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.
Approach to Materiality in Occupational Health and Safety
Advantest sees the assurance of safety and the preservation of the health of our employees as a major prerequisite in executing our business activities, and it recognizes the need to continually raise awareness.
| Supervising division | General Affairs Department |
|---|---|
| KPI | Occurrence rate of occupational accidents (frequency) |
| FY2019 target | 0 |
| Results achieved in fiscal 2019 | 0.2 |
| Boundary | Advantest Group |
| Relevant policies | Advantest Group Occupational Health and Safety Policy |
| Relevant commitments | Continuation of "Aiming for Zero Serious Accidents Activity," which is an independent target |
| Responsible department/division | Activities are executed at each site and the Health and Safety Committee aims to promote those activities. |
| Relevant complaint processing policy | Operation of the Health and Safety Committee and establishment of the Health Management Office |
| Assessment | △ |
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 health and safety committee secretariat meetings throughout the company, 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 heads for the Health and Safety Committees at each business location. Furthermore, 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
Fiscal 2019
For fiscal 2019, posters continued to be displayed from fiscal 2018, and promoting safety awareness at pre-work meetings have resulted in a decrease in occupational accidents. Furthermore, all safety and health managers from overseas affiliated companies were gathered for a meeting at which information on various initiatives were shared.
Fiscal 2020
For fiscal 2020, promotion of safety awareness will continue to be implemented through activities such as creating posters of accident examples. Furthermore, as a measure to further improve information sharing with overseas affiliated companies in FY2019, we have been aiming to share occupational accident information of each company.
Occupational accident rate in Japan (frequency rate*)
*Number of injuries or deaths due to labor accidents per one million of actual total working hours
*Boundary of data: Advantest Group (non-consolidated)
*From FY2019, the data includes temporary employees.
*FY2019 figure is assured by KPMG AZSA Sustainability Co., Ltd.
There have been no fatalities in operations in the last five years.
In addition, the rate of occupational accidents (frequency) was 0.2 
at affiliate companies worldwide in fiscal 2019.
*FY2019 figure is assured by KPMG AZSA Sustainability Co., Ltd.
Occupational Health and Safety Education
The Advantest Group regularly conducts occupational health and safety education and strives to build a safe workplace where everyone can work with peace of mind by preventing occupational accidents before they happen and raising awareness about occupational health and safety. E-learning has been incorporated to some areas of Advantest’s unique health and safety education. We will strive towards further participation from employees.
| Education category | Target employees | Number of trainees (Total) | Hours of education |
|---|---|---|---|
| General education | Managers, General employees | 5,078 | 2,584 |
| Specialized education | Managers, General employees | 1,353 | 3,048 |
Promotion of Health and Productivity Management
Up to this point, Advantest has had various initiatives for health and productivity, which included measures toward lifestyle disease prevention, mental health and abstinence from smoking. However, to further promote these initiatives, we have decided to incorporate Health and Productivity Management and formulated a Declaration of HPM Policy in September 2019.
Ever since the Declaration of HPM Policy was established, the health insurance society and labor union have come together to promote health check-ups, boost the implementation rate of specified health guidance and introduce a health portal site, along with various other activities that directly affect employee health such as online dieting/smoking cessation programs and yoga/health/exercise seminars. As a result, we have been certified as a 2020 Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organization in the large enterprise category within the program promoted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and hosted by the Nippon Kenko Kaigi.
Declaration of HPM policy
In order to realize Advantest's mission, we declare to strive to create a workplace where every employee can work healthy both physically and mentally and to contribute to the achievement of a sustainable society as a corporate citizen.
Based on HPM policy, promote HPM from the following three viewpoints.
Organization
Mental Health
At Advantest we believe that vigorous employees make for a vigorous workplace. Accordingly, our Health Management 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 stress check in fiscal 2012 before they became required by law because we consider preventative measures as the key to our mental health activities. By quantifying stress (thus making it visible), we promote stress awareness among all employees, which is useful for self-care.
The fiscal 2019 stress check drew an 89.4% response rate. 10% of the employees with the highest diagnosed stress levels were invited to attend health consultations (and 8% did). We have also incorporated seminars to reinforce self-care.
Organizational analysis stated that high stress workplaces reduced from 12% in fiscal 2018 to 4.5%. Advantest has conducted training for workplace environment improvement for all managers in fiscal 2018. This initiative targeted only managers in high stress work places and offered more practical training (with a 98% attendance rate) for workplace environment improvement in fiscal 2019. We continuously work on improving stress levels by following up on the implementation situation to create a workplace that mitigates the occurrence of mental health disorders.
We have also formulated recovery plans with industrial doctors from the latest reports as well as provide support for employees to return to the workplace after taking a break so they can take time off without worry even if their mental state worsens due to a variety of stress. In addition, an eight-step process has been set up to avoid overstressing people and the workplace.
Health Consultations
At Advantest's Health Management Office, a comprehensive range of health professionals (including occupational health physicians, clinical psychologists, public health nurses, nurses, and industrial counselors) 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 2019, counseling services were provided on 971 occasions.
Health Check-ups and Health Guidance
Advantest provides regular health check-ups to maintain and improve the health of employees in addition to regular physicals through subsidies from the health insurance society. We provide health check-ups once or twice each year both in domestic and overseas bases, with an examination rate of 90% or higher. We have achieved a 100% health check-up ratio since fiscal 2018 for domestic employees.
In fiscal 2019, we provided health guidance, email support, staff, and consultation with industrial physician as well as other medical measures for the main purpose of improving lifestyle diseases for 96% of the 70% of Group employees who were diagnosed throughout Japan. Part of our measures include promoting projects that allow employees who do not have the habit of exercising to start doing so easily, including organizing yoga trial lessons during lunchtime, and inviting health and exercise instructors for exercise seminars. Furthermore, employees with a history of brain and heart disease are interviewed regardless of their health check-up results, and work restrictions are put into place to ensure their safety.
*The rate for the health guidance implementation is as of May 13, 2020.