Initiatives in Health & Safety

Basic Health and Safety Policy

Basic Principles

Shimizu stands on the principle of respect for human life and human beings and places the highest priority on safeguarding the lives and health of our employees in all corporate activities. We have established a corporate culture that is grounded in safety and maintain a safe, comfortable work environment.

Measures for Achieving Our Goal

1. Shimizu operates a Construction Occupational Health and Safety Management System (COHSMS). We pursue enhancement of preventative safety measures through risk assessment and strive to reduce occupational accidents on a continual basis.
2. We recognize the importance of both safety and production in business activities, based on our policy of safety as a top priority. We ensure safe equipment by implementing redundant safety measures and other means and work to make construction procedures readily visible, from the construction planning stage onward.
3. We encourage suppliers and subcontractors to establish independent safety management^*, actively encourage disaster prevention conferences, and clarify the respective role and responsibilities of Shimizu and our subcontractors in promoting the prevention of accidents.
4. We recognize our responsibility as a business operator to further improve initial explanation of projects and training on job site rules to workers who are new to a job site. We work to ensure strict safety compliance among workers and eliminate accidents involving them.
5. We make sure that managers in charge of health and safety have the knowledge and dynamism to educate employees and develop them as promoters of compliance with laws and regulations (strict compliance with company rules for safety work) and accident prevention.
6. We have strengthened rules on working safely to eliminate exposure to dust, asbestos, and other materials that are harmful to health, and work to provide comprehensive education on preventing health hazards.

The policies above also apply to subcontractors to which construction work is outsourced.
Shimizu distributes the Supplier and Subcontractor Health & Safety Management Guidelines to subcontractors we outsource construction work to and facilitates independent and sustainable health and safety management by these companies.

Company-wide Health and Safety Plan for Fiscal 2023

“Safe Work: Predict Hazards, Double the Countermeasures, Don't Rush, and Don't Panic”

Code of Conduct for Achieving Zero Accidents

With the conviction that everyone should protect their own and their co-workers' lives and physical and mental health based on awareness of the environmental factors of living with COVID-19 and the 2024 problem, we implement a thorough PDCA cycle based on smooth communication with “double safety” as the foundation.

PDCA Cycle

P: Potential accidents and disasters are identified via risk assessments by line staff and actual workers to establish feasible work plans and procedures that prioritize safety.

D: All concerned parties share a sense of urgency about accidents and disasters, and ensure safety through teamwork by disseminating work plans and procedures to foremen, health and safety managers, and operation chiefs as well as front line workers.

C: Conduct patrols and inspections based on the three-actuals (actual site, actual thing, and actual mechanism) principle (including supplementation by digital technology) by all levels, including the employer, foreman, work site, line, staff, and departmental heads.

A: Prevent accidents and disasters by thoroughly implementing correction through communication with a strong determination not to overlook, ignore, or compromise.

Key measures

• Eliminating low and high falls
• Eliminating accidents related to construction machinery and cranes
• Eliminating accidents related to collapsing or failing structures
• Eliminating accidents involving the public, infrastructure damage, and fires
• Eliminating Unsafe Behavior
• Disaster Prevention Measures for Large Work Sites

Operating System (Responsibility and Management Resources)

Health & Safety Management Structure

Every month, each business branch holds a Branch Health & Safety Committee meeting, where labor and management representatives discuss and report on progress related to health and safety activities. Important decisions made in the Committee meetings are communicated to all employees mainly through the company Intranet. Shimizu also has a Company-wide Health and Safety Committee that oversees the Branch Health & Safety Committee, as well as manages health and safety and deliberates at a high level on health and safety issues such as employee health management. This Committee is chaired by either the president, executive vice president, or head of the Safety Administration & Environment Division, with representatives from labor and management serving as committee members.

Health & Safety Management Structure

Health & Safety Management Structure for Construction Projects

The Health & Safety management structure for construction projects（Executive Vice President and Representative Director） is headed by a safety & environmental officer, who is director and senior managing executive officer appointed by the president. The health & environmental officer is responsible for overseeing the company’s health and safety management. The head of the Safety Administration & Environment Division plans and implements specific activities and initiatives. At the branch level, each branch manager is responsible for planning and implementation in their own branch. Shimizu also holds an annual Safety Committee meeting, where committee members including the safety & environmental officer report on the status of health and safety activities. The committee also deliberates and makes decisions on key issues concerning health and safety plans such as preventative measures for serious accidents and disasters.

Initiatives to prevent occupational accidents

Construction Occupational Health and Safety Management System

Our safety management method is to promote measures to prevent accidents by taking preventive safety measures that focus on universal potential hazardous factors.
At all work sites, applicable hazardous work is identified at the pre-construction review meeting before the start of construction. After the start of construction, we conduct risk assessments for each work procedure at individual pre-construction meetings and assign a person in charge to implement risk mitigation measures.
Since 2001, we have been operating an occupational health and safety management system based on Construction Occupational Health and Safety Management System (COHSMS) Guidelines to raise the level of our health and safety standards by effectively implementing the PDCA cycle.

