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Health & Safety

YKK's efforts to render benefit to others

Fundamental Approach to Health and Safety: YKK Group Health and Safety Pledge

In accordance with its Health and Safety Pledge, the YKK Group strives to create work environments where employees can work safely and with reassurance by taking health and safety into consideration and promoting a strong awareness of health and safety in every employee.

Enhancement of corporate quality is needed today so that we may respond appropriately in all of our business activities to the rapid changes occurring in social circumstances.

The YKK Group will aim to eliminate causes of hazard and harm at all of its workplaces, and maintain and promote good psychological and physical health by creating working environments that are friendly to all employees.

We proclaim that the YKK Group will forge ahead, with all participating, to realize workplaces that are suitable for today’s age.

— February 1994

Seeking to Create Work Environments Where Employees can Work Safely and with Reassurance

The YKK Group implements a variety of health and safety measures at domestic and overseas sites from three perspectives, human resource development, workplace development, and structural development, with the aims of eliminating industrial accidents and creating workplace environments where employees can work safely and with reassurance.

Health and Safety Structure

Under the health and safety structure, the YKK Group Safety and Health Promotion Committee Meeting, which is made up of representatives from each Group company, plays a central role in formulating policies and plans regarding health and safety for the Group as a whole, while individual companies take action to carry out those policies and plans.

Implementation of YKK Group Safety Patrol Day

Safety Patrol Day, an event in which company presidents, plant managers, and top management conduct workplace safety patrols is an annual, Group-wide program intended to foster motivation for conducting health and safety measures and raise employee awareness regarding safety.

YKK President Hiroaki Otani conducts a patrol

A patrol by YKK AP President Hidemitsu Hori

At YKK Canada Inc., the safety patrol by the president is a major event, and a YKK pizza lunch is held to allow managers and employees discuss safety issues.

Operation of Safety Management Special Instruction Designation Program

The Safety Management Special Instruction Designation program comprehensively identifies potentially unsafe conditions and actions in the workplace as well as management shortcomings at worksites determined to have serious safety management problems such as frequent occurrence of industrial accidents or occurrence of serious accidents. The objectives are to reduce and eliminate the identified causes of accidents and raise safety management levels.

The objective of this program is not simply to provide instruction to workplaces with high accident occurrence rates, but also to serve as an opportunity to improve facilities, establish educational structures, and review the optimal status of safety management including approaches to management. We anticipate that through this process, the awareness of safety by managers and every employee will change, and by undertaking self-initiated safety measures with the participation of all personnel, workplace communication will be invigorated.

Health Initiatives

YKK and YKK AP regard the health of their employees as a management issue. A Health Declaration was established so as to convey more clearly to those both inside and outside YKK and YKK AP the initiatives being taken for the management of employees’ health in connection with the ability of employees to exercise their responsibilities. Greater efforts are being made to foster health.

Health Declaration

YKK Corporation aspires to become a company where all employees are able to work with pride and pleasure.

We believe that a prerequisite for achieving this goal is for all our employees and their family members to maintain and improve their mental and physical health, which will enable every employee to demonstrate their unique qualities and capabilities to the maximum and to propel our company’s growth and contribute to society.

Based on this concept, our company, Health Insurance Society, employees and their families are united in their endeavors for health promotion.

March 2018
Hiroaki Otani
President, YKK Corporation

Recognition by the Certified Health and Productivity Management Organization Recognition Program (Initiatives in Japan)

YKK has been recognized as a company that is practicing particularly high quality health management under the Certified Health and Productivity Management Organization Recognition Program, which was drawn up by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and is run by Nippon Kenko Kaigi (Japan Health Conference). We were recognized in the large enterprise category.

Fundamental Health Promotion Policy and Action Targets

Fundamental Health Promotion Policy

The YKK Group sees the health of its employees are an important company asset, and we work with employees to promote good health by supporting the ability of each employee to continue working on good physical and mental health and reducing lifestyle-related disease and mental illness.

Action Targets (for Japan)

  1. Take action to reduce lifestyle-related disease
    1. Achieve a 100% implementation rate for regular medical exams
    2. Achieve a 100% implementation rate for follow-up measures
      (consultations with an industrial physician, provision of health guidance, etc.) following medical exams for subject personnel
    3. Take measures to reduce persons subject to specified health guidance
    4. Reduce smoking rates and encourage the development of offices with no passive smoke
    5. Conduct dental checkups for all employees to promote tooth and gum health
  2. Take measures to reduce mental illness
    1. Conduct mental health training for 100% of employees
    2. Use a stress check program and conduct consultations with an industrial physician by 100% of employees with high stress levels
    3. Use group analysis to make workplace improvements
    4. Develop and inform personnel about consultation systems
      and create support systems for personnel returning to work from leave
  3. Take measures to support a balance between treatment for illness and work
    1. Take measures to develop programs and structures for accepting personnel who are recovering from illness

Health Promotion Structure

Under the health promotion structure, the YKK Group Health Promotion Committee, which is made up of personnel departments, industrial physicians, the YKK Health Insurance Society, other health related functions, and persons with responsibility for promoting health in individual businesses, formulates policies and plans and carried out by each business.