Health, Safety and Welfare of Employees
Declaration of Health Innovation
Aiming to become a company that enables employees to lead healthy and active working lives
Atsuko Higuchi
Managing Executive Officer
External Affairs; Corporate Secretariat; Human Resources
Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd.
Sumitomo Pharma has set forth its Mission "to broadly contribute to society through value creation based on innovative research and development activities for the betterment of healthcare and fuller lives of people worldwide."
Every employee is expected to make the most of his or her abilities so that we can live up to this Mission. We believe that in order to make this happen, it is important to create a work environment that enables all employees to actively engage in their own duties while maintaining both mental and physical health. We also believe that it is crucial to encourage employees to seek personal fulfillment both during and outside of work as they endeavor to maintain and promote their own health and that of their families.
Accordingly, we have implemented various measures designed to help employees and members of their families maintain and promote good health. To accelerate such health promotion initiatives, we drew up the Declaration of Health Innovation in October 2017.
Then in August 2021, we published the Health Management White Paper, which allows employees to see the progress of the Declaration of Health Innovation. In December 2022, we published the "Health White Paper" to the public, including external stakeholders, and going forward, we will continue to release the latest information on an annual basis.
We at Sumitomo Pharma will remain committed to assisting all employees and their family members in their activities to live healthy and fulfilling lives so that we can thereby contribute to the betterment of healthcare and fuller lives of people worldwide.
Declaration of Health Innovation Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd.
- We will, in collaboration with the Sumitomo Pharma Health Insurance Society, actively support health promotion for employees and members of their families, thereby ensuring that they are able to lead fulfilling lives both during and outside of work.
- Employees of Sumitomo Pharma will make diligent efforts to maintain and promote their own mental and physical health, and that of their families, in order to realize the Mission.
Concrete initiatives
- 1.With an ultimate goal of reducing to zero the number of employees who smoke, we aim to reduce the percentage of smokers by 2.0 points every year.
- 2.We aim to ensure that every employee who is eligible for specific health guidance or who has been deemed by an occupational physician to require treatment undergoes a medical examination in order to prevent any further deterioration of health.
- 3.We promote the creation of an integrated mental health support system in which in-house occupational health personnel, external employee assistance program (EAP) providers, and medical institutions collaborate for the prevention, early discovery, and prompt treatment of mental health issues among employees, as well as provide support for their recovery and reinstatement.
- 4.We aim to ensure that every eligible insured employee and his or her dependents undergo a specific medical checkup.
Health Management White Paper 2022
We have established the Declaration of Health Innovation to help our employees and members of their families promote good health. This White Paper outlines our health management measures as well as the progress and results of the measures.
Working to Build Workplace Environments that Emphasize Employee Safety
Sumitomo Pharma has established a Health and Safety Policy, and has long enacted a variety of health and safety activities to prevent work-related accidents. Moreover, in preparation for the occurrence of a fire, explosion, or other major work-related accident, or a large-scale natural disaster, Sumitomo Pharma has taken a number of measures to minimize their impact, including equipment-centered measures and the establishment of rules.
In addition to these measures, we believe it is important to instill an awareness of health and safety among employees themselves. Towards this end, the Secretariat of Environmental and Safety Committee implements training for new hires, encouraging them to think again about basic considerations, such as what health and safety is all about and why health and safety initiatives are necessary. Also, information about work-related accidents that occur at Sumitomo Pharma is shared with the entire company via Sumitomo Pharma's intranet. Such information helps foster awareness about health and safety in every employee through recognition of accidents as close-at-hand events.
Under the Mid-term Health and Safety Action Plan for fiscal 2019-2022 and 2023-2027, Sumitomo Pharma has set forth the following priority issues and the goal of implementing various measures to promote company-wide safety and health activities. As accidents with injuries involving rear-end collisions with stationary business vehicles are relatively common, and it is difficult for the Company to prevent such accidents by itself, we excluded accidents involving business vehicles when setting the quantitative target for the work-related accident frequency rate indicated in (2) (c). In fiscal 2022, the plan proceeded smoothly on the whole, including achievement of the quantitative target.
For more information on Basic Safety and Health Policy, please see "(5) Safety and Health” in "Internal Standards and Guidelines for CSR."
