Occupational Health and Safety Occupational Health and Safety

Approach to Materiality in Occupational Health and Safety

Advantest sees the assurance of safety and the preservation of health of our employees a major prerequisite in executing our business activities, and it recognizes the need to continually raise awareness.

Advantest Group Occupational Health and Safety Policy

Advantest Group recognizes that Health and Safety (H&S) is an important aspect of our business operations. This policy is set forth to ensure the Health and Safety of every Advantest employee.

1. Health and Safety First

   We will make H&S the first priority for employees in all Advantest operations, including product development, design, manufacturing, customer service, and others.

2. Compliance with Laws and Regulations

   We aim to achieve compliance with legal requirements through good occupational health and safety performance.

3. 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.

4. Education and Training

   We will ensure that employees receive appropriate training, and are competent to carry out their designated responsibilities.

5. Disclosure of Occupational Health and Safety

   We will communicate this basic policy and other H&S-related information to all employees in the Advantest Group, and work to raise awareness. We will also disclose information outside the company as necessary.

Promotional System

At Advantest, every year we convene the “Health and Safety Committee Meeting” which decides the health and safety direction and policy for the whole group. The approach to health and safety is based on the main activity themes decided on at this meeting, upon which the health and safety committees at each location set their annual targets and plans. We also regularly hold horizontal health and safety committee secretariat meetings, and strengthen each location’s health and safety activities through this sharing of information about relevant activities.
Members of the company-wide Health and Safety Committee is made up of the chair for the Health and Safety Committees at each business location while the members of the Health and Safety Committees at each business location is composed mostly of representatives of both the company and union employed at the business location.

Organization of Health and Safety Management (Japan)

Implementation of Occupational Health and Safety Activities

In fiscal 2016, we were able to reduce occupational accidents as a result of efforts that include reforms to the routines that confirm the state of measures implemented to prevent the recurrence of accidents as well as preventative safety activities in manufacturing divisions. We were also able to engage in measure to build a risk management system for chemical substances from an early stage to start operations together with amendments to laws and regulations.

In fiscal 2017, we are continuing to implement the “Aiming for Zero Serious Accidents Activity” and promote safety enhancement activities focused on preventive safety and avoiding the recurrence of accidents. We will chronologically investigate accidents that occur from fiscal 2017 and incorporate techniques to analyze the casual factors of accidents. We will also strive in preventative safety to reduce risk factors in the workplace as we have in fiscal 2016 through risk assessment activities in manufacturing divisions. Furthermore, as a way to strengthen traffic safety, we will aim to reduce accidents by raising awareness of drivers.

Occupational accident rate in Japan (frequency rate*)

* Number of injuries or deaths due to labor accidents per total actual million working hours
* Scope of data: Advantest Corporation (non-consolidated)

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.

We introduced testing of stress levels around preventative safety in fiscal 2012 before they became required by law. By quantifying stress (thus making it visible), we promote stress awareness among all employees, which is useful for self-care. The fiscal 2016 stress diagnosis test, which was accessible through the corporate intranet, drew an 88.4% response rate. The 5% of employees with the highest diagnosed stress levels were invited to attend health consultation (and 15% did). With the introduction of an e-learning program, we reinforced self-care (95% participation).

The mental health training focused on managers at workplaces with high health risk; by helping managers to learn methods for tackling potential mental health issues in the workplace, we aimed to create workplaces where people are less likely to develop mental health problems.

Also, in light of the many types of stress that exist, we are establishing rules governing the provision of support for return to work, so that even if employees suffer mental health issues they can be sure that they can take the appropriate leave and eventually return to work.

Health Consultations

At Advantest’s Health Management Office, a comprehensive range of health professionals (including occupational health physicians, clinical psychologists, public health nurses, nurses, industrial counselors, etc.) provide counseling services for physical and mental problems of all kinds. Applications for counseling can be submitted easily by telephone or e-mail, or via the company’s intranet. In fiscal 2016, counseling services were provided on 949 occasions

Labor‐Management Dialog

Labor unions currently representing our employees include company union JEIU, in which 73.4% of our employees and just over 99.6% of our labor union members are enrolled, and industrial union JMITU. Advantest negotiates in good faith with each of these labor unions.
Additionally, the labor agreement with JEIU includes health and safety and claims management, and we work cooperatively together to respond to issues regarding operation of the health and safety committees, Code of Conduct and HR claims management.