NOF is Implementing Responsible Care

The NOF Group’s management philosophy reflects a deep awareness of the need to coexist with society through environmental and safety measures. Accordingly, environmental programs, corporate citizenship, and the safety of products and workplaces are positioned as the core elements of the Group’s operations.

The NOF Group Code of Conduct employs simple expressions to make its messages easy to put into practice and easy to remember. Within the code, the term “Earth’s future” is used as a short and clear means of stating the importance of environmental and safety issues within the context of the Group’s commitment to Responsible Care.

In April 2002, the NOF Group established ethical standards of behavior and formed an Ethics Committee. This was aimed at ensuring the actions of NOF companies, as well as every employee, always adhere to social standards and contribute to earning the trust of society. The Group is constantly seeking to better fulfill its social obligations and preserve the transparency of corporate activities.

The Legal & Public Relations Section in the Human Resources & General Affairs Department handles inquiries from employees concerning various ethics matters.

NOF has formulated an environmental policy based on its Voluntary Environmental Plan announced in April 1994. The current environmental policy, which was announced in August 1995, goes one step further by setting out policies that must be followed by the executives and employees of all companies belonging to the NOF Group.

The Responsible Care Committee has 10 members, including six executive officers and the four general managers of NOF research facilities. The committee is chaired by the NOF director in charge of departments responsible for facilities, environmental activities and safety. The committee has executive authority as one NOF’s highest-ranking bodies, overseen directly by the president. Accordingly, decisions by this committee immediately become company-wide policy and are made known to all employees. Furthermore, a Responsible Care manager is appointed at each business unit, plant and research facility to oversee concrete actions to achieve environmental goals.

Responsible Care Activity Flowchart
Responsible Care activities are executed by applying the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle to each initiative.

[Plan, Do]
All business units are notified of policies and goals created by the Responsible Care Committee, and each unit formulates and executes the necessary plans.

[Check]
The head office department for Responsible Care and Production Engineering performs Responsible Care audits by visiting all factories to verify progress and results. Reports are submitted to the president and other senior executives. Follow-up checks are performed at the next audit, six months later, concerning items needing improvements to confirm that the required actions have been completed.

[Act]
Audit results are reflected in policies and goals for activities in the following fiscal year that are determined by the Responsible Care Committee.

In fiscal 2004, internal audits were performed over a total of nine days, involving on-site inspections and reviews of documents. The audits were led by the supervising executive (chairman of the Responsible Care Committee) and attended by corporate auditors. These audits produced a total of 22 items requiring improvements. The major items were as follows:
(1) Evaluation of reductions in PRTR chemicals
(2) Better management of equipment containing CFCs
(3) Better management of anti-terrorist measures

Most of the items requiring improvements had been resolved when the follow-up audit was performed six months later. However, the Responsible Care Committee revised medium-term goals concerning items (1) and (2) beginning with fiscal 2005. In this manner, NOF is using the PDCA cycle to ensure the execution of Responsible Care activities.

Newly Established Medium-term Goals

The Five Components of Safety
Responsible Care activities at NOF target the five core components of safety.

At NOF, Responsible Care goals are established based on each year’s main initiatives, with a focus on the five core components of safety: environmental safety, product safety, facility safety, logistics safety and workplace safety.