Responsible Care Management

Basic Policy on Responsible Care (Occupational Safety and Health Policy)

Based on the “Kumiai Chemical Group Corporate Philosophy,” the Kumiai Chemical Group endeavors to protect the environment and ensures health and safety throughout the life cycle of our chemical products, and continuously works to improve people's quality of life and creates a sustainable society as we implement Responsible Care with the goal of contributing to its realization.

1. Kumiai’s executives take the lead in demonstrating leadership and promoting Responsible Care.
2. In business management, we always take into consideration the environment, health, and safety, and continuously work to create a good workplace environment where all employees can work with peace of mind.
3. We make a conscious effort to protect and continuously improve the environment and health and safety throughout our supply chain.
4. We comply with legal requirements and other requirements*.
5. We promote conservation of resources and energy, and work to reduce and effectively utilize waste.
6. We prevent occupational accidents by identifying hazard sources, and continuously assessing and mitigating risks.
7. We disclose the results of our activities and endeavor to engage in dialogue and communication activities with society in order to meet the expectations of stakeholders regarding our efforts for the environment, health and safety.
8. We require all employees to give their opinion and participate in discussions, and we carry out organizational activities.
9. For “Protecting and fostering life and nature,” we continue making efforts to create new value that will lead to the sustainable development of an affluent society.

• Other requirements: Matters decided by our company to respond to, including compliance with our group’s philosophy, various basic policies, internal rules, industry guidelines, contract contents, and requests (needs and expectations) from employees and stakeholders etc., aside from laws and regulations.

We have signed the Responsible Care® Global Charter to promote and strengthen our proactive Responsible Care initiatives.

System for Promoting Responsible Care

The Responsible Care Promotion Committee, which is headed by the President, includes full-time Directors and Executive Officers and department heads, and is operated by the Responsible Care Promotion Section as the secretariat. We are focusing on the following efforts to continuously improve our Responsible Care activities.

1. Creating goals and plans for Responsible Care activities
2. Progress management for Responsible Care action plans
3. Matters related to the Responsible Care Management System
4. Responsible Care internal audit reports and management reviews

Initiatives for Responsible Care

Our Responsible Care activities are to protect the safety, health, and the environment of related people inside and outside Kumiai throughout all processes including research and development, production, sales, and use by customers through to disposal. We are implementing Responsible Care activities as part of sustainability management. In order to improve our activities, we leverage working groups and cross-functional collaboration.
Furthermore, our group has established the Basic Policy on Responsible Care, and management is exercising leadership in promoting Responsible Care activities. We also share information with our seven group companies that are engaged in the chemical business, to protect the environment, ensure safety and health, and to make continuous improvements.

Specific Initiatives concerning Responsible Care

Chemical Safety

Since its founding, the Kumiai Chemical Group has contributed to the realization of a sustainable society through the research and development of safe and effective agricultural chemicals and high-quality fine chemicals. We give the utmost consideration to the safety of chemicals and their impact on the environment and human health, comply with relevant domestic and international laws, regulations, and guidelines, and respond appropriately to social demands and regulatory requirements. We ensure safety throughout the entire product lifecycle and promote sustainable business activities that earn the trust of society through transparent corporate practices.

[Basic Approach]

• Compliance with Laws and Regulations and Conformity with International・Standards
• Thorough Safety Management Throughout the Entire Life Cycle
• Accurate Information and Sincere Communication
• Accurate Information Provision of Chemical Substances
• Dissemination of Safety Information on Chemical Substances
• Compliance with Laws and Regulations
• Proper Management and Handling of Chemical Substances

View more details about Chemical Safety（PDFファイル）

Response to Mandatory Fit Testing

Dialogue and Communication with Society

Each year, we organize tours of its factories and institutes for local residents and users. These tours are a great opportunity to help visitor understand our safety awareness and initiatives through business presentations and site visits. As part of our efforts to raise awareness and deepen stakeholders’ understanding of agriculture and agricultural chemicals, we have created a series of brochures on agricultural chemicals used for crops and distributed them to elementary schools in various regions in Japan. We also visit elementary schools near our offices to give classes designed to raise awareness about the importance of agriculture and agricultural chemicals. Through these initiatives, we aim not only to enhance our corporate value by disseminating accurate information on agricultural chemicals, but also to foster an environment in which growers and our employees can handle agricultural chemicals with confidence.

Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) on All Products Made Available

SDS is a document that conveys information on product handling and safety so that our customers can use our products safely. We prepare SDSs for all our products and publish them on our website.
We reviewed our SDS operation system along with new restrictions on chemical substances with revisions of laws and regulations. As a result, the whole process has become more efficient and SDS can be provided quickly in response to changes in laws and regulations.

Responsible Care Internal Audit

In FY2024, we selected factories and institutes, which are central to our Responsible Care (RC) activities, as the subjects of our audit. The audit reviewed the management systems (MS) and the current status of RC activities in the areas of environmental conservation, process safety and disaster prevention, industrial health and safety, logistics safety, chemicals and product safety, and dialogue with society. It was confirmed that the MS were properly implemented in each office, and that continuous improvements were being made through the application of the PDCA cycle. It was also confirmed that the processes of RC activities were clearly defined through the establishment of management regulations and procedure manuals. Going forward, we will conduct audits with a focus on on-site operations to further enhance the effectiveness of RC activities.