Mid-term Health and Safety Action Plan (fiscal 2019-2022)
- (1) Enhance and reinforce the health and safety management system
- (a) Regularly review and improve rules, manuals and procedures related to health and safety management
- (b) Implement health and safety education in accordance with the circumstances in each business site category and division
- (c) Raise awareness of health and safety, and implement proactive health and safety activities
- (2) Identify health and safety risks and take countermeasures
- (a) Continuously identify hazards, and thoroughly take prioritized countermeasures
- (b) Continuously reduce risk levels through plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycles
- (c) Promote measures to prevent work-related accidents, and a achieve work-related accident frequency rate, excluding accidents involving business vehicles, of 1.20 or less and a lost-time injury frequency rate, excluding accidents involving business vehicles, of 0.20 or less at all business sites across Japan
- (3) Comply with laws and regulations related to health and safety
- (a) Conduct regular assessments of the compliance with relevant laws and regulations
- (b) Identify relevant laws and regulations in a timely manner, and ensure the compliance with them
- (4) Promote the creation of a workplace environment that facilitates the
development
of mental and physical health and stress-free work
- (a) Enhance health management system (various measures for health promotion, prevention, early detection, prevention of overwork, and follow-up care for health examinations in collaboration with the Sumitomo Pharma Health Insurance Society)
- (b) Create employee awareness about self-managing health in accordance with the Declaration of Health Innovation
- (c) Promote mental health (firmly establish stress checks and return to work support programs)
Mid-term Health and Safety Action Plan (fiscal 2023–2027)
- (1) Enhance and reinforce the health and safety management system
- (a) Regularly review and improve rules, manuals and procedures related to health and safety management
- (b) Implement health and safety education in accordance with the circumstances in each business site category and division
- (c) Raise awareness of health and safety, and implement proactive health and safety activities
- (d) Establish the independent chemical management system
- (2) Identify health and safety risks and take countermeasures
- (a) Continuously identify hazards, and thoroughly take prioritized countermeasures
- (b) Continuously reduce risk levels through plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycles
- (c) Promote measures to prevent work-related accidents, and achieve a work-related accident frequency rate, excluding accidents involving business vehicles, of 0.80 or less and a lost-time injury frequency rate, excluding accidents involving business vehicles, of 0.20 or less at all business sites across Japan
- (3) Comply with laws and regulations related to health and safety
- (a) Conduct regular assessments of the compliance with relevant laws and regulations
- (b) Identify relevant laws and regulations in a timely manner, and ensure the compliance with them
- (4) Promote the creation of a workplace environment that facilitates the
development of mental and physical health and stress-free work
- (a) Enhance the health management system (prevention, early detection, and intervention)
- (b) Ramp up the health management measures (mental, physical, and awareness)
- (c) Spread the idea of supporting the balance between medical treatment and work, and reinforce the system for it
Frequency Rates and Target Achievement (fiscal 2019-2022)
Achievement: ○：target achieved, x：target not achieved, -：not applicable as target not set
| Degree rate | Target | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results | Progress | Results | Progress | Results | Progress | Results | Progress | ||
| Work-related accident frequency rate | N/A | 1.32 | － | 0.80 | － | 1.27 | － | 0.97 | － |
| Lost-time injury frequency rate | N/A | 0.16 | － | 0.00 | － | 0.16 | － | 0.32 | － |
| Work-related accident frequency rate excluding accidents involving business vehicles | 1.20 or less | 0.33 | ○ | 0.00 | ○ | 0.79 | ○ | 0.81 | ○ |
| Lost-time injury frequency rate excluding accidents involving business vehicles | 0.20 or less | 0.16 | ○ | 0.00 | ○ | 0.16 | ○ | 0.16 | ○ |
Calculation Basis
Work-related accident frequency rate: Number of deaths and
injuries due to occupational accidents with or without lost workdays, excluding commuting accidents, per
1,000,000 cumulative hours worked
Lost-time injury frequency rate: Number of deaths and injuries due to
occupational accidents with one or more lost workdays, excluding commuting accidents, per 1,000,000 cumulative
hours worked
Work-related accident frequency rate excluding accidents involving business vehicles: Number
of deaths and injuries due to occupational accidents with or without lost workdays, excluding accidents
involving business vehicles and commuting accidents, per 1,000,000 cumulative hours worked
Lost-time
injury frequency rate excluding accidents involving business vehicles: Number of deaths and injuries due to
occupational accidents with one or more lost workdays, excluding accidents involving business vehicles and
commuting accidents, per 1,000,000 cumulative hours worked
Boundary of aggregation: Employees (including
contract employees, part-timers, temporary employees, and employees seconded to the Company) at all business
sites of the Company and SMP Distribution Service Co., Ltd. in Japan
Lost-time injury frequency rate (fiscal 2018-2022)
※ Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Survey on occupational
accidents (in Japanese only):
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/itiran/roudou/saigai/22/dl/2022gaikyou.pdf
Calculation Basis
Lost-time injury frequency rate: Number of deaths and injuries due to occupational accidents with one or more
lost workdays, excluding commuting accidents, per 1,000,000 cumulative hours worked
Boundary of aggregation (Sumitomo Pharma): In the period up to fiscal 2018, employees at all business sites of
the Company in Japan (including contract employees, part-timers, temporary employees, and employees seconded
to the Company). From fiscal 2019 onward, employees at all business sites of the Company and SMP Distribution
Service Co., Ltd. in Japan (including contract employees, part-timers, temporary employees, and employees
seconded to the Company).
