Management of Chemical Substances

Under internal regulations do we confirm the presence of prohibited or restricted chemical substances within each process from product development through to manufacture, sale and change. We designate the chemical substances to be either managed or prohibited internally, and in cases of newly-used chemical substances, conduct relevant checks at the selection stage. Meanwhile, changes to raw material or manufacturing laws, expansions in use, reassessments of laws and standards, and the emergence of new scientific observations lead us to conduct our own appropriate use reevaluations. Furthermore, in order to prevent prohibited or managed chemical substances being unintentionally mixed in during the transition from raw material to product, we conduct investigations into our raw material suppliers. Based on these investigation results do we formulate appropriate management and measures in the quest for product and worker safety, and environmental conservation.

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.

The Nippon Kayaku Group is engaged in initiatives to reduce environmental burdens connected to distribution and ensure safety during transportation. As the products we handle contain numerous hazardous materials, we forever place meticulous care on safety during transportation. We therefore carry out periodical drills on distribution accident scenarios, and are strengthening our management system for prevention of leakage and spillage of chemical substances. Our Agrochemicals Group, for example, with the aim of improving safe transportation of its chloropicrin soil fumigant, holds collective annual drills on Distribution Accident Emergency Response and Reporting at all three domestic chloropicrin manufacturers. The drills involve practical application of the chain of processes from the establishment of a Disaster Response HQ to transmission of information and requests for support. All participants join with a degree of healthy tension as we seek to prepare a speedy and precise response to real emergencies.

We comply with laws and regulations governing the assessment and manufacture of chemical substances in Japan and other countries and regions, including the EU, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Additionally, international laws and regulations pertaining to chemical substances are increasingly moving away from the erstwhile focus on substance toxicity itself and towards a combination of toxicity and exposure amounts. Furthermore, whereas individual countries’ chemical substance registration systems have previously tended to target new chemical substances, they now require appropriate evaluation and management of the toxicity and environmental impacts of existing chemical substances too. Presently, the EU’s REACH Regulation,^※1 the UK’s UK-REACH Regulation, South Korea’s K-Reach Chemical Assessment Law^※2, Taiwan’s Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act all require the registration of both new and existing chemical substances. They also necessitate the gathering and management of all necessary information pertaining to manufacturing and imported amounts, applications, use methods and the supply chain. 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.