We consider the physical and mental health of each and every employee essential, and to this end we implement various initiatives to support our employees’ health.

Based on the Sumitomo Bakelite Group Declaration of Health stating that our Group believes that creating workplaces where each and every employee can work safely and cheerfully in a rewarding environment, both physically and mentally, helps us on our way to making our corporate vision a reality, leading to ongoing growth of the company. To achieve this, we actively support our employees maintain and improve their health.

President and Representative Director
Kazuhiko Fujiwara

The Officer in charge of human resource management is responsible for promoting Health Management, while the Employee Relations and Welfare Dept., Personnel Division and industrial physicians and health staff at each business site are in charge of running company-wide measures. The activities and results of each fiscal year are reported to the President and Representative Director and other officers. They discuss the details of measures and issues with the General Manager and Section Chiefs in Charge of Labor of each site, and coordinate efforts to promote measures for maintaining and improving the health of employees. Various types of information are also shared with health insurance associations, and the personnel in charge discusses effective ways to implement measures. We also exchange opinions and hold discussions with labor unions regarding planning and management of employees’ health, and promote implementation and management of measures.

We are creating a health management strategy map to visualize the links between Material Issues that we want to resolve through health management and each health support measure/indicator. The results of activities each fiscal year are reported to the President and Representative Director and other relevant officers, with those results applied to activities the following year.

We have been recognized as “Excellent Health Management Corporation 2024 (Large Corporation Category)” under the certification system for excellent health management corporations that praised our overall efforts related to health.

We will be continuing our efforts toward creating a workplace where each and every employee is able to work with peace of mind, in sound mental and physical health, and with a sense of fulfillment in their work.

Employees’ health management activities are primarily based on the results of regularly scheduled health checks. In particular, employees over 30 years old are entitled to receive cancer screening (stomach and colon) and those over 40 years old can receive abdominal ultrasonography as well.

To maintain and promote the health of our employees, we are implementing the following initiatives by coordinating and collaborating efforts with Sumitomo Bakelite Health Insurance Association and other related organizations, based on information on health-related data in the possession of the Sumitomo Bakelite Health Insurance Association.

We are focusing on reducing the number of employees who are left without being cared for despite knowing of their illnesses from the results of their health checkups, thereby preventing serious illnesses. More specifically, employees eligible for support are categorized into three levels based on criteria such as electrocardiograms, blood tests, and chest x-rays: “Employees with pending employment decisions,” “Employees eligible for priority guidance” and “Employees eligible for guidance,” and health staff provide guidance according to their levels. Our goal is to achieve a 100% rate for providing guidance to employees who are eligible to receive support.

We have also established criteria for guidance completion based on the opinions of the industrial physicians at each site, with the goal of achieving a guidance completion rate of more than 70% for employees eligible to receive support.

In order to promote health, we are strengthening employee education based on the understanding that it iimportant for individual employees to be aware of prevention. With regard to mental health, for which detection at an early stage is deemed as important, education is provided to all employees and proves useful in the acquisition and enhancement of their knowledge.

The ratio of employees who wish to undergo an annual stress check was 86.4% in fiscal 2023, and consultations with physicians can be arranged for employees who wish to discuss further required actions based on the results of their check.

For employees suffering from mental health issues, measures are being implemented as a support program designed to help them return to work and to prevent relapses, with the mental health hotline run by health staff at each site. We are working to achieve the target 100% implementation rate of follow-up interviews by health staff for employees with mental health issues.

To assist employees’ return to work, employees coordinate efforts with healthcare staff like their superiors, people in charge of labor affairs, and industrial physicians, to ensure a smooth return to work and preventing relapses.

In principle, smoking is prohibited indoors to prevent unwanted passive smoking, and outdoor smoking areas are limited to lower the risk of health problems.

We also subsidize the cost of outpatient quit smoking treatment as part of measures to support smokers who want to quit smoking, thereby assisting smokers to quit and non-smokers to prevent passive smoking, thereby improving the health of employees.

We introduced a health portal site based on the Data Health Plan to assist with behavioral changes for improving employees’ exercise habits and motivating them to improve their lifestyles, and we are also organizing health events by providing information and incentives catered to individuals.

With the above and other health support measures and various activities, we are improving the rate of employees with abnormal findings, which is one of the indicators of health checkup results, and to reduce the number of days off and leave.