Management of Chemical Substances

Policy and Basic Approach
Systems
Initiatives

Policy and Basic Approach

The Nippon Kayaku Group, in line with the GFC (Global Framework on Chemicals) international chemical substances management framework, is aiming to minimize the health effects on humans involved in the production and usage of chemical substances, and any negative environmental impacts. Living conveniently and abundantly while using chemical substances requires that we know the properties of each substance and manage them properly. The management and reduction of environmentally hazardous substances which give rise to concerns over human health and environmental impact is an especially important social responsibility for chemical manufacturers. As such, we are organizationally and systematically engaged in the reduction of hazardous chemical emissions through production process improvements and thorough value-chain-wide management of goods containing hazardous chemicals. Furthermore, to prevent industrial accidents caused while handling chemical substances, we are voluntarily advancing our oversight and safety management procedures through taking, for example, hazardous substance exposure prevention measures based on the strengthened risk management approaches of the revised Industrial Safety and Health Act.

Systems

Under our sustainable management system, Nippon Kayaku has set up an Environment, Safety, Quality Management Committee to promote groupwide Responsible Care activities.

Responsible Care Promotion System

With respect to business activities, each business unit, under the direction of its relevant person in charge, draws up its own chemical substance management-related key issues and specific action plans in order to manage chemical substances appropriately.

Initiatives

Risk Management

Risk Management-based Anti-Exposure Measures

At Nippon Kayaku, when introducing new operations and equipment, or making changes to existing operations or equipment, we initially conduct a risk evaluation via safety inspection and construct safety policies around the ensuing results. We also evaluate the safety of each chemical manufacturing process and response equipment to analyze the causes of hazards. By way of measures to reduce risks in the manufacture and handling of chemical substances, and against the backdrop of the revised Industrial Safety and Health Act of 2016 which mandated risk assessments for workplaces either making or handling chemical substances, we have, through the conducting of safety inspections with respect to either new or altered operations that involve the handling of substances covered by the Act and other hazardous substances, constructed our own internal database on which to base our risk management and risk reduction measures. This database has been updated to include the expanded list of chemical substances subjected to risk management in the revised Industrial Health and Safety Act from 2024 onwards, enabling us to conduct risk management in line with the most current laws, promote it companywide, and centralize oversight. We have also put up GHS picture displays in each chemical-substance-handling workplace so that handlers can recognize the harmful effects of the substances to which they might be exposed.

We are raising awareness among workers of the harmful effects of the chemical substances to which they might be exposed.

Reducing Chemicals of Concern

Reducing Emissions of Chemicals of Concern during the Manufacturing Process

So as to reduce emissions of chemical substances to be reported under the “Act on Assessment of Releases of Specified Chemical Substances in the Environment and the Promotion of Management Improvement,” (PRTR Act) Nippon Kayaku is advancing measures to install processing equipment and phase out certain raw materials. Our calculations for emission amounts of the chemical substances to be reported under the PRTR Act are as follows.

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Indicators		Covering	Unit	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024^*2
PRTR substance emission amounts	Air	non-consolidated	tons	16.8	25.2	38.7	32.9	27.2
	Water regions	non-consolidated	tons	9.1	14.7	51.4	75.0	1.6
	Soil	non-consolidated	tons	0	0	0	0	0
	Total^*1	non-consolidated	tons	25.9	39.9	90.1	107.9	28.8

*1As figures have been rounded off, the totals in some columns do not exactly match the sum of each item above.
*2Since FY2024, only PRTR substances have been published（FY2023 revisions to the law saw changes to the list of substances, with Japan Chemical Industry Association Survey substances excluded）

Initiatives to Reduce, Replace and Eradicate Chemicals of Concern from Products

In order to appropriately respond to accelerating efforts to strengthen regulations across the globe, we are currently operating our own self-designed management structure based on the legislation and international standards relating to each business unit. By striving to reduce Chemicals of Concern in both raw materials and parts all the way from the product design stage, we are making every effort to minimize the risks to people and the environment.

Mobility & Imaging Business Unit

In its efforts to clarify the chemicals whose inclusion in products is banned, or whose presence should at least be grasped, our Safety Systems Group refers to the GADSL^* when seeking to strictly manage or reduce the use of Chemicals of Concern in the development, design, procurement, production and distribution phases of the product life cycle. The GADSL^* represents the industrial-standard Chemicals of Concern List for leading car makers, parts makers and chemical manufacturers in Japan, the US and Europe, with chemicals categorized as: “Prohibited,” “Prohibited depending on use or declarable,” and “Declarable based on usage exceeding a given threshold.”