Boundary of aggregation (Consolidated companies): In the period up to fiscal 2021, employees (including
contract employees, part-timers, temporary employees, and employees seconded to the Company) at all business
sites of the Sumitomo Pharma Group's consolidated companies in Japan and abroad (excluding one company whose
accident report was not available). From fiscal 2022 onward, employees (including contract employees,
part-timers, temporary employees, and employees seconded to the Company) at all business sites of the Sumitomo
Pharma Group's consolidated companies in Japan and abroad.
Boundary of aggregation (Contractors): Employees of contractors (including contract employees, part-timers,
temporary employees, and employees seconded to the Company) at all business sites of the Company in Japan.
Analysis of Work-Related Accidents
As a result of classifying the types of work-related accidents that occurred in the five years from fiscal 2018 to 2022 (excluding accidents involving business vehicles), we found that falls (falling over and falling down) accounted for 69% of the total. Also, several accidents involving falls have occurred during commuting every year. Therefore, Sumitomo Pharma has cited the prevention of accidents related to falls including while commuting as one of the priority challenges for fiscal 2023 following on initiatives from fiscal 2022 and is promoting awareness raising activities, including Japanese National Safety Week, with reference to the content of the initiatives under the "STOP! Occupational Fall Accidents Project" organized by Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
Classification of work-related accidents by type (fiscal 2018-2022)
- *The graph shows the results of classifying the types of work-related accidents that occurred in the five years from fiscal 2018 to 2022 (excluding accidents involving business vehicles).
Implementing Health and Safety Risk Assessments
Sumitomo Pharma has carried out health and safety risk assessments as s company-wide initiative. Risk assessment involves expressing the relative risk of a given operation or piece of equipment using a scale which can be universally understood. Specifically, this means expressing numerically the severity and possibility of accidents that could arise as a result of operations or equipment involved in daily duties, as well as the frequency of the task, and evaluating the risk quantitatively by combining these factors. Priority for remedial measures is then given to those operations and equipment rated as high risk.
In fiscal 2022, we finished risk assessments at all targeted workplaces. In the future, as we continue to operate our risk assessment system, we will strive to reduce risky behavior that can lead to work-related accidents and keep improving health and safety standards.
Promoting Health Management
For the eight year in a row from 2017, Sumitomo Pharma was recognized under the Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organizations Recognition Program for the large enterprise category (White 500), a program implemented jointly by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Nippon Kenko Kaigi for outstanding health and productivity management practices undertaken in collaboration with insurers.
At Sumitomo Pharma, we treat the promotion of employees' health as one of the material issues in corporate management. In October 2017, we formulated the Declaration of Health Innovation to actively involve ourselves in the promotion of the health of our employees and members of their families to help them to lead fulfilling lives both at and outside of work. Pursuant to the Declaration, we are promoting specific initiatives in collaboration with the Sumitomo Pharma Health Insurance Society, focusing on the four goals of: Reducing the smoking rate, Preventing further deterioration of individuals' health, Maintaining mental health, and Having all insured individuals undergo specific medical checkups. In particular, we have been carrying out a company-wide effort on smoking cessation guidance for some time as an activity aimed at creating a "smoke-free" company, a concrete initiative listed under the Declaration of Health Innovation. By having the objective specifically articulated in the Declaration of Health Innovation, we were able to implement initiatives more effectively than before and achieved the complete prohibition of smoking (closure of smoking areas) at all of our business sites across Japan at the end of March 2019. In 2020, we specified "no smoking during working hours" in our employee work regulations.
