Management Structure for the Environment, Health and Safety, and Quality throughout the company

Environment, Safety, Quality Assurance Management Committee

The Environment, Safety, Quality Assurance Management Committee is a corporate committee chaired by the President with principal members consisting of the Executive Vice President, Senior Managing Directors, Managing Directors and the Head of the Technical Operations Group. The Committee develops annual business policy regarding the environment, health, safety and quality assurance, as well as assesses the results of this policy in order to make necessary improvements.

Secretariat Meeting of the Environment, Safety, Quality
Assurance Management Committee

The Secretariat is comprised of relevant persons in charge from each division and indirect business groups of the corporate head office. This Secretariat meets to deliberate annual policies and actual progress, reporting directly to the Environment, Safety, Quality Assurance Management Committee, and also reviews important corporate affairs.

Integrated Review

Beginning from February 2010, we have rationalized our separate environmental, health and safety review and quality assurance review into a single review for business locations and group companies that had received both reviews previously. The new Integrated Review Team consists of the Environment, Health and Safety Review Team, chaired by the Head of the Technical Operations Group and co-chaired by the General Manager of the Environmental Protection & Safety Division, and the Quality Review Team chaired by the General Manager of the Quality Assurance Division. Divisions, branch offices and Group companies that until now have only received either the Quality Assurance Review or Environment, Health and Safety Review will continue to receive the same review as before. Divisions, business locations and Group companies subject to reviews will continue to create improvement implementation plans in order to address any issues found during the review process. The results of all reviews are reported to the Environment, Safety and Quality Assurance Management Committee.

Safety Inspection

Safety inspections are held to assess risk and to prevent potential accidents from occurring in the development and manufacturing of new products, design and installation of new equipment and facilities, equipment modifications, raw material changes, and the outsourcing of production.

Environmental Safety Committee

Chaired by the General Manager of the Environmental Protection & Safety Division, the Environmental Safety Committee consists of Environmental Protection Officers from each business location and division who meet to discuss important affairs and issues related to environmental protection and safety promotion activities.

Quality Assurance Managers Meeting

Chaired by the General Manager of the Quality Assurance Division, the Quality Assurance Managers Meeting consists of Quality Assurance Managers from each business location and division who meet to discuss quality assurance and quality control related issues.

Management Structure at Business Locations

The head of each business location oversees a committee on the environment or health and safety, or both. Representatives from each department form another subordinate organization called the Health and Safety Promotion Committee. Matters discussed by the Environment or Health and Safety committees are shared with all employees through workplace meetings held by the Health and Safety Promotion Committee. Conversely, matters discussed during these meetings and by the Health and Safety Promotion Committee are communicated back to the Environment or Health and Safety committees as employee feedback.

The Quality Assurance (QA) Committee, led by the QA Division, meets on a regular basis to review quality issues in materials or products (current, new or modified) identified at each workplace through customer complaints, verify quality process problems and devise solutions, so that, ultimately, quality issues are eliminated altogether.

Acquisition Status of Quality Assurance / Environmental Management System Certification

In 1995, the Nippon Kayaku Group began applying for ISO9001 certification*1, an international standard for quality management, starting with our plants. We later expanded this effort to other worksites and R&D sectors. We also are working on ISO14001 certification*2, an international standard for environmental management. So far, all 6 plants independently operated by Nippon Kayaku have received certification.

Moving forward, we plan to acquire ISO9001 certification for Kayaku Safety Systems (Huzhou) Co.,Ltd. (China).

• *1ISO9001: An international standard issued by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) for quality management systems covering everything from design and manufacturing to quality inspection and after-sales service.
• *2ISO14001: An international standard issued by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) for environmental management systems covering organizational activities, products, and services.