安全面的工作开展
Product Safety
Basic Policy on Product Safety and Action, Guidelines for Product Safety
The Kuraray Group regards the provision of safe products as the very foundation of its corporate activities. Our Principles for Business Conduct state our commitment to the development and provision of products and services with full account of safety.
Furthermore, to provide products that are adapted to diversifying needs and in conformance with laws and regulations, we have determined our Basic Policy on Product Safety and Action Guidelines for Product Safety.
Basic Policy on Product Safety
The Kuraray Group endeavors to contribute to creating an affluent, comfortable society by meeting customer needs through the supply of safe and reliable products.
Action Guidelines for Product Safety
- (1) Supply products that meet the level of safety expected by society in compliance with safety-related laws and regulations and on the basis of the latest technologies.
- (2) Minimize any anticipated risk associated with the products we supply.
- (3) Maintain an appropriate quality management system to ensure that all products meet requisite quality and safety standards.
- (4) Provide accurate product information to customers and end users to prevent accidents due to inappropriate use or handling.
- (5) Strive to develop safer products and improve product safety technologies.
- (6) Strive to strengthen information gathering and internal and external cooperative frameworks to ensure and improve product safety and quickly respond to accidents.
- (7) Strive to raise product safety awareness among all employees and develop product safety specialists.
Promotion Structure
For quality control and assurance of product safety, the concerned departments and affiliated companies lead activities on a routine basis, while companywide tasks are addressed by the CSR Division and the Quality and PL* Working Team instituted in the CSR Committee, which deliberate on countermeasures and initiatives for improvement. Similarly, chemical substance management is basically led by the concerned departments and affiliated companies, and monitored by the CSR Division.
- * PL(Product Liability)
The term refers to the liability of businesses manufacturing or processing a product for payment of compensation for any harm caused to life, body, or property due to defects in said product. When a causal relationship can be proven between the damage and the product defect, the manufacturer bears responsibility for compensation regardless of the presence or absence of negligence.
Promotion Structure
This team works on prevention of and appropriate responses to Kuraray Group quality complaints and PL incidents. The Team comprises two types of working group which are responsible for data collection and investigation of improvements.
Quality Assurance
- Quality Management System
- The Kuraray Group engages in activities to assure quality based on performance of the PDCA cycle as part of our quality management system (in accordance with ISO 9001 and other standards). We collect product information on items such as customer needs and degree of satisfaction, and strive to improve product quality in line with this quality management system as well as our Basic Policy on Product Safety and Action Guidelines for Product Safety.
Quality Management System Certifications (As of March 2009)
(1) ISO 9001
- Kuraray Niigata Plant
- Kuraray Kashima Plant
- Kuraray Kashima Plant
- Kuraray Kurashiki Plant (Membrane Production and Development Dept., Poval Film Production and Technology Development Dept.)
- Kuraray Tamashima Co., Ltd. (Ester Plant)
- Kuraray Saijo Plant
- Kuraray Plastics Co., Ltd. (Ibuki Plant)
- Kuraray Chemical Co., Ltd. (Tsurumi Plant)
- Kuraflex Ibaraki Co., Ltd.
- Kuraray Fastening Co., Ltd. (Maruoka Plant)
- Kuraray Engineering Co., Ltd.
- Kuraray Trading Co., Ltd. (Chemicals & Industrial Materials Div., Belt Products Dept.)
- Kuraray Techno Co., Ltd. (Building Maintenance Service Division)
- EVAL Europe N.V.
- Kuraray Europe GmbH (Division PVA/PVB, Division TROSIFOL)
- Kuraray Dental Benelux B.V.
- Kuraray America Inc. (EVAL BU, SEPTON BU)
- Kuraray Asia Pacific Pte Ltd
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* The following Group companies occupying the same premises as Kuraray plants are included.
Kuraray Saijo Co., Ltd., Kuraray Kuraflex Co., Ltd., Kuraray Okayama Spinning Co., Ltd., Kuraray Techno Co., Ltd., KC Processing Co., Ltd.
(2) ISO 13485 (Medical devices)
- Kuraray Medical Inc.
(3) ISO/TS 16949 (Automobile supplier and related business organizations)
- EVAL Europe N.V.
- Kuraray Europe GmbH (Division TROSIFOL)
- OOOTrosifol
- Product Complaints Handling
- Kuraray emphasizes fast handling to customer complaints regarding quality, in accordance with our quality management system and Regulations on Product Liabilityrelated Accident Response and Quality Complaint Report. We receive the customers’ opinions and requests sincerely, and use them in our business activities.
Within the entire Kuraray Group, there were no product recalls or accidents of the sort to cause significant harm to health or fires in fiscal 2008.
Chemical Substance Management
In accordance with the General Management Regulations for Chemical Substances and other regulations, the Kuraray Group ascertains conformance with laws and regulations and the degree of risk and hazard related to chemical substances at the stages of development, manufacture, and sales. To assure the safe handling of chemical substances, we established Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS*) Management Regulations, and prepare and provide the sheets, which present information on proper ways of handling products and their degree of hazard. Even for products not containing substances stipulated by law as MSDS subjects, we prepare MSDS on our own initiative. For key products, we also provide such information on our website.
In fiscal 2008, besides reinforcing our product safety management system, we worked to register chemical substances (about 60) contained in our products for conformance with the EU REACH* regulations.
Our preparation and supply of MSDS containing information on proper product handling and hazard as noted above are based on the GHS* categories.
- * Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS)
MSDS provides the detailed and essential information necessary to ensure the safe handling of chemical products, and includes substance names, supplier, category, hazard classification, safety measures and emergency countermeasures. - *REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals)
REACH constitutes the EU regulations for chemical products. The REACH regulations incorporate new approaches, mainly as follows: 1) treatment of the risk assessment formerly made by government authorities as a manufacturer obligation, 2) imposition of a requirement for registration of not only new chemical substances but also existing ones by each manufacturer, 3) reinforcement of two-way sharing of information on chemical substance safety and handling through the supply chain, and 4) requirement for determination of information on the presence or absence and, if present, the purpose of chemical substances contained in articles. The regulations became effective in June 2007. - * GHS (Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals)
GHS classifies chemicals based on globally harmonized judgmental standards, in correspondence with their degree of physicochemical risk as well as degree of hazard to human health and to the environment. It stipulates the provision of information on risk and hazard through a balanced approach applying means such as indication on labels and MSDS.
