Co., Ltd. is located in Kinuura Port Landfill Industrial Park in Handa City, Aichi Prefecture.

DOWA Thermoengineering has 95 employees, including permanent, temporary and part-time employees. It is mainly engaged in heat treatment of automotive parts, specifically automatic transmission and engine related parts. It has 32 units of heat treatment equipment including two continuous feed ovens in the total plant floor area of 10813.2231 m2 and the entire heat treatment process is automated.

Ms Shinkai of the Administration Department in Handa Plant has been engaged in heath and safety activities for eight years. The following is an interview with one of the personnel who works in the forefront of one of DOWA business establishments about her health and safety activities.

Relationship with Health and Safety Activities

“How did you come to be involved in health and safety activities?”

I was assigned a job in charge of the secretariat of the Health and Safety Committee in 2000. Since then I have been given many opportunities to participate in various activities including planning and implementation of plans, visiting other businesses to observe their activities, safety meetings and training sessions.

“What specifically are you doing as part of health and safety activities?”

We established the Health and Safety Committee. The committee now consists of 24 members including representatives of the management and labor forces, a person in charge of general health and safety, safety administrator, health administrator, employment medical advisor and representatives from partner companies.

The meeting is held once every month, and one week prior to the meeting, representatives of the management and labor forces patrol the workplace and their findings are discussed in the meeting. Based on the policy of supervisors, we prepare health and safety plans of our plant and practice in each workplace. KY and 2S activities are conducted on a daily basis, and the issues pointed out through these activities are discussed and put into practice in each workplace as part of regular work. In the committee meeting, the management and labor forces discuss the ways to resolve problems in each workplace and develop plans, aimed at creating workplaces where employees can work safely.

From the Standpoint of the Promoter Side

“What were the problems in proceeding with the health and safety activity?”

I was at a loss when the Health and Safety Committee didn’t work as a forum for discussion. I was not experienced in operation of the secretariat and didn’t know how to mitigate an awkward atmosphere dominating the meeting at that time.

I remember I had a distraught feeling after the meeting. At that time I reflected to find an answer but I couldn’t find any.The reason was that I didn’t have enough knowledge of health and safety and that I hadn’t initiative on my own.

“What was the most impressive event in your health and safety efforts?

According to the plant superintendant’s policy, we decided to promote the 5S and small-group activities.

After one year of preparation we kicked off the project. We held a meeting to present the results after half a year from the kick off.

This was the happiest time for me. I prepared snacks for about thirty people as the presentation was planed after the office hours. I was surprised to see more than sixty people gathered at the cafeteria, a site of the presentation.

All the teams made presentations, and I was very impressed with the high level of health and safety awareness and forward-looking attitudes of workers in our plant.

●5S Activity：	Operational control based on Seiri (organize), Seiton (keep things tidy), Seiso (clean), Seiketsu (Keep clean and tidy) and Shitsuke (discipline) are referred to as 5S Activity, aimed at maintaining and improving workplace environments.
●Small-group Activities：	A small group of employees within the same workplace voluntarily participate in quality control activities, cultivate their own capabilities and skills as well as encourage others to do so, aiming at all employees continuously striving to control and improve workplaces using the QC method.

Voice from the Forefront

“What do you think is most important in promoting the health and safety activity?”

I wondered at that time what stance I should take as a person in charge of health and safety. Now I think the most important thing is to be aware that people who work in the plant are most precious.

First, I was occupied with the determined effort not to leave anybody behind in promoting these activities. Once I made a decision about the direction of these activities, I was able to deal with “Health and Safety” for the first time in reality and I have never been apprehensive about our activities since then.

Even though we are all aiming at the same goal, health and safety efforts are all different, depending on the scale of plants, the number and organizational structure of employees and job descriptions.
What should we do in our workplaces now? What are the effective ways that make sense to every worker? Answers come of themselves by observing the site and listening to people in the forefront.

 

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