We have also been focusing on follow-up measures for the results of medical checkups in order to strengthen our ability to prevent disease progression. Occupational physicians give feedback to employees on the results of checkups and, in collaboration with the Sumitomo Pharma Health Insurance Society, provide specific health guidance and recommendations for medical consultations to prevent disease progression as needed. In so doing, we support lifestyle improvements as a measure against metabolic syndrome and facilitate the early treatment of disease to promote employee health.
To this end, we have been most active in organizing health programs, including online seminars on nutrition, sleep, oral care, and prevention of stiff shoulders and back pain. We will remain united in realizing a healthy and fulfilling life for all employees and their family members so that we can contribute to the betterment of healthcare and fuller lives of people worldwide.
Supporting Mental Wellbeing
Supports of mental health issues which occur due to stress from work or daily life are extremely important to cultivate a comfortable and safe work environment.
We provide managers and general employees with mental health training (self-care and line care). Self-care is designed for all employees to learn about self-management of mental health, while line care is designed for managers to learn about prevention of mental health issues and appropriate care for employees who are experiencing mental health issues. From fiscal 2010, we have also been conducting periodic stress check-ups for all employees to help them become aware of their mental health issues and learn about how to cope with them. We also provide interviews and guidance by an occupational physician to employees who are determined to be under high stress based on the results of stress check-ups. Moreover, we have initiatives to use the data of group analysis for improving the work environment.
For those employees who are experiencing mental health issues and their managers, we collaborate for early discovery, and prompt treatment of mental health issues among employees, as well as providing support for their recovery and reinstatement with a 7-person team of occupational physicians, both full-time and part-time, including a full-time chief occupational physician and one occupational psychiatrist, as well as occupational healthcare staff including nurses. Our system provides ongoing follow-up from the treatment stage aimed at supporting return to work. With regard to counseling and return to the workplace, we partner with outside Employee Assistance Programs, local Vocational Centers for Persons with Disabilities and Disability Employment Services to provide support.
Prevention of Overwork
Working for long hours can have negative effects on physical and mental health. We emphasize proper management of work hours and occupational physicians provide guidance to employees who have worked more overtime than the specified hours.
In order to encourage employees to take paid leave and to raise their awareness of proper time-management for working hours, we implement initiatives to curb long working hours by urging each workplace to rationalize work tasks, hold "Work Style Innovation Meetings" for employees to discuss and review work styles each work site, and set "no overtime days" on which all employees leave without overtime work.
Operating Consultation Desks and Hotlines
We operate consultation desks and hotlines to ensure a workplace environment in which every employee is able to concentrate on his/her work with a sense of security. Consultations can be made through telephone, facsimile, email or letter in envelope per the employee's preference. Our consultation services are equipped with a duty of confidentiality and protect the consulters’ privacy. We also take measures to provide a safe and comfortable environment for consultations, protecting the consulters from any disadvantageous treatment such as retaliation or harassment. The Company gives feedback directly to the employee as to the action the Company has taken in response to the consultation.
| Consultation Service | Content |
|---|---|
| Compliance Hotline | Providing consultation or accepting reports internally or externally in the event that an employee has questions or has obtained information concerning violations related to compliance |
| Harassment Consultation Desk | Providing consultation or accepting reports internally in the event that an employee has questions or has obtained information concerning violations related to harassment |
| Mental Health Consultation Desk | Externally providing consultation or answering questions concerning mental health |
| General Consultation Desk | Providing consultation or accepting reports internally in the event that an employee has questions or has obtained information concerning violations related to compliance as well as in the event that an employee has problems or concerns related to daily work life |
| Workers with Disabilities Consultation Desk | Providing consultation internally in the event that an employee suffers from improper discrimination in a workplace due to disability or needs consideration to disability in a workplace |
| Diverse Sexualities Consultation Desk | Providing consultation internally in the event that an employee is harassed on sexual orientation and gender identity (LGBTQ) and an employee has questions concerning workplace environment |
- For more information on Compliance Hotline, please see "Compliance."
- For more information on Harassment Consultation Desk, please see “Human Rights."
Building Good Workers-Management Relations
Sumitomo Pharma Workers Union comprises employees from Sumitomo Pharma. As regular workers-management consultation bodies, the Workers Union and the Company proactively exchange opinions based on each perspective on human capital management and workplace health and safety.