Society
Promotion of Health and Occupational Safety
Declaration of a Healthy Company
Sysmex Declaration of a Healthy Company
Sysmex regards the promotion of a healthy company as a management issue so that our employees, who are the foundation for the practice of the Group’s corporate philosophy, will have fulfilling lives both physically and mentally. In April 2020, we formulated the Sysmex Declaration of a Healthy Company to accelerate the efforts we have been making, including activities to ensure occupational health and safety, assisting with health enhancement, and providing support for work-life balance. The Sysmex Declaration of a Healthy Company specifies matters of critical importance, including occupational health and safety as well as mental and physical health (materiality of health and productivity management). In this way, Sysmex is prompted to continuously enhance employees’ health and create work environments that value diversity while providing employees with a workplace they feel proud of.
Our Efforts toward Health Enhancement
Efforts toward Employees’ Health Enhancement
Sysmex Corporation provides regular medical checkups for its employees, together with complete physical examinations and health screening for female-specific cancers. In fiscal 2020, we increased the amount of the allowance* provided to cover a secondary test in order to raise the percentage of employees who take the test. If an employee needs to receive medical examinations and treatment continually over a long term, we make work-at-home arrangements for them among our efforts to help them continue to work. Moreover, in addition to mandatory special medical checkups, we provide our own biannual checkups that include tests for hepatitis B and C for employees engaging in operations that deal with infectious substances. This is to ensure early detection and treatment of any illnesses.
Sysmex is registered as a partner company in the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Cancer Screening Corporate Action and Know about Hepatitis Project, and it has signed the Agreement to Promote an Increase in the Rate of Cancer Screening with Hyogo Prefecture. These actions are among our activities to educate employees about diseases and to raise the rate of our employees who take medical checkups.
As a measure against passive smoking, Sysmex removed smoking areas at business offices retained by its Group companies in Japan (by the end of March 2021). We also provide allowances to cover stop-smoking services and attendance at smoking-cessation seminars*.
As a measure against passive smoking, Sysmex removed smoking areas at business offices retained by its Group companies in Japan (by the end of March 2021). We also provide allowances to cover stop-smoking services and attendance at smoking-cessation seminars*.
- Employees can select allowances that cover a medical consultation or a health-related seminar from the welfare program “Cafeteria Plan” and apply for it.
Efforts to Ensure Employees’ Mental Health
Sysmex Corporation performs “Kokoro no Health Checks” annually to confirm mental health and uncover any harassment-related situations. We track results over time and strive to make workplace improvements. We also provide channels for health consultations with industrial physicians and public health nurses, together with an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental health, to ensure that external professionals are available to our employees when they need help.
Efforts for Employees’ Active and Healthy Lives
As welfare facilities to encourage health maintenance, Sysmex Corporation has sports grounds and tennis courts, as well as a gymnasium with fitness equipment, on the premises of our Solution Center. We also hold events and seminars to raise employee awareness of physical health maintenance. In addition, we have introduced the Cafeteria Plan welfare program that includes programs to promote health, such as systems for assistance in using sports facilities. We also offer healthy menu options at employee cafeterias. Moreover, we have organized initiatives such as walking events and consultation services for specific health guidance during working hours as collaborative health efforts with our corporate health insurance society.
Recognition as a Company that Excels in Health and Productivity Management
Sysmex Corporation undertakes various initiatives for health and productivity management, and we have an established framework for our activities that encompasses Group companies in Japan. These efforts have received positive responses and, in March 2021, we were recognized for the fifth time by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for excellence in health management as one of the “Companies that excel in health and productivity management”.
Activities at Group Companies
| Company | Activity |
|---|---|
| Sysmex America |
|
| Sysmex Europe |
|
| Sysmex Shanghai |
|
| Sysmex Asia Pacific |
|
Framework and Promotion of Occupational Health and Safety
Framework for Promoting Occupational Health and Safety
To ensure the health and safety of its employees, Sysmex has formulated Regulations on Safety and Health, and it strives to create a safe working environment. We have the Central Health and Safety Committee for Group companies in Japan. The Committee aims to reinforce and enhance these Group companies’ occupational health and safety systems. To this end, the Committee formulates policies and targets, ascertains the status of occupational health at individual business sites, and considers improvement measures. We also set target lost-time injuries frequency rates and lost work day rates as sustainability targets and report the status to the Managing Board semiannually.
Initiatives for Occupational Health and Safety
In fiscal 2020, Sysmex set health and safety targets of “a maximum of one case involving the loss of four or more working days due to an occupational accident (including accidents on the way to work and fleet accidents)” and “the promotion of health and productivity management for higher productivity”. Each of our companies and business offices has worked accordingly, with their Health and Safety Committees leading the way. At the Health and Safety Committee meetings held regularly at each site, preemptive measures are taken from both short- and long-term perspectives based on the idea of risk management, which includes eliminating risks identified through walk-around checks.
In addition, employees are given safety training on appropriate emergency and evacuation measures to be taken in the event of an accident or sudden illness, and on handling hazardous machinery and raw materials. We also regularly hold comprehensive fire drills based on hypothetical large-scale disaster scenarios, conduct training on the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs), and offer courses to train citizen emergency medical technicians. In particular, we hold initial-response drills that involve checks to be performed in the event of a disaster: quickly confirming and ensuring employees’ safety, and checking and sharing the disaster situation of offices and customers as well as the status of product supplies.
In fiscal 2020, the lost-time injuries frequency rate caused by absence from work due to occupational injuries at factories and other causes was 0.67*. We will continue to implement preventive measures such as risk forecast training (known as “KYT” in Japanese) and education/training by external lecturers in addition to activities of the Health and Safety Committee. Sysmex Brazil has acquired ISO 45001 certification, an international standard for occupational health and safety management systems.
- Target: Sysmex Corporation
Preventing Overwork
To prevent overwork, we focus on reducing long working hours, which can impair physical and mental health. In addition to complying with relevant laws and regulations, we have established internal standards that are more rigorous than the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. When employees exceed the specified limits set by internal standards, we communicate this fact to their superiors and ask the employees to submit a self-check form so that improvements can be made in their work situations. They are also entitled to meet an industrial physician when necessary. As for working hour management, we log employees’ working hours with the IC card that they each use to enter and leave the office, and with the times at which they start and shut down their computers.