*Global Automotive Declarable Substance List

Fine Chemicals Business Unit

Our Fine Chemicals Business Unit defines as “environmentally hazardous substances” those that appear in “Company Regulations for the Management of Chemical Substances in Products” and the “List of Environmentally Hazardous Substances” as threats to the environment and human health, and whose presence in our own products must be carefully managed. Based on the above, we apply proper handling methods to chemicals contained in each business unit’s products at every stage of the life cycle: design, development, purchasing, manufacturing, and shipping. The List of Environmentally Hazardous Substances is based on, and appropriately updated according to, domestic and international regulations such as REACH Annex XVII (Restricted Substances), REACH SVHC（Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern）, the RoHS Restricted Substances List, and Japan’s “Chemical Substances Control Law: Class 1 Specified Chemicals”. It proves of considerable help when gathering information on chemical substances present throughout our supply chain. This business unit, without exception, takes action to reduce, replace or eliminate Chemicals of Concern from its products as specified in Management of Chemical Substances in Products regulations.

Respecting Legislation and Presentation of Information

Responses to Laws and the Various Standards

The world’s chemical substance laws and regulations are moving away from being based solely on hazardous chemical properties towards being centered on a “risk base” comprised of both hazardous properties and exposure levels. Meanwhile, each country’s chemical substance registration system is moving from a primary focus on new chemical substances towards demanding that existing chemical substances, too, are assessed for hazardousness and environmental effects, and therefore properly managed.
The EU’s REACH regulations^*1, South Korea’s K-REACH^*2, and Taiwan’s Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act all call for the registration of not only new but existing chemical substances, and require that risk assessments collect and manage necessary information on manufactured and imported quantities, applications, uses and supply chains. So as to respond to these added complications and upgrades to chemical substance management, our Fine Chemicals Business Unit has set up a Chemical Substance Management Section in its Quality Assurance Division which: responds to domestic and international chemical substance registration systems; grasps the trends and movements in each country’s chemical legislation and regulations, makes policy suggestions, and accordingly informs and instructs relevant managers; and both unifies and supports product SDS and label management.

*1REACH Regulations: EU regulations on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals
*2Act on the Regulation of Manufacture and Evaluation of Chemical Substances: The law on chemical substance registration and evaluation

Conveyance of Information on Product Hazards via SDS and Labels

Whilst the GHS^*1 may serve as the international standard for chemical substance classifications and labeling,
the systems and standards for Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and labels differ from country to country. In addition, so that hazard information can be clearly conveyed to handlers of chemical substances, the relevant information is required to be submitted in each relevant country’s language. Our Fine Chemicals Business Unit, through reliance on an abundance of translation skills, information pertaining to each country’s laws and regulations, and its system for creating SDS with information on physical and hazardous properties, is responding to the demands for SDSs and labels which correspond to the latest laws and standards of each country. In response to ongoing revisions of Japan’s Industrial Safety and Health Act and Japanese Industrial Standards, the EU’s CLP regulations^*2 and the USA’s HCS^*3, we are working towards stable operation of a system which allows for SDSs and labels to be updated efficiently and accurately. So that everyone may use our products safely and securely, we supply all our customers and relevant individuals with SDSs specifying the chemicals used in every single product, and convey all key information along our supply chain. Furthermore, you may use our enquiry form to demand an SDS whenever you desire.

*1GHS: Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals
*2CLP: European regulations for the Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Chemicals
*3HCS: Hazard Communication Standard for the USA

Education

We provide education programs at every plant, and for each workforce layer, aimed at improving safety consciousness. We are currently enriching the education contents on chemical laws and regulations, including the so-called “Three SDS Laws”: The Chemical Management Act, The Safety and Health Act, and the Poisonous Substances Act.

Industrial and International Initiatives

The Nippon Kayaku Group belongs to the Japan Chemical Industry Association and has signed up to Long-range Research Initiatives (LRI) since 1999. In addition to shouldering part of the research funding burden, we also sit on the committee.
The LRI proceeds under the umbrella of the Japanese, American and European chemical industries (The Japan Chemical Industry Association, The American Chemistry Council, and the European Chemistry Industry Council). A voluntary activity conducted by the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), it focuses on increasing the accuracy of risk assessments for internal secretion and endocrine disrupting action, neurotoxicity, chemical carcinogenesis and immunotoxicity, and supports long-term research of the effects of chemical substances on the environment and people’s health.

LRI

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