COHSMS（PDF：293KB）
The Nagoya branch acquired certification ahead other branches.

Overview

Flow of Implementation at Workplaces

Sharing Information and Activities to Prevent Recurrence

At the job site, we and our suppliers and subcontractors work together on a regular basis to perform basic and routine safety management tasks as part of a safe construction cycle. We implement a safe construction cycle to facilitate information sharing such as coordination between work areas and prevent accidents from occurring.

Safety Patrols by President

Every year during National Safety Week and National Occupational Health Week, the president and group-wide safety committee members conduct on-site safety patrols to check construction progress of construction and safety measures at work sites. In addition to observing work procedures and basic rules, they remind workers of the need for thorough heat stroke prevention measures.
In fiscal 2023, they toured construction sites for architectural and civil engineering projects in Tokyo under the jurisdiction of the Tokyo Branch.

Health & Safety Results

Health & Safety Results

The LTI (lost time injury) frequency rate^* in FY 2022 was 0.71, raise than in FY 2021 for both fatal and serious accidents.

LTI (lost time injury) frequency rate: The number of deaths and injuries per million cumulative man-hours. Figures for all industries and for the construction industry represent accidents resulting in one or more lost work days, calculated on a calendar-year basis. Figures for Shimizu represent accidents resulting in four or more lost workdays, calculated on a fiscal-year basis.

Accident Analysis

The following procedures are followed when responding to on-the-job accidents:

1. Provide information to the relevant people through the accident reporting system.
2. Perform an investigation of the accident and include safety staff in the investigation.
3. Formulate plans for and implement corrective measures to prevent recurrence of similar accidents based on the investigation and analysis.
4. Roll out measures internally, across the organization when necessary.
5. Accumulate accident data for use of risk assessments, etc. and prepare safety-related statistics.

By type, the highest percentage were low falls, followed by getting caught and slips & trips.
There were 63 accidents in FY 2022 requiring four or more days off, which was twenty more than the previous year.
Factors contributing to accidents included unsafe attitudes and behavior by workers and insufficient hazard prediction. We are working to prevent recurrence by analyzing and investigating these factors in the event of an accident, reflecting the results in health and safety plans and then rolling them out group-wide.
We carried out accident prevention activities based on the results of analyzing accidents in fiscal 2022 and the severity thereof, establishing specific measures in fiscal 2023 to eliminate low/high falls as our top priority. We also emphasized eliminating accidents related to construction machinery and cranes, accidents from collapses, public accidents, infrastructure damage, and fires, unsafe behavior, and preventing disasters at large work sites.
Ensuring safety is the foundation of the construction industry and manufacturing and is the cornerstone of the trust placed in us by customers and society. We aim to achieve zero fatalities, serious injuries, and public accidents through the concerted efforts of our company, suppliers, subcontractors, foremen, and workers to fulfill their respective roles and responsibilities.

Mechanism for Handling Complaints

The link for complaints regarding health and safety is listed below.

Internal reporting system

Health & Safety at Suppliers and Subcontractors

Training Support for Suppliers and Subcontractors

With regards to the health and safety trainings listed below, Shimizu provides support and guidance to its business partners such as by supplying training material, lending venues, and dispatching instructors.

Kamewarigo Mobile Safety Dojo (Training Room)

In the aim of strengthening and enhancing safety education for skilled construction workers, we developed a safety experience vehicle called “Kamewarigo” equipped with hands-on safety education tools. It is now operational.
As a part of the training program at Shimizu Takumi Training Center, our education and training facility for skilled workers, we provide hands-on safety education utilizing Kamewarigo, primarily directed at skilled workers at our job sites. We also do on-site classes all over the country.

Strengthening Partnership with Suppliers and Subcontractors

There are two multi stakeholder initiatives that aim to enhance our cooperation with suppliers and subcontractors to ensure quality and safety: 1. The Shimizu Rengo Kanekikai (hereafter, “Kanekikai”). 2. The Shimizu Construction Accident Prevention Council.
The Kanekikai independently engages in activities aiming to achieving the following: talent development for skilled workers, productivity improvement, cost reduction, and elimination of occupational accidents.

Shimizu also provides guidance and support to the following projects implemented by the Shimizu Construction Subcontractors’ Accident Prevention Council.

1. Research on occupational health and safety and conducting health and safety training
2. Research on health and safety regarding machinery, tools, and other equipment used in construction
3. Investigation into the cause of accidents and implementation of relevant preventative measures
4. Compliance with labor laws and regulations, and miscellaneous matters regarding health and safety
5. Coordination of health and safety related measures with suppliers and subcontractors
6. Provision of guidance on health and safety through regular job site patrols
7. Surveying job site environments and implementing policies and measures
8. Planning and executing various events related to occupational health and safety campaigns
9. Other actions necessary to achieve the goals of the Construction Accident Prevention Council