Occupational Health and Safety
Advantest Group Health and Safety Policy
Advantest Group recognizes that Health and Safety (H&S) is one of the important aspects of our business operation. This policy is set forth to ensure every Advantest employee's Health and Safety.
- Health and Safety First
We will make H&S as the first priority for employees in all Advantest operation groups. - Compliance with Laws and Regulations
Aim to achieve compliance with legal requirements through good occupational health and safety performance. - Regular Review of Health and Safety Compliance
To support this policy we will provide employees with an annual activity plan which will address every business location’s H&S regulations through management support. - Education and Training
Ensure that employees receive appropriate training, and are competent to carry out their designated responsibilities. - Disclosure of Health and Safety
To raise awareness, we will announce our H&S information to all employees publicly.
Promoting occupational health and safety activities
In fiscal 2013, we put the annual plans drafted by each occupational Safety and Health Committee into practice. We also took the safety measure of adding three special subjects to the new employee training curriculum: one for operators of industrial robots and one each on how to handle low- and high-voltage electricity.
In fiscal 2014, we plan to expand the coverage of workplace leader training for safety in cooperative operations based on the theme of "zero accident injuries." By taking safety measures in response to a reassessment of in-factory risks, we aim to wipe out serious accident-caused injuries. Returning to basics, we will thoroughly consider where danger arises and implement basic education on injury avoidance. We want to foster an in-house culture of safety.
Mental Health
At Advantest we believe that vigorous employees make for a vigorous workplace. Accordingly, our Health Promotion Office supports efforts to ensure both the mental and physical health of our employees so that we can provide a safe and comfortable workplace environment for them.
In fiscal 2012, we shifted our focus to prevention-oriented wellness and introduced testing of stress levels. By quantifying stress (thus making it visible), we promote stress awareness among all employees, which is useful in self-care. The fiscal 2013 stress diagnosis test, which was accessible through the corporate intranet, drew an 89.0% response rate (+4.6ppt YoY). The 5% of employees with the highest diagnosed stress level were invited to attend counseling (and 14% did). With the introduction of an e-learning program, we reinforced self-care (88% participation).
A course on high-stress work environments for managers (48 participants) raised awareness of the need to improve high-stress workplaces. In this way, we made progress towards workplace formation that will reduce the incidence of mental health issues.
Since fiscal 2012, comprehensive health risks have improved by five points in the Company. We will continue to analyze surveys and support mental wellbeing.
Health care
Health examination results for fiscal 2012 revealed that high rates of blood lipids were a problem in our workforce. To improve the situation, we launched a three-year plan to address lipid abnormalities, with a special focus on hyper-LDL cholesterolemia. A survey administered in the second year of the plan (fiscal 2013) showed that 60% of respondents were unsure why a high level of LDL cholesterol was bad and did not know what to do about it. Therefore, as a post-exam measure we explained this condition to 394 employees via easily comprehensible visuals (models and pamphlets) and offered guidance on how to combat the problem through exercise and diet.
The incidence of hyper-LDL cholesterolemia is seen to rise sharply from people in their 20s to those in their 30s, and it corresponds with the upturn in rate of obesity. To educate the younger generation, we have introduced the subject of healthy eating into new employee training.
In fiscal 2014, we will wait for an assessment of fiscal 2013 guidance results and then promote health and wellbeing through new measures.
