Ensuring the healthy mind and body, and safety of every employee is an essential precondition for achieving the NH Foods Group’s corporate philosophies. The Group takes measures to create work environments where employees can work cheerfully and with reassurance.
Health and Safety Declaration
The NH Foods Group regards the health of each and every employee as an important management foundation. In October 2016, in order to strengthen our commitment to health, we announced the NH Foods Group "Health and Safety Declaration" to guide our efforts, and we launched our initiatives in earnest.
In addition, we have identified " Employee development and respect for diversity" as one of the "Five Materialities (key issues)" that must be addressed in order to realize "Vision 2030," our roadmap to where we want to be in 2030. We are working to create a work environment to allow our employees to develop, while demonstrating their abilities to the full. To further accelerate these efforts, we revised the "Health and Safety Declaration" in July 2022, and our President and Representative Director has worked to disseminate awareness of this initiative.
Health and Safety Declaration
Achieving Vision 2030
The Group’s corporate philosophy is to contribute to society by realizing the joy of eating and to be a company where “employees can feel truly happy and fulfilled”.
In Vision 2030, which sets out what we want to achieve by 2030, we have identified the Five Materialities (key issues) , one of which is “employee development and respect for diversity”.
To achieve these goals, we need to become a workplace where all employees have a healthy mind and body, and can grow while displaying their true abilities. The Group will support voluntary activities among the employees to maintain and promote their health, including their families, and actively promote the creation of vibrant work environments to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society.
Note: This declaration was issued both internally and externally by the President and Representative Director of NH Foods Ltd. at the time on July 11, 2022.
Health Management and Health Support System
Occupational healthcare staff, human resources departments, and health insurance associations work together to promote health management through appropriate management in accordance with the Industrial Safety and Health Act and various health maintenance and improvement support measures.
Health Management System
The Group companies in Japan have concluded comprehensive industrial health contracts and have begun implementing initiatives such as a support program for returning to work, follow-up action after physical examinations, consultation and guidance from industrial physicians, and workplace inspections. We have also established an external consultation channel for discussing mental healthcare and we are establishing frameworks that enable employees to discuss mental health freely.
Health Support System
Under the Health and Safety Declaration, NH Foods Ltd. promotes health support measures in cooperation with the NH Foods Health Insurance under the leadership of the Human Resources Department. These initiatives are then shared with Group companies through each meeting body, leading to active promotion.
Mental, Physical, and Occupational Health and Safety
Through initiatives to protect the safety and health of our employees, we are working to create workplaces where employees can work with peace of mind and take care of their mental and physical health.
Mental health
The stress check system, which became mandatory in December 2015, is implemented for all employees, including those in workplaces with fewer than 50 employees, to encourage employees to be aware of and deal with their own stress.
The results of group analyses are fed back to each workplace to help create a pleasant working environment.
In order to increase the effectiveness of utilizing the results of these group analyses, support is being provided through the creation and distribution of instructional videos and the holding of line care workshops by medical professionals.
Data on Support mental and physical health
Physical Health
We are promoting physical health by advancing initiatives incorporating two aspects of healthcare, response (follow-up action after physical examinations) and prevention (diet, exercise, and not smoking).
In addition to encouraging medical institutions to reexamine employees based on the results of health checkups, we are also working to dispel health concerns through health guidance and health consultations provided by occupational healthcare staff, and to prevent serious illness by encouraging good dietary and exercise habits.
To enhance the effect of prevention, we are supporting activities to improve and maintain employees’ health through initiatives such as prohibiting smoking during regular working hours and holding seminars that encourage employees to review exercise and eating habits.
Data on Support mental and physical health
Health Literacy
Aiming to realize health management, we are also working to improve the health literacy of each and every employee by expanding educational opportunities and enhancing the dissemination of information.
In terms of expanding educational opportunities, in addition to enhancing the training programs offered at each level, we are also offering e-learning line care education for managers and self-care education for general employees to prevent mental health issues from arising. Opinions regarding these results are collected through employee questionnaires, which are used to brush up on existing measures and consider new measures for the next fiscal year and beyond.
In addition to disseminating information through our in-house and email newsletters, we also hold seminars by outside experts and more.
Occupational Safety and Health
To achieve zero occupational accidents, our group has introduced an occupational safety and health management system,
mostly at our manufacturing plants, as a way of maintaining and improving health and safety levels.
At the regular Health and Safety Committee meetings, opinions are exchanged based on the status of self-inspections,
progress with plans, and employee feedback, and these views are utilized to prevent occupational accidents at each
workplace. Specifically, we take engineering measures to ensure machine safety, and we focus on employee training in
order to create worker-friendly work environments.
At the same time, if an occupational accident does occur, we have established a system for the timely sharing of
information about the current situation and countermeasures. This system, which can be horizontally deployed to other workplaces by having safety personnel register occurrence and countermeasures via the system, is used to prevent similar accidents from occurring. We also hold study sessions led by safety personnel and conduct mutual patrols among workplaces to strengthen cooperation among the safety personnel and improve their knowledge.
Furthermore, since 2024 we have been working to strengthen governance in occupational safety by establishing a tool (the Occupational Safety & Health Bulletin Board) that allows all employees, not just those in charge of safety, to view the occurrence of occupational accidents, prevention activities, and the status of compliance with related laws and regulations.
External Evaluations
On March 11, 2024, NH Foods Ltd. was recognized as a 2024 Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organization (large corporations category) under the Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organizations Recognition Program, jointly selected by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Nippon Kenko Kaigi.
This is the third consecutive year that our company has been recognized, following last year.
