A one-week training was conducted at Omuta Plant for technological interaction of visual inspection staff. They exchanged information about day-to-day inspection issues and the customer-first approach at the plant and during meal events, deepening their ties.

Our traditional annual year-end party was held before the Chinese New Year. As a culmination of the year, it was a lively party again this year, with entertainment and games prepared more than one month in advance.

Since the period around the Chinese New Year, measures against COVID-19 have been undertaken earnestly in China. As measures to prevent employees from being infected, we take temperatures twice a day, improved ventilation, and made it obligatory to wear masks.
Interviews for recruiting new employees are conducted outdoors to avoid the Three Cs.

Family Day was held on December 21, 2019, with many families participating in the event.

We conduct fire evacuation drills, and report details of those activities to the authorities. We are meeting the trust from the development zone.

Malaysia is a motorized society, and almost all employee commute to work in cars or motorcycles. We keep safe driving in mind by reflecting objectively on our own driving and paying attention to driving in a way that does not cause accidents nor become involved in them.

We promoted exchange between and within Denka business bases and promoted more open workplaces by holding dinner and dance parties (November 2019), workplace social gatherings (December 2019) and other events.

On October 25, 2019, opinions were exchanged with Japanese companies within the industrial park about topics such as the aggravating issue of air pollution, expansion of commuting routes, regular patrols by public security officers, and attracting other Japanese companies.

We held disaster prevention training targeting fires caused by leakage of dangerous substances. Based on a scenario where a fire was ignited by leakage of dangerous substances, notification of the fire’s occurrence, evacuation of employees, saving of injured personnel using stretchers, and training on putting out the fire were conducted. A post-action review with the participation of everyone was conducted after the training, where everyone confirmed matters such as the priority of actions and the location of stretchers.

We invited employees and their families for our company trip. The trip helped to deepen mutual understanding and ties as well as improve teamwork.

A meeting for promoting safety at business bases in China was held for the first time in Dalian. The results of day-to-day safety activities were reported, and potentially hazardous places that were overlooked so far were pointed out during the site inspection and advice was given on how to improve.
Currently, to entrench Japan’s safety culture, the Dalian plant is also working to eliminate behavioral accidents through establishing the practice of pointing, confirming, and calling.

During the “Denka Value-Up China Presentation” held at Suzhou Industrial Park in the city of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, Denka Advanced Materials (Suzhou) received an excellence award for our presentation based on the theme “Improvement of slit process and operational processes.” Subsequently, we progressed to the presentation at the head office and received the grand award.

We were the host company for a chitchat session that gathers Japanese companies within the development zone, during which we sought technological exchange between companies.

An external lecturer was invited to hold a lecture on plant security and security measures. Seraya Plant has attained ISO 28000 certification and is also given preferential treatment by Singapore Customs, and ensuring security—including information management—is an issue of utmost priority.

Emergency response training, which is attended by all employees of the plant, is held twice a year; in 2019, the sessions were held on July 3 and October 7. In the October session, a fire was simulated at the LPG acceptance facility, and the training included emergency reporting, evacuation to an emergency evacuation area, firefighting activities, and the rescue of injured persons.

A health and safety knowledge contest (quiz contest between workplaces) was held.

We participated in the partner network of the life science bureau under the state of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. Through the network, we communicate with various people from academic societies and industries. In addition, we maintain opportunities for interacting with many organizations in both scientific and non-scientific fields.
We introduced our magnICON® technology at an academic conference held from June 10 to 12, 2019 at the city of Riga in Latvia (see photo). In addition, we introduced the same technology at an exhibition held from August 4 to 8 in the U.S. state of California. We also hosted a group of business observers from Japan on November 8, 2019 during the group’s regional tour.

Interviews were conducted about equipment and operations in which the company’s and partner companies’ employees’ body parts could be pinched or their clothing could be caught, the opinions of all attendees were shared, and five improvements on equipment and operations were implemented.

Emergency response training, which is attended by all employees of the plant, is held twice a year; the most recent sessions were held on October 23, 2017 and May 18, 2018. In the May session, a fire was simulated at the LPG acceptance facility, and the training included emergency reporting, evacuation to an emergency evacuation area, firefighting activities, and the rescue of injured persons.

Although three shifts of staff at the manufacturing site have taken statutory training on first aid every three years, the day shift staff hadn’t. This time, we invited an instructor from an outside organization to hold an emergency aid class for the day shift staff and conducted practical training on artificial respiration and AED operation in addition to education on general first aid methods.

A CERT Audit, a disaster management drill, was conducted by the Singapore Civil Defence Force. The drill simulated a case of leakage from and a fire on a tank that contains hazardous materials at the factory, and the Civil Defence Force commented that some things needed to be improved but that there was basically no problem. We will continue to operate the plant with safety first in mind.

Safety activities: Monthly safety patrols and meetings were established to eliminate unsafe areas.

We invited an outside instructor to hold emergency lifesaving training focusing on AED operation and heart massage methods. All employees at the factory attended one of four sessions. The purpose of the training was to learn how to respond to ensure passive safety in the event of a life-threatening disaster. At the end of the day, all participants were able to improve their knowledge about lifesaving activities.